Research shows ‘incompetence’ in will-writing
Two-thirds of trust and estate practitioners have encountered ‘incompetence or dishonesty’ in the will-writing market in the past year, according to research published today.
The study has prompted the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP), which conducted the survey, to renew its calls for better consumer protection.
Responses from 693 STEP members showed that two-thirds had come across hidden fees which were not outlined in the stated price of a will, and 63% had experienced a will-writing company going out of business and disappearing with their clients’ wills.
Just over a third of respondents said they had seen cases where incompetence had led to significantly higher tax bills.
Examples of malpractice highlighted by the research included one company that approached young mothers in shopping malls and told them that their children would be taken into care if they died without a will.
In another case, a consumer was charged £12,000 up front for executor services, and the firm then went out of business, with the family unable to recoup the money.
STEP chief executive David Harvey said: ‘This research shows how widespread cowboy will-writers have become, and it is clear those who charge a fee for writing a will should now be regulated.
‘They must have an appropriate qualification, and they must have proper indemnity insurance. Soon the consumer will be protected by new regulation in Scotland, and this benefit needs to be extended to cover the rest of the UK.’
The Legal Services Board launched a review of unregulated will-writing in June, and is seeking evidence of consumer harm. The Scottish parliament is currently going through the process of regulating non-lawyer will-writers through the Legal Services (Scotland) Bill.
STEP recently launched the STEP Certificate in Will Preparation.
Comments
Panorama
Well, they need look no further than tonight’s “Panorama”. Hidden charges, bouncing of client account cheques and outright theft of clients money. All described in half an hour. Only the theft was punished H
owever, the real reason why ABSs have been pushed so hard came to light. Legal services are seen as a brilliant way to sell financial products of all types. That is where the real money is these days. Vulnerable people, such as our clients in legal difficulties, make great targets for this.
Welcome to the new legal world. The world of the cheap cheap legal services (done by unqualified staff) subsidised by lucrative commissions or fees from financial products. I wonder if the SRA or LSB has thought about this aspect of ABSs. I bet that they have not.
Try searching "complaints
Try searching "complaints against solicitors" and then remember, you are not all bad apples either.
Will Writing Cock ups
Will Writers have a VERY long way to go before they mess up even a tiny fraction of the Wills that solicitors do. Sheer weight of numbers to be fair!
Bet solicitors would love a Regulator who insisted that both Will Writers and Solicitors are required to take SPECIFIC initial training and to carry out a minimum of 16 hours a year CPD SPECIFICALLY on Wills.
And the regulator would obviously insist that the "bunce" sorry, "responsibility" element authorised by the Law Society must be justified (it can't be - it is a total rip off!!) People in glass houses ....
PS Most of the really great Will Writers ARE solicitors who specialise - quite happy to accept that - but just being a solicitor is no qualification whatever for drafting Wills folks - you have to study and keep up to date, not just buy a £99 book of general precedents including a few template Wills!!
They must have an appropriate
They must have an appropriate qualification,
and
STEP recently launched the STEP Certificate in Will Preparation.
So this isn't serious research then, its just a bit of marketing.
Incompetetent Will writers
Is this no more than 'promotional propoganda' for their diploma course?
If STEP have all these cases documented it would save the LSB thousands in further research, but it does not seem to be forthcoming, any more than the Law Society have evidence.
Dishonesty by solicitors triples to £157m
Interventions: the SRA closed down 90 firms in the year to June
The value of compensation claims lodged as a result of dishonesty and other default by solicitors has more than trebled to an astonishing £157 million, Legal Futures can reveal. The rise goes hand in hand with a continuing rise in the number of law firms closed down.
Figures from the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) show a dramatic increase in open claims against the Solicitors Compensation Fund in the year to June 2010, which were at £48 million 12 months earlier, itself a high figure compared to previous years.
The SRA intervened in 90 law firms during the year, up 22% on 2008/9 and 43% on 2007/8. However, dishonesty was only suspected in 27% of interventions, compared to 35% the previous year. The 90 firms comprised 66 sole practitioners and 24 firms of two to four partners.
Read the rest at http://www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/claims-lodged-following-dishon...
It is pretty clear there is
It is pretty clear there is good and bad in Solicitors and Willwriters.The level of skill in willwriters is normally high because of larger volumes written.There is no evidence there is any more incompedence with willwriters than solicitors.Instead of all the bodies slagging each other off perhaps a realiasation that competition is good for all and actually the consumer is generally much better off in fees being charged than they were 10 yrs ago.
Regulate both to aid clients
I only have limited knowledge of Will Writer companies (mostly based on the Panorama documentary) as I am solicitor firm based.
I think everyone should be able to agree that there are going to be good and bad solicitors and will writers as well as honest and dishonest ones. But, any companies that can target vulnerable people and take large sums of money to the extent shown on Panorama should not be able to practice and there needs to be some way of stopping these companies.
No solicitors firm would get away with bouncing client account cheques, hidden charges and stealing money from clients for long.
I am surprised that any Will Writers are against a form of regulation that tries to cut down the dishonest firms which tarnish all firms and after the documentary no doubt a number of people will think twice about using Will Writers in preference to solicitors.
Incidentially, for all those who think solicitors charge a lot of money - what sort of firm would ask for £12,000 upfront for Executor fees from anyone?!