Wills & Probate Blog

I’ve blogged about this previously, but I had a client come to see me this week needing a Grant of Probate to deal with her late husband’s estate.

Everything was held jointly between them with the exception of one bank account worth around £25,000.   Unfortunately this means she needs a Grant of Probate.

The bank referred her to a very well known company to get the Grant of Probate for her.  They told her not to use a solicitor, because they charge thousands of pounds for this, and that they would only charge £1,255 plus VAT.

My client is quite a sharp lady.  She thought it best to shop around first, and has used Fidler & Pepper for a few other things before.

We charge no more than £500 plus VAT for this work.  It is fixed fee, and agreed up front with our clients so there are no hidden costs.  In this case, given how much work was involved, we agreed to charge £300 plus VAT.

This very well known company gets most of its Probate work through banks and other institutions referring clients to them.  But be wary of the costs.  As with everything in life, don’t take the first price offered to you!  Ring a few people and get some quotes first.

If you have any queries, or need to get a Grant of Probate, please get in touch.

More good news on this front:  The Legal Services board has backed a campaign that Will Writing (and also Estate Administration) should be regulated.

It is hoped that this will avoid the problems that many people have when making a Will, including “unfair sales practices, fraud and deception”.

This is not to say that making a Will through a Will Writing company won’t be allowed in the near future, but it means that Will Writing will only be possible through organisations that are properly regulated.

It is hoped that early next year the LSB will make their recommendation to the Chancellor.

If you have read some of my previous blogs, you will know of the problems some people have in making a Will, and also the problems that are discovered when it is too late to do anything about it:  families attempting, and failing, to obtain Probate with a poorly / wrongly drafted Will.

If you want to know more about this then please get in touch.

I have been on two courses this week in relation to the above topics.  One was run by a group of independent financial advisers (IFAs), aimed at members of the general public, and one was run by a group of solicitors aimed at solicitors.

It was very interesting to compare the advice, given that they were much the same but delivered completely differently.

Even the IFAs were pointing out the importance of having an up to date Will.  They recommend checking the Will with a solicitor every 5 years, and I generally recommend the same or even more frequently.  It’s no use spending money on investing your money wisely, and planning correctly, if it all falls flat just because you haven’t checked your Will in twenty years!

We don’t charge for checking a Will, so if you haven’t looked at your Will for a few years, or you haven’t gotten around to making a Will, please get in touch.

Yet another client has come to see me having met with an adviser from a Will writing company.  She has, after some months and after paying over £300, received her draft Will.

There is mention of a company as her substitute Executor (i.e. potentially the people who will handle her estate after she dies).  The company is not the Will Writing company she employed to write her Will.  I won’t disclose the name here, but it is similar to a lot of companies which are called something like “The Trust Company Ltd”.

My client has no idea what this means.  She has no idea what this company is, and definitely did not ask for them to be included in her Will.  After I explained what it meant she was furious, and I believe she is now making a report to Trading Standards.

How often does this happen?  Probably quite often.

What charges do this company make for getting Probate and administering an estate?  No one knows.

This type of behaviour is probably only a small group of Will writers, but can you imagine the outcry and response if a firm of solicitors was behaving in the same manner?

It is yet another reason why making a Will should be done through a solicitor, and hopefully why Will writing will become a reserved activity in the future.  You know they will put in your Will exactly what you ask them to put in there.

If you have received a draft Will and are unsure over what it really means to you, or have any other queries, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Interesting article on the Law Society Gazette website today:

http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/opinion/president039s-podium/legacy10-campaign-highlights-benefits-drafting-will-through-solicitor

It raises an important point in relation to DIY Wills.  When you get your Will-writing pack from the stationers, or when you take advice from some unqualified person, do they mention estate planning?

As always, the main issue when having your Will drawn up by someone who is not a solicitor is that you do not get the advice that goes with it.  Anyone can write “I leave my house to my son” on a piece of paper for you, and most people who work with Wills know how many witnesses are required to the signature.  But very few can point out the other issues that might be lying in wait, that could be easily dealt with, that might prevent your son fro getting your house.

Making a Will shouldn’t be expensive.  We charge £110 plus VAT for most Wills, and £150 plus VAT for most pairs of Wills (eg for a married couple it will cost £150 plus VAT in total in most cases).  We do not charge for a consultation, so it really doesn’t hurt to come and see us (or whomever your local solicitor is).

If you are thinking of changing / making a Will, please feel free to get in touch.

I have had a recent enquiry from a young lady based in London.  Her Mother passed away some 18 months ago, and almost the day after her Mother died ITC visited the young lady regarding the Probate work that would be required.  They got her details from the Bereavement Service that the young lady had used.

From what this young lady has told me, the representative from ITC was apparently so pushy with her, so recently after her Mother had died, that she just signed what was put in front of her to get the representative out of the house.

18 months later the young lady has spent months calling and chasing ITC to find out what is going on.  ITC have apparently appointed themselves as the Administrators in her Mother’s estate.  This gives them equal rights with the young lady to deal with the estate, and therefore they can control how quickly (or in this case slowly), and how expensively (in this case they will not tell the young lady how much they will cost, so let’s suggest it will be VERY expensive) the matter becomes.

She has attempted to complain over:

1.  the delays that have taken place,

2.  the cost,

3.  the fact that she never speaks to the same person when she calls, and

4.  regarding a lump sum from a pension payout that was supposed to be paid direct to the young lady, but ITC interfered and now hold the money in their account but will not release it to her, even though she is in dire financial need.

The young lady has been told for several weeks that someone from a complaints department will call her back.  She had been told there is no one in the complaints department who will speak to her, she must put her complaint in writing and wait for a reply.  There is apparently no time scale to this.

She finally lost it yesterday, called me for some advice, and then called ITC better equipped to complain.  All she really needed to know was the Probate process, and what her rights were.

She emailed this morning to say thank you, and that the pension monies were being posted to her yesterday, by special delivery, and she thanked me for my advice.  I suspect it is not the last I have heard of the young lady, she tells me that once she finally gets a bill for ITC’s services she does not intend to pay a penny of it if she can avoid it.  I do not blame her.

I have spoken to people who are obliged to recommend ITC, such as the Bereavement Service, and some banks, and they are inundated with complaints from their clients who have had problems with ITC.  Some of their clients are going as far as moving banks, so furious are they with being told ITC will look after them in such a sensitive time.  They feel thoroughly let down.

Probate can be very simple, but the administration process can be very complicated.  The best thing any family can do when confronted by the process is to seek proper legal advice from a Solicitor, not from a large ‘faceless’ company who won’t even know the deceased’s name, only the file number.

If you are having similar problems, or need advice on the Probate process, please get in touch.

I met yet another client recently who was planning to give his property to his children.  The conversation usually goes like this:

“Do you mind if I ask why you want to do this?”

“If I give my house away, I won’t have to pay any care fees”.

The conversation changes tack pretty quickly, and once I have discussed where else the client will be living, and what the Local Authority thinks of people giving away their homes, invariably the client decides against giving their property to their children!  But we always come up with some other ideas to help.

There are far too many companies cold-calling vulnerable and / or elderly people and telling them to give their property away, or to place their property into some kind of trust to avoid care fees.  Invariably these companies charge about £3,000, and invariably what they do does not work.  Trading Standards are aware of this problem and are investigating numerous companies right now.

Don’t fall for their advice.  See a Solicitor, someone who is trained to deal with what we call elderly client issues, or is a member of the Private Client section of the Law Society.  You can search for one on their website:

http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/choosingandusing/findasolicitor.law).

There are lots of things you can do to mitigate your risk, such as  making a Will.  But if you have any queries, please get in touch.

Just a short blog about something I’ve just read regarding the Budget.

Quote 1 from George Osbourne:  No Pensioner is “going to lose cash” as a result of the Granny Tax (i.e. the ending of age-related allowances for people over 65 years of age.

Quote 2 from HMRC:  Pensioners will be on “average £83 a year worse off “.

Quote 3 from Ros Altmann, director general of Saga:  ”Because in this economy many younger people borrowed far too much and the banks got into trouble, the government seems to believe it is right and fair to take money away from those who did do something to look after themselves, and use it bail out younger borrowers and banks”.

The reason for this, it has been argued, is that many people do not claim the allowance at the moment because the process is so complicated!

It seems remarkably unfair, when a large proportion of pensioners are losing their homes through care fees, that they are now losing yet another benefit.  But people earning over £150,000 per year are receiving a tax cut of 5%.

I was been passed a leaflet recently which is passed around by a company providing trusts for people who are trying to protect their home from care fees.

It is an interesting read.  Apparently the Local Authority cannot break these trusts, and if you place your property into a trust and do not go into care for 6 months then it is highly unlikely that the Local Authority will pursue you to pay their fees.

This is nonsense.

The Local Authority do not have to prove that you have given away your property to avoid paying care fees, you have to prove that you did not.  And if you are in receipt of this leaflet, how can you possibly prove that you were not concerned over care fees at that time?!?

Does anyone really think that the Local Authority won’t spend a few weeks investigating these property arrangements, and attempt to obtain the value of your property to pay for your care?  In the current economic climate, of course they will.

As a further point, this particular company also offered its services as Trustees of these trusts.  Which would mean that if you wanted to move home you will need to ask for their permission.  And probably also have to pay for that permission.

Finally, I don’t see anywhere in the leaflet the potential risk that, if a Local Authority feels you have fallen foul of the notional capital rules (eg. by depriving yourself of an asset), then they may completely refuse to provide care for someone?

As a further note, this particular company charged over £2,000 plus VAT to create the trust.  So essentially they are approaching elderly and vulnerable clients and asking them to pay this money for what is a fairly worthless piece of documentation.

Please don’t be taken in by these trusts.  If you are concerned over care fees, see a properly qualified Solicitor who has experience in dealing with elderly clients, or maybe even see an Independent Financial Advisor to see if there is anything that can be done with your assets.

But don’t pay all that money for something that simply does not work.

If you want to discuss this then please get in touch.

Interesting point about the importance of using a local Solicitor, and for using them consistently, if you are making a Will.

A client of mine is concerned over their estate.  The client is a widow with two children, one son and one daughter, but has not spoken to their son in several years.  They have no relationship to speak of, so the client is leaving their entire estate to their daughter.

What if the son decides that, when my client dies, they want a share in the estate?  What if they make a claim?

We have acted for this client for quite some time.  We have every Will they have made since the  1980s.  Every Will they have made since around 2002 has excluded the son from the estate, and we have detailed file notes explaining precisely why they have been excluded.

This makes it very hard for the son to claim he was excluded in error, or perhaps there was some doubt over the client’s mental capacity, or that the client was being pressured by the daughter into excluding the son.  The decision to exclude the son was clearly made several years ago, and the client has not waivered since.

If you make a DIY Will does somebody independent make notes?  If you use a Will Writing company, do they have this history to back up your decisions?

Making a Will is about peace of mind, so using a local Solicitor, consistently, will add to that peace of mind by making you confident that what you want to happen will happen.

If you want to talk about this, or are considering making a Will, or revising one, then please get in touch.