Trust Inheritance Will Writing Service

RiskyBusiness_2

Yes the name is correct but as it has only recently changed it may not appear anywhere yet.
Not only that but they are also in the process of writing a training manual for willwriters. They have been in discussions with City & Guilds and will be the only registered City & Guilds approved training company for willwriters in the country.

Wait...there's more... they are also forming an organisation called the Fellowship of Professional Will Writers. It will be a self regulating body which will basically answer to no-one, just like the IPW.
So it will go like this: If someone wants to be a willwriter, they can attend a training course run by a dodgy company and then achieve a City & Guilds qualification. They can then join the Fellowhip of Professional Will Writers, which will be owned and run by the same dodgy company and pretend they have some sort of credibility.

It would certainly look very impressive when the brand new will writer turns up at your house and tells you that he has a City & Guilds qualification in will writing and that he is a member of The Fellowship of Professional Will Writers.

To those in the know it's all just one big con but to the poor pensioner who doesn't know any better it could cost them thousands because they will obviously be taken in by it all.

At the moment it's the latest big business to get into as its very little work and the profits are huge.
Anybody can set up their own will writing company. I would do it like this:

1. Get some Will instruction forms printed and some receipts with the company name on.

2. Put an advert in the local newspaper advertising your services and stating that you would charge say £49.00 per will in the comfort of your own home etc.

3. Phone around a few solicitors and see who charges the least for executing a will then ask them if they would give you a commission e.g. £100.00 for everytime you name them as executors in someone's will. I actually did this bit and found that many solicitors in my area were more than willing to pay, especially as they would earn big money when the client died.

Obviously you would have to have some idea of what you are doing to be able to give advice, but nothing that can't be learned on the internet.

4. Go and visit your clients and take their will instructions. This will take an hour or so and then tell them that you have a special deal with a local solicitor who would execute their will for as little as 1%, and store it as well.

5. Charge Mr+Mrs xxxxx £98.00 for the two wills and then get your £100.00 from the solicitor.

£200.00 for a couple of hours work ain't bad. Only need 5 appointments a week at that rate to earn yourself a grand.

So you can imagine the amount of money some of these companies are making when they are charging £2500.00 on top of that for something they can get for free.

localhero

What you are saying confirms how badly the profession needs to be regulated.

The IPW may be self regulating, but the consumer can be reassured that at least the IPW has endorsement from the OFT for its Consumer Codes Approval Scheme.

Here's the link to the OFT: http://www.oft.gov.uk/news/press/2008/58-08

simpywimpy

We store our own wills now but before that, there was no charge from the solicitors to take them out. The inheritance trust will for both parents cost £500 to set up.

Chrisman_2

I was visited by a TI 'rep' last night. I was not convinced the contract gave enough detail about the services they would provide, and promptly declined thier offer. One thing mentioned was they were a member of PALS (Professional Association of Legal Services) so I duly looked up thier website (www.thepals.org.uk). A detailed search later, I discovered the domain name was owned by Trust Inheritance (or PEP as they used to be called) and a companies house search of their company registration number also showed TI has been trading under a number of different names over the years. I am to assume the professional body they claim to be under, is a phoney company invented by Trust Inheritance.

sloughflint

RiskyBusiness wrote: »

As for the Institute of Professional Willwriters, this is just a self regulating organization set up by one man who is doing exactly the same as all the other willwriting companies out there. Don't be fooled.

It is an organisation that seems to be very active indeed in trying to push for regulation to get rid of these types of companies.

A clear consensus was reached at a meeting last Thursday of interested bodies with the DCA, including the Law Society, OFT, NCC, STEP, Which? and the Institute of Professional Will Writers, that regulation on a compulsory basis was essential.

http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/view=newsarticle.law?NEWSID=245890

It managed to expose the First Wills’ previous business name ( posing to be ipw member) after complaints from clients so they do act on complaints.

They were also involved in the NLS issue:

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has today upheld a complaint from the Institute of Professional Willwriters (IPW) (http://www.ipw.org.uk), which upholds standards in will writing, over a potentially misleading advert from National Legal Services – an organisation that uses self employed agents to advise the public on making wills.

I looked at localhero’s link regarding the code of conduct and also a press release:

�� Members are required to pass an entrance exam, marked externally, or have a recognised qualification of equivalent standard. They must also complete a programme of continuous professional development, keeping knowledge up-to-date and abreast of changes in the law.

�� Members must provide a satisfactory Criminal Records Bureau check.

�� Members are forbidden from using pressurised selling techniques and will provide consumers with a seven day cooling off period.

�� Members will complete work within strict deadlines agreed with the client.

�� Should the member be unable to provide the agreed service, consumer pre-payments and deposits will be protected.

�� A low cost, independent redress scheme will be available.

I then spent time looking at some of the members’ websites from the ipw member search facility.

Not one mentioned advance probate fees unlike the companies in this thread so that was very encouraging.

Quite a few displayed their prices so I looked specifically at the Will storage aspect. This ranged from £10 to £30 per annum. A much more respectable amount compared to the aforementioned companies.

I don’t think I have been fooled. I think this organisation is genuinely trying to make a desperately needed difference including amongst solicitors working in this field ( which is where my own concerns started)

“For these reasons, we welcome The Law Society’s support in backing our stance, but must temper this with words of caution about the service provided by some solicitors. If The Law Society truly wishes to support our views on regulation, it should insist that all solicitors be trained in will writing, pass examinations in this area of law and then commit to on-going training and development in this area. Only then will they be able to match the service provided by IPW members.”

http://www.ipw.org.uk/professional/documents/LawSocietyresponse.pdf

It would be a tragedy if the only people around able to guarantee quality on such important documents were STEP members. I did notice an IPW member with TEP after their name on one website so I found it encouraging that a STEP qualified person chose to join the ipw (if in that order).

I am optimistic that the ipw members behave more ethically than the companies featured in this thread. I hope so because not everyone can afford STEP fees. People reading this thread will certainly be aware of what to look out for.

(To the person who pmed me. No consolation for you but I don't think that particular feature exists now)

Willman_2

I have registered specifically because of this thread.
I'll show my hand immediately and declare myself as a self employed Will Writer and would like to make the following points:
1) Not all Will Writers are part of a franchise. Many of us are one person businesses.
2) If a Will Writer is a FULL member of either the IPW or the Society of Will Writers they will usually know their stuff. Writing a Will is not rocket science but we are professional people who aim to do provide an excellent service.
3) The IPW and SWW are the only credible regulatory bodies in the industry in my opinion. They are not purely set up to lend credence to one particular company. They have input to Goverment thinking on the whole subject of Wills.

Now, within our industry there are people who have bought franchises to become consultants for the larger companies. Again, many of those companies are reputable businesses. In almost all cases the consultant merely takes the instructions and the Wills are written by experts.

This is a tough industry to make money in. Many franchises have come and gone over the years. It now seems that a popular way of increasing profits is to add one of these probate packages.
My personal opinion is this: they offer very poor value for money to the client. The company may not be around when the time comes. I am very nervous of these packages and would be very uneasy about trying to sell one.
Banks charge a lot for probate. Solicitors charge a bit less but usually have an hourly fee so there is no fixed fee. Fees of 4-5% are very, very uncommon with solicitors, around 3% is more accurate, often less than that.
Another option is trust corporations. They usually charge a fixed fee and tend to be cheaper than banks and very competitive with solicitors. But why pay for their services before you die? My advice to all my clients is to wait until the time comes and I then speak to their executors about their options. Occasionally my clients appoint a trust corporation in the Will on the condition that they will withdraw if the other executors don't want to use them.

In the final analysis, being someone in the industry and knowing what I know, would I pay £2500 for one of these packages? Absolutely not.

monkey_spank

Willman wrote:

2) If a Will Writer is a FULL member of either the IPW or the Society of Will Writers they will usually know their stuff. Writing a Will is not rocket science but we are professional people who aim to do provide an excellent service.

Out of the two, I am far more impressed with the IPW, personally.

spicyhippo

I found this thread as my girlfriend is currently looking at getting wills sorted for us. A company had a stall set up in a local shopping centre and she enquired and they took some details. I got a call while she was out from a company called Willwriting services ltd and they seemed very pushy, I told them that my girlfriend would call them back if she was interested and they kept asking when they should call back despite me telling them not to. They called again last night and I overheard my girlfriend tell them 4 times "No, I will call you back if im intereseted". I asked how much this service was and she told me £100 for both our wills. I thought that for £100 the hard sell was a bit over the top so did some research and stumbbled across this forum. Good job really.

monkey_spank

That sort of behaviour is totally unethical and that organization is best avoided. Check out www.ipw.org.uk to find a member in your area. For the protection of the consumer, there's a code of conduct that meets with the requirements of the OFT too.:T

SWW

The Society of Will Writers (SWW) has watched this string develop over a period of time and feels that we should make a statement as to our views on these practices.
There is no need for any person to pay in advance for advice on probate for their appointed executors or to secure what is perceived to be low cost estate administration.
We have seen a growth in the number of companies that offer these services, many costing thousands of pounds, over recent years. It is a practice that the SWW has for many years, outlawed.
Any member company or individual who offers such a service and cannot show that these advance fees are in some way ‘ring fenced’ for the future has their membership revoked.
One company with several consultants/salesmen in the field, when questioned on the matter of providing these services in the future, simply said “I don’t need to set funds aside as the new business funds the old”. Not only was his membership revoked but we had Trading Standards investigate his company and he was found to be ‘unfit’ to run a company, unfortunately that company is still trading but a close eye is kept on them.
These companies usually operate outside the control or guidance of any recognised trade body simply because their activities would be restricted by the Codes of Practice operated as part of their membership, but it is these very companies that seem to think that they would ever be considered to regulate themselves never mind an entire profession.
The SWW would be pleased to hear directly from any person who has had the misfortune to have had dealings with any company, member or not, and has paid out large sums in advance fees with no guarantees for the provision of future services.
Remember; even though membership to an organisation may be voluntary and that the industry or profession is not regulated by statute, it does not in way lessen the effectiveness when it comes to making a complaint. For over fifteen years the SWW has been overseeing the Will Writing profession and will take seriously any complaint it receives, but you need to ensure that when using a professional Will Writer that they are members of either the SWW or the IPW.
Will and Document Storage

There have been some comments regarding Wills going missing. This was I have to say rife in the early days when Will Writers would set up, fail in their business and disappear many taking the Wills with them. This should not happen quite so often today – but still occasionally it does. The SWW wherever possible logs the location of individual Will Banks so that we know if they change hands upon retirement or ceasing trading.
If you have been the victim of such a problem, please let the SWW know, we might just have your document as we have over the years recovered many thousands of Wills, most the clients have been advised how to locate their documents but we still have some that have insufficient information or have been returned to us as ‘gone away’ for us to repatriate the documents. Most Trading Standards offices have our information and we are usually the first point of call in such circumstances.
The SWW does store Wills and will be happy to discuss your requirements for document storage.
Should you wish to contact us at the Society of Will Writers, please google Willwriters.
Remember
· ask to see identification
· ask to see proof of their membership – all our members carry a card and a phone number you can call or go on line to check
· if you have any doubts about the person or the company – say no and look elsewhere
· ask to see a copy of their Professional Indemnity Insurance - a professional will not refuse
· if it looks too good to be true - it usually is