Will writers and the hard sell of poor products

Think All Will-Writing Services Are the Same? Think Again

Read on if you would like to know how not to be ripped off for tens of thousand of pounds when drawing up a will.

There are dozens of UK will-writing companies. Many of them are excellent and provide a quality service at a fair price. A lot of them offer a comparable service to a solicitor, and some also use a solicitor to review your will (which gives you some legal protection).

The Wild West of Will Writing

However, did you know that this is an unregulated industry? Essentially, anyone can set themselves up as will-writer; this means no qualifications, no accreditation, no requirement to be a member of a reputable legal body....and little to no comeback. Will writing is not a reserved activity and so is not covered by the Legal Services Act 2007.

That means, sadly, that there are a lot of 'cowboys' out there. There are plenty of horror stories of wills improperly executed, which could lead to, at worst, the will being declared invalid, or your assets being distributed in a way you did not intend.

The Pressure-Sell Trap

Additionally, even if the will is properly executed, the will-writing firm may utilise sales tactics that significantly increase the cost at the time the will is drawn up, or cost your estate many thousands after your death. Often, these are done via home visits whereby pressure is exerted by a salesperson to get you to agree to additional services such as will storage, trust creation, or for them to be the Executor.

That's not to say all companies offering home visits are bad or high-pressure, or that the services are not worth having. They may use solicitors and be regulated. You may need a trust. You may need a lasting power of attorney. But I can't recommend any of them, because a) the stories online of mis-selling are legion, and b) where they are unregulated you can't be sure of the quality or have the benefit of legal protection beyond going to Court which could be very expensive.

Executor? Or Just Expensive Middleman?

The most egregious examples are whereby the (often unregulated) will-writer names themselves as Executor on the will, either through sales pressure, or where the customer does not understand the role of Executor and simply doesn't realise. It may even be done without the knowledge of the customer. Of course, there are times where the will-writer being the Executor might be useful. For example, where no family members are capable of being the Executor (age, experience, mental competence etc.) or where all trusted family members have explicitly stated they don't want to have the responsibility. However, I'd strongly suggest that where this is the case, you use a trusted, ideally local solicitor - ask around for personal recommendations.

A Real-Life Example: £20,000 Gone

I have personal experience of this after the second family death where I was one of the beneficiaries, whereby we discovered that the testator (my family member) had named the will-writer as the Executor. This was despite me being directly told that I was one of the two Executors by the family member, which raises the question of whether they understood what they were agreeing to. I never received a copy of the will, just a document giving me the access code for the will-writer's storage facility. We were surprised therefore to learn that for the pleasure of administering a very simple estate that the will-writer would take 3% just to be named as the Executor - plus the rights to be paid for all time spent administering the estate at over £200 an hour! Goodbye over £20k. Worse, they took about twice as long as I would have done - and I still had to manage the supply of documentation and sign off of tasks. The only benefit was that they managed Probate (and actually did that bit well), but a local solicitor could have done this for less than £5000.

Reviews That Don't Tell the Whole Story

If you do decide to use a will-writing service which manages the process via home visits, do your research. Don't believe the headline Trustpilot or Google Review scores either. Many of the reviews, even if genuine, are by people who met a lovely, friendly salesperson and think they were doing their family a favour. Read instead the reviews of the beneficiaries who later - unexpectedly - found the Executor was the will-writer, and have been left left signing off month after month of bills during a period of grief, with no control of the estate. In the worst reviews, you can find people still waiting for an inheritance after two years and a bill exceeding £50k!

Read These Before You Sign Anything

Don't just take my word for it. See these articles, one by a solicitor with good advice, and another from the Legal Services Consumer Panel, and finally from The Legal Ombudsman. You've been warned!

https://www.morrishsolicitors.com/be-aware-of-rogue-will-writers/

https://www.legalservicesconsumerpanel.org.uk/ourwork/will_writing/documents/STEP.pdf

https://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/media/qbynear0/250121-willwriting-report-final-141016-3.pdf

Your Best Bet? Stay in Control

Simply, I'd choose to avoid home visits from unregulated will-writers to avoid high-pressure sales tactics. There are plenty of online will-writers who are regulated and overseen by solicitors, charities who will provide wills drawn up by a solicitor, or go with either a nationally-recognised or local solicitor with good reviews. Or you can simply write your will - and then get it looked over for a lesser cost by a solicitor. For more information on your options, click here.