Unregulated will writers failing clients, says Chancery Lane
Unregulated will writers are providing the public with unenforceable wills while charging for legal services they are not trained or regulated to provide, the Law Society claimed this week.
Solicitors specialising in will writing told the Society they have been handed invalid wills drafted by unregulated will writers, who on some occasions also offered powers of attorney, probate, conveyancing and tax advice.
In some instances, family members were being left out of wills against the wishes of the client. Solicitors also reported that will writers are hiding charges, and that will documents have disappeared after will-writing companies were wound up.
Law Society president Robert Heslett said this was a ‘widespread trend.’
'It is of great concern to us that so much of the Wills and Probate area of practice goes unregulated. When dealing with such sensitive issues and at what is often a difficult time people are very vulnerable and should be better protected. Under the guise of cheap services some organisations are preying on this vulnerability.' - Charles Neal, Wills Trusts and Probate, Bell & Buxton Solicitors, Sheffield
Original source: Law Society Gazette (Thursday 22 October 2009, James Dean)
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