I cannot agree with R M Napier . The reality is that swearing documents is now an anachronistic process that should be consigned to the dustbin of legal history. Few documents now need to be sworn and, where they do, it serves little purpose and is very inconvenient for all concerned. It is hard to see how a sworn document provides much practical benefit over a simple witness statement.

While documents do have to be sworn then why not give your swear fees to charity? Mine all go to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. I only swear about one or two documents a month, so it hardly takes any time and the additional income is not worth worrying about. I tell all the clients what I am doing and they often add a couple of pounds to the fee. Furthermore, there have been a couple of occasions where I have assisted solicitors who wanted to swear documents and they now donate their swear fees as well.

Life is too short to worry about how much you are paid by way of a swear fee. Especially when the real question, in the current political climate, is will you be paid at all?

Howard Shelley, Bilston, West Midlands