Most consumers think all will writers are solicitors

so presumably it would be a good idea to start a national campaign to alert people to this fact?

is the law society going to earn the fee and step up to the plate? Or, as usual, is it going to be left to the individual firms....?

I don't care. I just want a TC.

Do something Mr President (Law Soc.), there'll be nothing left of the legal profession, do something that you're actually paid to do... ACT NOW, represent the trade from early demise!

There is no need to regulate will-writng.

There is a market for the product whether done by a solicitor or not. The client who buys purely on price is likely to get a poor product (the Editor of the Gazette can surely testify as to that with regard to conveyancing). However that is no reason to regulate it, which seems to be the "default mode" for things disliked by a threatened profession.

The correct response is to emphasise the quality of the solicitor produced will, especially the insurance cover

I am all for training and ongoing CPD being required to write Wills etc.
Many solicitors are genuine experts - but some have training 30 years out of date and virtually no ongoing training or CPD in this fast moving area.
Better a trained and training Will Writer than a solicitor who thinks Will writing is easy!!!

Specialist CPD (say 20 hours a year minimum) should be a requirement for ANYONE to write a Will, let alone LPAs.

I asked the Legal Services Board why willwriters are unregulated-but I have not got a response.

The other comments highlight the problem of accreditation and training. Those who are also involved in legal aid will know all about supervision requirements, accreditation and training. Unfortunately those who are not are only aware of some requirement to undertake a certain amount of CPD every so often. The vagueness of the CPD requirements and the inability of The Law Society or SRA to properly regulate adherence to these requirements must cause concern to other Solicitors-and to Professional Indemnity Insurers.

I have suggested a licensing system whereby a Solicitor, through being properly supervised, through training and through examination and accreditation, would be able to be licensed to levels of expertise and competence. The licensing system would assure competency and ability to "consumers" and to insurers. Those Solicitors who lacked competence would be identified and focus could be given to specific training and external control via the SRA and TLS. Ultimately those who failed to reach certain standards could be struck off.

The top level would be equivalent to the current QC badge and the bottom level would be reserved for 1-3 years newly qualified Solicitors. The remaining grades would relate to the rest of the profession with trainee solicitors being outside the scope. It may even mean that other professions (eg ILEX) could be supervised and graded through the system, where supervision and control is offered by a suitably qualified Solicitor

Such a system would assist Solicitor Advocates (given their battle with barristers and the Bench) to establish their level of incompetence and provide a path along which progression could be made.

But such a system, for the first time, would have the benefit of being applicable to all Solicitors whether they undertook legal aid work or not and would thus end the discriminatory practices which legal aid solicitors have suffered at the hands of the Legal Services Commission and The Law Society and the SRA.

Back in the real world TLS has to ensure that regulatory requirements for all our competitors have exactly the same minimum standards as us. Marketing our superior abilities to the consumer is really a matter for each firm or maybe the local law society.

Having a licensing system would make marketing strategies more meaningful to consumers as TLS/SRA can inform consumers of what the licensing system means for them.

Never let the truth stand in the way of an alarming headline.

Just because Will Writers don't need to be trained or insured, that doesn't mean they are not. As part of the profession I am surrounded by many, many colleagues who are fully insured and have strict CPD commitments every year which they meet. Are you really suggesting that solicitors will always produce a better written Will than a Will Writer? Our PII fees may suggest otherwise.

I have come across Wills written by Solicitors which are of a very poor quality, and Wills written by Will Writers of high quality. And vice versa.

There are some major players in Will Writing who are causing problems for the majority of ethical, hard working, fully trained Will Writers. Some kind of licence scheme may become inevitable, but to suggest regulation by solicitors is wide of the mark.

Finally, I note the comment about Will Writers being driven by profit rather than service. That comment made me smile the most.

I agree with my collegue being in the Will Writing industry also. We have full insurance (PII) we also follow a code of conduct and we also specialise in Wills. When you go out and find a service for anything in life you hire someone who SPECIALISES in that particular field. Solicitors in general do not specialise in Wills. They do it as a sideline mostly and then most of the time they add themselves as executor and then charge a huge fee for probate to carried out.

My view to ALL clients who have had a will written by a Solicitor to CHECK it and if the solicitor has made themselves executor then have it changed and name people you know and trust to do it. Remember when probate is needed you DO NOT have to use a solicitor. You can use anbody who know what they are doing. Most of the time suitable family members or friends can get help doing the probate for far far less fees than a solicitor would charge.

The Solicitors argument makes me sick. Solicitors (some not all) have far worse a record for messing up wills that will writers. I agree the market needs regulating as there are some fly by night companies out there that taint the rest. But there are a lot of very very professional Will Writers out there that are more than capable of consulting and drawing up a fully legal will with a lot of complex clauses.

To those solicitors that are specialists in Wills this is not aimed at you personally. I am just saying that we as will writers are just as competant as you guys.

I happen to be a blood donor. Who do I want to take that blood from me - a fully qualfied GP, or a specialist nurse? Give me the nurse, every time. They will not have the general level of medical knowledge and training that a GP has, but by focusing on a particular activity the nurses can deliver a much better service than virtually any GP.
The analogy translates very well to Will writing. Okay, bring in appropriate regulation/licensing to keep out the rogues and the incompetants - but let that also serve to keep out those arrogant solicitors who do not bother to keep up their training in this important area of law.

As a FILEX (and a better Will writer than some of my partner-level solicitor colleagues) I just want people to realise that writing their Will themself is the most dangerous thing, second only to choosing a professional Will service on cost alone.

The aim of any client who instructs a solicitor to draft a Will is to benefit from that solicitor's ability to draft the Will in accordance with his wishes and also to apply his knowledge and experience to the client's circumstances and possibly come up with suggestions on how best to adrress any given situation, whether it be in terms of tax mitigation or practicality. The number of factors which an experienced solicitor takes into account when drafting a Will goes way beyond an awareness of the current law and includes know how which only years of expereince can pass on. No Will Writer can acquire the breadth of expertise or put in the thousands of hours over a long career that an experienced solicitor invariably offers and needs in order to service his or her clients requirements - and that is why clients continue to instruct solicitors, to appoint them as their executors and to shun the services of Will writers and other opportunists.

The Law Society has consistently failed to identify and underline the benefits of consulting an experienced solicitor and has allowed others to take the initiative when it comes to forming public opinion and perception. Who is old enough to remember Will Power? Whose bright idea was it to launch Will Aid and allow the consumer to think that the donation was equal to the appropriate fee? Whose fault is it that public awareness is so limited in this area? What is the Law Society doing to promote our cause and preserve our ability to make a living? Very little , I venture to suggest.

Hmmm, I would find more of these arguments easier to follow and more compelling if they were spelled correctly, using the appropriate syntax and sentence structure. Makes me wonder why I wrote my own Will.... not!

How many of the people baiting the Will-writers are fully trained and qualified private client solicitors? Very few I bet ... most are probably estate agents!!! get back to your own website!

No, of course will writing shouldn't be regulated. It is entirely up to the "consumer"who they get to write their will.

If they are savvy enough they will not choose merely on price but on reputation and recommendation. The choice may either be a solicitor or will writer but the consumer should do their homework to find out the correct choice in their area.

If they choose merely on price then they take a risk but it is their choice.

Only the over-regulated solicitors profession seems to believe further regulation is the answer.

Never mind the polar opposites - what's wrong with saying there's some bad and some good on both sides?

I've come across some pretty appalling Wills/Trusts and probate/trust admin in my 15 year career as a CTA so far (in fact sorting out the crap has given me a good living), but it doesn't mean that all solicitors are incompetant or careless. What it usually means is that the failing individuals are pushed into doing work they aren't competant to do or sadly, they aren't aware they aren't competant - even in very reputable firms.

I am in favour of regulation for all - will writers included, and whilst there may be more scope for carelessness or incompetance in an unregulated market, it doesn't mean that all will writers are not up to scratch. There needs to be a requirement for all will writers to be open and honest about what they are - some already are, the ones that aren't and won't voluntarily obviously need to be forced.

I agree it is difficult to know, as an ordinary person, which medical or legal practitioner to choose, but the purchaser has to take some responsibility for their actions and put some effort into understanding what they are doing, in addition to the standards required from practitioners. As with everything else in life, ignorance is not an excuse and the buyer needs to exercise caution.