Local Will Writer puts Panorama programme in perspective (OLE)

This is important to EVERYONE!

This article is a response by a local expert to the 30 minute PANORAMA programme broadcast on BBC One at 8:30pm on Monday 9th August 2010. Here's the BBC's programme outline:

"PANORAMA investigates companies who make a good living from writing your Last Will and Testament and exposes the shocking financial pitfalls that face unwary consumers. Is it time for this industry to be properly regulated by law?"
Read BBC News item

A Watford Will Writer claims that the programme supports what she has always believed:

A Will is one of the most important documents a person will ever write and should be prepared by a qualified person belonging to a regulated body.

Shirley Batten-Smith of Planet Wills Limited, a member of the Society of Will Writers (SWW - the country’s leading professional body for the Will-writing industry) said that the programme’s focus on problems experienced by a small handful of people who had asked paralegal Will writers to handle their Probate masked the real issues that people should be addressing.

“As with most documentaries of this type, the programme sought to suggest there is a major problem within the Will writing industry by show-casing half a dozen cases – actually concerning probate administration rather than Will writing – only one of which was proven to involve fraud.

“The reality is that the SWW alone has 2000 members who write some 200,000 Wills a year with hardly a problem. Our insurers have handled just 11 cases in the past 16 years.

“We work in an unregulated market, not through choice but because successive governments have deemed it unnecessary to bring in regulation.

The SWW supports regulation, has been on the Scottish consultation panel since 2006 and fully supports the Scottish Government in its proposed regulatory plans.

“The SWW is also supporting and working with the Legal Services Board in England to regulate or at least licence paralegal Will-writers and is pressing for tighter regulation of probate and client funds.

The simple truth of course is that no amount of legislation will eliminate fraudulent behaviour in any industry. Indeed, one of the Will writers featured in the programme was a struck-off Solicitor! The legal profession is clearly not immune to the type of issues highlighted, but the implication that there are serious problems solely within the paralegal Will-writing industry is unfounded.

“What the programme should have highlighted was that people need to read and understand the terms and conditions of the literature they are signing and, if they don’t understand, refuse to sign until they are fully satisfied. They should also ask prospective Will writers about their experience, qualifications, insurance cover and membership of professional organisations - and of course verify what they are told before entrusting them with an assignment.

“In any industry there will always be the occasional bad apple but this shouldn’t cloud the key issue which, as the programme highlighted at the beginning, is that a Will is a vitally important document which is best handled by a professional whose skills are dedicated to Will writing.”

Find out more

Shirley offers occasional FREE 90 minute Educational Workshops in Garston that explain WHY it's important that you prepare a Will and cover all the key issues to consider before you do so. The sessions are entirely without obligation and the next one is on 25 August 2010. More Info

Society of Will Writers

The Society of Will Writers (SWW) is a non-profit making self-regulatory organisation whose primary objectives are education and the advancement and promotion of ethical standards within the Will Writing profession. SWW members are covered by Professional Indemnity Insurance, underwritten by the UK’s leading insurance company Hiscox, and are obliged to provide customers with proof of this on request. Every member is bound by the SWW's code of conduct (download from this link) as well as disciplinary and complaints procedures, copies of which are available from the Society.

All SWW members go through a stringent vetting procedure and continuing training to ensure that they are suitable persons to properly write a will. Before proceeding to prepare a Will or Wills, an SWW member is obliged to provide a quotation - in writing if requested - of the price to be paid, including any extra costs that could be incurred. If more than one will is to be prepared, the member is obliged to provide a quotation of the prices of both wills either separately or as a set of wills.

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Editors Note: Although the views expressed are fully endorsed by the Watford flea editorial team, they are the personal opinion of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the official stance of the Society of Will Writers nor the views of any other party interested in the topic. The use of the term "paralegal" in this article relates to that term's use in the UK viz: It encompasses non-lawyers doing legal work, regardless of who they do it for!.

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This article was created on Wednesday, 11th August 2010.

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