Buyer Beware!
STEP is a global professional body made up of Solicitors, Accountants, Trustees and other practitioners who help families plan for their future. They have recently published their report into the preparation of Wills and Trusts in the UK. The report makes for interesting reading and can be found here Wills and Trusts | STEP
Phoebe Skarlatos, Head of our Probate Wills and Trust Team has considered the report and highlighted their key takeaways.
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79% of respondents have encountered wills with errors in the last year that have been drafted by unqualified or incompetent will writers
Phoebe’s thoughts: This is a truly shocking statistic and highlights the importance of using a fully qualified and experienced will writer to prepare your Will! At Lawson West Solicitors, every one of our team have experienced Wills with errors at least once. The issue with errors in a Will is that the family can end up paying thousands of pounds to correct the error, or even just to clarify the erroneous meaning of the wording.
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45% of respondents have encountered an invalid will made by an unqualified or incompetent will writer in the last year
Phoebe’s thoughts: Whilst not all errors make a will invalid, nearly half of the respondents reported errors such as interpretation issues, incorrectly signed wills, fraud and undue influence, mental capacity concerns and wills containing unnecessary and overly complicated trusts. These errors resulted in wills which were either wholly or partially invalid. The financial and emotional impact of errors such as these on a grieving family can be catastrophic and can result in the wishes of the deceased being disregarded. Again, all of the team at Lawson West have experience with dealing with such erroneously drafted Wills.
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63% of respondents have encountered cases where a Will writing company charged more than their quoted fee for preparing a Will
Phoebe’s thoughts: There is a perception that unregulated will writers are cheaper than employing a specialist. However, regulated practitioners such as members of STEP are fully insured and obliged to be transparent in their fees and advice. A reputable Solicitor will always provide you with a full transparent quote for the work you require and full advice tailored to your specific situation, and often when speaking to clients I have realised that the Wills they had prepared by an unqualified person were more expensive than our professional Wills! When it comes to Wills, it really does well to remember “buy cheap, buy twice”!
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Over half of respondents have come across firms making false claims about the product they are selling clients
Phoebe’s thoughts: This most commonly related to overselling trusts and complicated Wills which are unsuitable for the client. There were reports of clients being advised to set up multiple trusts which may be completely unnecessary and which are expensive to set up, administer and eventually wind up. The creation of these trusts can result in an Inheritance Tax liability where otherwise there would have been none, as well as massive income tax and capital gains tax complications. Trusts can serve many people well, but there are drawbacks to running trusts, and these have to be carefully considered before creating one. If something seems too good to be true, it usually is!
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55% of respondents have encountered cases of dishonesty or incompetence relating to drafting or administering trusts
Phoebe’s thoughts: The main untrue claims made by unregulated trust providers relate to schemes to avoid care home fees with inaccurate claims about tax being a close second. Trust creation and administration is a highly specialised area and the implications of bad advice or poorly prepared documents can be extremely costly to the client.
All of the members of the Lawson-West Probate, Wills and Trust department are highly experienced with three being members of STEP. When you contact us to discuss the preparation of your Will, Lasting Power of Attorney or Trust we will let you have a quotation for our fees followed by written terms of business. Our aim is to assist you to put your wishes into effect in the most efficient and cost effective manner.
We look forward to hearing from you to discuss your situation and how we can assist you.
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