Where there’s a will there’s a way to con

Death, like politics and religion, is not widely mentioned in polite society.

It's on a par with blocked drains and smelly toilets – a known fact of
life, but a subject to avoid at all costs.

Research shows that a staggering 60 per cent of people die without
making a will, leaving it open season for the government to cash in on
the value of their worldly possessions.

Many people avoid making a will because they think it's complicated
and expensive.

But as others find out to their cost, unscrupulous predatory firms
specialising in will writing can arrange to plunder their estate even
before they pass away.

It's a little known fact that anyone can set up in business to provide
will writing, probate, and estate administration services.

Ever since they passed out of the hands of solicitors in the late
1980s, successive governments have made a virtue of applying 'light
touch' legal services regulation, leaving the door open to a
significant number of crooks and con artists poised to rip the public
off.

No sooner than the ink was dry ending the monopoly of solicitors in
this area of law, the rogue element started to move in.

According to the Trading Standards Institute's Bryan Lewin, first out
the starting blocks was serial fraudster Simon Harris, who on his
release from prison saw the gap in the market and founded the Quill
Group will writing franchise.

All the companies in the Quill Group were finally put out of business
in the early 1990's when the Department of Trade and Industry
compulsory wound them up in the High Court.

But where Mr Harris moved in, others were sure to follow.

Enter Gerald Barton – a disqualified director – and his string of
franchises going under the names of Willmakers Ltd and National Legal
Services.

By the time Harris and Barton had been unmasked as will and probate
rogues, thousands of clients were left out of pocket, and without
access to their wills.

Undeterred another plausible will writing outfit, Stephen Share's
Solicitors Probate Services Ltd, ended up in the High Court in 2008
after a rigorous investigation by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority.
They discovered that the ex-solicitor – who was finally banned from
practising law for life in 2009 – had named himself or his company as
executor in more than 4,500 wills.

Another dodgy trio behind will writing services formed Willmakers of
Distinction UK. They were subsequently found to have stolen thousands
of pounds from dead people.

Two of the men involved, David Nash and Nicolas Butcher, were
sentenced in 2010 at Lincoln Crown Court to three and a half years
behind bars, while the third, Raymond Prince, was handed down a one
year suspended sentence.

While recourse to a friendly will writer does by no means guarantee
you'll automatically be fleeced of all your worldly wealth, the
situation is serious enough for the Law Society to campaign for the
regulation of will writers.

In July 2011 the Legal Services Board (LSB), having given due
consideration to the advice they received from their consumer panel,
started a statutory investigation into how best to protect consumers
from will writing and probate services spivs.

After sifting through the evidence, the LSB is recommending to the
government that regulation is re-imposed in the form of licensed
activity by legal professionals under the 2007 Legal Services Act.

But that may be easier said than done.

The Institute of Professional Will Writers (IPW), a self-regulating
trade body, claims now that the genie has been let out of the bottle
it is very difficult to get an accurate picture of the scale of the
problem and size of the will writing sector.

Many writers operate as 'one man bands' from home, and firms have
hundreds of practitioners working for them on self-employed contracts.

The IPW has identified about 750 will-writing firms, and their
research has uncovered another 158 companies with 'Will' in the name
that had been dissolved in the last ten years.

The response to the LSB's concerns from the government has not been
encouraging, despite unearthing considerable evidence of poor quality
wills and dubious advertising practices.

Christopher Matthews, an associate solicitor with Churchers
solicitors, Fareham, is concerned that consumers deterred by false
claims about solicitor's charges, are being put at risk in the will
writing free-for-all .

He said: 'I strongly recommend your will is prepared by a solicitor or
legal professional who is a member of Solicitors for the Elderly so
you have the peace of mind knowing you are dealing with an expert who
can advise on all the circumstances affecting your estate.

'Never pay for your will upfront or let a sales person pressurise you
into additional cost, any genuine professional will be happy to
receive payment once the work is complete.

'If the cost of the will sounds too good to be true it probably is.'

For more information on these matters, please call our office at 305 548 5020.

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