Will writing is an unregulated area of law. Anyone can write a will for anyone. This is a serious problem because it means that it is like the Wild West of the legal world. There are a LOT of cowboys. You’ve seen them. You probably came across a few while you were on the searches that brought you to read this page.
I can see the advert now: “Get your will written today, 100% legal, only £20”. “blah, blah, blah”
Let me explain to you why this is marketing bluster.
Marketing Bluster
A will isn’t “100% legal” until it is written down on a piece of paper. It must then signed by the person creating the will (the Testator) in the presence of 2 independent witness that aren’t set to benefit from the Will.
So, as an example, if you’ve got your will done on some website for £20 then it’s not “100% legal” until you’ve printed it out and signed it.
Further to that, just because that freshly printed and signed £20 piece of paper is now “100% legal”, it doesn’t mean that it is going to do what it is meant to when you come to pass. I had a client not too long ago who had a £20 will and it didn’t do any of the things that she wanted it to.
In some cases, these supposedly cheap wills all of a sudden get very expensive when extra services are added on by the company. Let me tell you a little story about a client that remains ongoing with me.
A Horror Story
Obviously I’m going keep his identity confidential, but he has given me his permission to publish his story as a warning to others of the pitfalls. We will call him Mr C.
Mr and Mrs C are both in their late 70s. They don’t have the internet. Neither do they have mobile phones. Their contact with the outside world is limited to the 20th century amenities of a land line, the Royal Mail, and terrestrial television.
Mr C first called me in August 2023. He stated that he had instructed a company he saw on the TV to write his wills and Lasting Powers of Attorney. They had been posted to him. But he didn’t understand what they meant or how to sign them off. I thought that this would be a quick job. I’d go round, read them to him, and witness the signature. Job done. Or so I thought…..
The Perils of Dementia
When I got to his house, it took me about 10 seconds to realise that his wife had dementia. She was beyond the capacity to be able to make a will or a power of attorney.
The company had taken the sole instructions from Mr C. Never once did they speak to Mrs C. As a professional will writer, I feel it of high importance to have a face to face meeting with the clients. At the very least for the first meeting. You need to make sure that the person giving instructions has capacity, and that no one is forcing someone against their will. You can’t see if someone is pointing a gun at the person you’re talking to on the phone, as extreme as that sounds.
I explained to Mr C why I could not help him. He cried. Maybe it was because he felt ripped off. Or maybe because a 3rd party had told him his wife no longer had capacity. Maybe it was a bit of both.
2 wills and 4 Lasting Powers of Attorney cost him £1,700. All of it was useless to him. The terrible thing is that the company in question is a company that I know for a fact advertises £20 wills on their website!
Why Was it so Expensive?
It would be difficult to answer this properly, because Mr C was never presented with an itemised invoice. But I would anticipate that it was because there were extras written into his will.
Granted, the extras were sensible additions for people of their age. They serve to limit the impact of care fees. But the problem is that Mr C had absolutely no idea what any of it meant. Which means the company did not explain to him what they were and why they were there. Or at least they didn’t do a very good job of explaining. The extras are good ideas and have their pros, but they are not without their cons. It seems to me at least that the person on the end of the phone was more interested about up-selling products to maximise profit, rather than acting in Mr and Mrs C’s best interests.
What Happened Next
I felt so awful for him. I couldn’t leave him in that situation.
Now, I may not be a solicitor, but I do have the qualifications you need to become one. I wrote a letter to this company on behalf of Mr C explaining where they had erred in law, and exactly why they were going to give him a full refund. Guess what? They gave him one. I mean, they came back with a snooty response, and some rubbish about how they’ve had “125,000 satisfied customers”. But they gave him his money back.
If you’re wondering why I claim their 125,000 reviews to be rubbish then it is because a will writer’s job is not done while the client is still alive., It is only when the client dies and the will takes effect that you really know whether the job has been done properly. So unless this company was using clairvoyants to get 125,000 posthumous reviews from dead clients, my position is that they’re full of rubbish. In 30 years time when their original customers start passing on, then we shall see how their online ratings look.
Since his refund, I have drafted Mr C’s will and his Lasting Powers of Attorney. I have also helped him with his applications to the Court of Protection so that he may get a deputyship over Mrs C, and a statutory will approved for her.
In Conclusion
Something that is too good to be true generally isn’t true. I’m sure you’re all familiar with this concept. It is also very true that you get what you pay for. Some things in life can be done cheaply. But for something as important as your will…..?
If you want your will done properly then hire a professional will writer or a solicitor. Here is a link to another post that will tell you the best people that you can hire to write your wills in Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch.
