Member Article

Law firm welcomes new accreditation for wills

Tees Valley law firm Archers Law has welcomed moves by the legal profession to introduce quality standards for wills, probate and the administration of estates.

The Law Society has launched a new accreditation scheme which places solicitors at the heart of will-writing by introducing practical guidelines and recommended best practice at all key stages of the wills and probate process.

The move comes in response to increasing competition in the market from high street brands and will-writing firms.

Stockton-based Archers Law, which employs five qualified solicitors in its Wills, Trusts and Probate team, has welcomed the accreditation scheme and will be registering an interest when it comes out later in the year.

The firm said that in the last 12 months it had encountered a number of examples of poorly drafted wills.

David Collier, a Partner at Archers Law and Head of Wills, Probates and Trusts, said: “People who wish to make wills or get estates administered should always take care to use properly trained, experienced and knowledgeable people.

“We regularly see the consequences where inexperience, lack of proper training or just basic incompetence have caused problems.

“Also the fees charged by people other than solicitors include things such as storage costs; which when all added up, are often higher in total than solicitors would charge, but it is not clear when the job starts as they are not clearly set out.”

The Law Society’s Wills and Inheritance Quality Scheme (WIQS) is expected to begin accepting applications in November and will demand that accredited firms meet the required standards for will-drafting, probate and estate administration services.

It is estimated that the law profession’s share of the probate market has declined since 2006. Whereas only 27 per cent of grants of probate were made without solicitors in 2006, this had risen to 36 per cent by 2010.

Archers Law said there were occasions where it had been involved when clients had been let down by poorly drafted documents, including a case when a will was drawn up by a will writer that appointed his company as sole executor. The company then went into liquidation before the person died, but this was only discovered after the death.

Mr Collier added: “This accreditation is about positioning knowledgeable and experienced solicitors as the natural place to go.

“Where wills and inheritances are concerned, it’s essential to use a specialist legal practitioner who is properly insured as very often people don’t know things are wrong until it’s too late too put them right.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Martin Walker .