Where there’s a Will…..there’s a way?
Or so you would think! Thanks to the Government’s recent decision not to regulate Will-writing services people continue to be at risk from certain unregulated Will writers.
A two year investigation by the Legal Services Board, whose overriding mandate is to ensure that regulation in the legal services sector is carried out in the public interest; and that the interests of consumers are placed at the heart of the system, concluded that one in five Wills contain mistakes. It also found many consumers who purchase Wills from unregulated firms receive poor service which can cause practical problems, financial losses or in some cases, emotional harm.
Sadly, it is only after a loved one’s death when the Will is reviewed that such incompetence is revealed, resulting in will disputes.
Clearing up confusion
The current situation made me think of one my clients, Stan. His wife had died suddenly and as you can imagine he was heart broken. While he was still trying to come to terms with her death, he decided to review his late wife’s Will. He’d assumed carrying out her wishes would be a straightforward matter but soon made the upsetting discovery that it would be anything but simple.
As soon as I looked at a copy of the Will, the problems became clear: the Will had been so badly drafted that working out what Stan’s wife’s intentions were is very difficult. There were mistakes left, right and centre. The biggest problem is the Will doesn’t make it clear which assets Stan’s late wife wanted to leave to which beneficiaries. As you can imagine the situation is causing Stan a lot of heartache and practical problems. All he wants is for her wishes to be carried out as she wanted, as swiftly as possible. But resolving badly-drafted Wills takes time.
Unfortunately, this is a common error in drafting Wills. For example, if someone wants to leave a property to a specific beneficiary they should be careful how it’s worded: if the Will reads “I leave 3 Wigley Street to my nephew John” and then they move property, the legacy will fail completely. The Will should describe accurately what is being bequeathed to who. If Stan’s wife wanted to bequeath her dresser to her niece, but she had two dressers (or, alternatively, two nieces) the gift could be contested with a will dispute.
Luckily, in Stan’s case instead of going to an unregulated Will writer, with the risk of no redress, Stan’s wife had her Will written by a Solicitor and the firm has professional indemnity cover. We are therefore able to help him resolve the matter by suing the solicitors for solicitor professional negligence.
Although solicitors still prepare two thirds of Wills, unregulated Will-writing companies is a growing sector: they now account for over ten per cent of the market, the same proportion as those who prepare their own Wills using off-the-shelf kits. Whenever dealing with Wills and estates, we always recommend using the services of specialist solicitors to prevent future Will disputes and avoid making a difficult time even more stressful.
