One in five faulty Wills could lead to big inheritance tax bills

One in five Wills contain basic errors according to a recent report from the Legal Services Board which called for Will writing to be regulated to improve standards.

Writing a Will is the first steps to make sure you choose who benefits from your lifetime’s work and to keep inheritance tax [IHT]  to a minimum so it is vital to get it right. By the time you realise there has been a mistake it may be too late to do anything about it.

Although lawyers welcome disputed Wills with open arms because of the fees for sorting things out disputed and faulty Wills are bad news for the families concerned as the lawyer’s time is usually a massive drain on the value of the estate.

Lack of clarity about the testator’s intentions  due to the lack of knowledge of the person taking the instructions can prove difficult to sort out posthumously but the Legal Services Board claims many Will writers are simply ‘not listening’ to their clients.

It’s report states:

‘We found consistent patterns of sloppiness simple errors and poor communication. This often resulted in an unacceptable service for cus consumers were subjected to unfair sales practices’.

Worse still the LSB said it was aware of some ‘examples of fraud and deception’. Its survey of 100 people who wanted a Will found that 20% came back with ‘basic errors’ in their Wills. A handful of the Wills were so bad they ‘could not be executed’.

Currently anyone can help to write a Will. However, under the plans Will writing will become a ‘reserved activity’ for the first time. This will mean that anyone writing a Will have to be registered with one of eight professional bodies.

The Citizens Advice Bureau has warned that increasing numbers of people have been conned by bogus Will writers, some advertising Wills for around £25 in local papers or offering Will writing services door to door. Low cost Wills could prove an expensive mistake given the sums of money  involved in many bequests and most litigation.

But the fundamental problem remains that only a minority of people ever make a Will and most people die intestate. Extending regulation to cover Will writing will do nothing about that-unless of course the authorities decide to make Will writing compulsory like registering a property title at the land registry.

This article just goes to show  the importance in having your Will prepared by a company who cares about its customers and with the ability to match the wishes of a testator with the terms of a Will while at the same time ensuring the Will is tax efficient and free from future challenge.

Consumer Care has a legal team managed by a specialist in the area of Wills estate administration and tax planning the former partner in charge of the Wills Trusts Tax and estates department  of a top ten national solicitors firm where on average on a yearly basis the department produced 35000 Wills .Added to the fact he has just completed 40 years  in the legal profession in this area of the law We can honestly say there is no company better placed to prepare your Will and give you all related advice than Consumer Care .