Who Has Written Your Will? F


By Graham Payne


or my first column for the Chandlers Ford Directory, I thought


I would focus on one of the most topical issues concerning my area of legal practice at the moment - that of will writers. A client recently came to


see me following the close deaths of her Grandmother and her Grandmother’s husband. The couple had made wills with a will writer which, before the recent change in legislation allowing a transfer of the nil rate band for married couples, ensured their estate was left in trust rather than outright to the survivor. The wills were supposed


to state that my client and her mother would be the beneficiaries of the Trust after the Grandmother died, which was shortly after her husband, but the will writer had failed to appreciate that both parties had been married before and each had their own children. Instead of specifically


naming the beneficiaries, the will simply stated the trust was to benefit his ‘spouse and issue’. The husband had already made provision for his own children and clearly intended his money to go to his step-family (they were named as residuary beneficiaries if he died after his wife), but without the crucial detail, everything that was in his sole name could


only be left to his biological children and grandchildren. My client found the


details of the will writer along with correspondence from the police advising her Grandparents that that the individual concerned had been imprisoned for five and a half years for theft from deceased clients. It was fortunate that the police were able to seize the wills that he was holding as there have been instances of companies simply disappearing with all their clients’ documents. The issue this example


highlights is that will writers are totally without accountability or requirement to have any training or insurance. There is currently a national debate on the need for such compulsory regulation. My client could have


applied to the court for the will to be rectified, but the costs of doing so compared to the money involved made it a pointless exercise. In a time when it is perfectly usual for families to include step children and extended relations, wills can be complex and require proper expertise. The right questions need to be asked to ensure the person responsible for the drafting a will understands a client’s background and circumstance. Solicitors such as myself are regulated by the Law


Society, so we have to be insured and cannot just disappear. At Eric Robinson Solicitors, various members of our Wills & Probate team belong to a range of professional bodies including ‘Solicitors for the Elderly’, the ‘Law Society Probate Section’ and ‘STEP’ (‘Society of Trusts and Estates Practitioners’). Whilst there are some


very good non-solicitor will writers out there, there are also lots like the one who dealt with my client’s grandparents and it is very difficult for the public to tell the good from the bad. The worst part is that people tend not to find out there are any problems until after their loved ones have died, when it is often too late to rectify them.


Graham Payne is Senior Partner and Head of Wills & Probate at Eric Robinson


Solicitors on Brownhill Road in Chandlers Ford. He can be contacted on 023 8025 4676 or graham. payne@ericrobinson.co.uk For more information on this or any legal matter visit www.ericrobinson.co.uk


THE CHANDLERS FORD DIRECTORY | 023 8027 6396 | kevin@cfdirectory.co.uk 33


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88