Wills and Probate | Certainty UK Will Register Blog

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A will register has always been a great idea, but technology, funding and legislation has hampered the implementation of a truly efficient, effective and reliable register.

You may find several companies advertising their services as a will register but here’s some good advice. Ask yourself what constitutes a register, one that safeguards you! Certainty.co.uk is totally different to any other register you may stumble on. Firstly its Chairman is a former Law Society President. It took two years to research and develop. (more…)

‘Genteel’ spinster leaves museum £2m in her will

An unassuming pensioner who spent much of her life browsing at Scotland’s National Museum has surprised officials by leaving the institution £2m in her will. Adele Stewart, a spinster who lived a modest life in a terrace house in Edinburgh, died aged 79 in 2006. (more…)

4-Feb-2008
Paul Hirst, Halliwells 

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Recent changes to the inheritance tax threshold have the potential to make wills an easier sell than ever before.

The Government’s proposed changes to the inheritance tax threshold are seen by many as detrimental to the profession’s efforts to encourage people to make wills.The savings offered by the changes will affect the practice of including nil-rate band discretionary trusts in wills, on the basis that these are no longer required to give the inheritance tax savings previously only available by using this device.

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Tuesday 08 August 2006

Eight out of ten people want the government to protect them from untrained and unregulated will writers, according to a new survey.

An ICM poll found that 85 per cent of adults believe that everyone offering will-making services should be properly regulated.

A growing number of people are being exploited by people claiming to be experts in will writing. The Law Society has today published a Dossier of despair to illustrate the risks of using unregulated will writers. (more…)

The government should consider regulating the will-writing industry which is a “hunting ground for the incompetent”, says an MP.Lorely Burt, Liberal Democrat spokeswoman for business, enterprise and regulatory reform, said fraudsters had been able to rip off customers. She called for stricter rules in the industry and possible regulation.No qualification is needed to write up the document, prompting warnings from charities about bogus will-writers.Ms Burt, MP for Solihull, told a debate at Westminster Hall that there were a number of ethical businesses in the industry, but fraudsters had taken advantage of a lack of statutory regulation. (more…)

People in the Taunton and Wellington area are being warned to avoid bogus will writers preying on the elderly and vulnerable.Taunton and District Citizens Advice Bureau has received information about cold calls and adverts promising cut-price wills that turn out to be anything but. Liz Fothergill, manager of the bureau in Station Road, Taunton, said many people are lured into paying £24 through hard sell tactics and then never receive a will. In other cases, they do receive a document, but it turns out to be worthless.Mrs Fothergill said: “Bureaux around the country are seeing the public being conned into parting with their cash by people offering cheap will-writing.

“Often costs mount up, their wishes are not expressed or the will may not even be legally valid. (more…)

Money Talk
By Ian Burman
Probate lawyer at national law firm Laytons

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Half of all Britons have not made a will. A legal expert looks at the risks these people are running.

The law sets out clear rules for what happens to your estate - property, personal possessions and cash - if you die without a will.Passing away without a will is known in legal parlance as dying intestate and the rules that govern the distribution of the estate in such circumstances is known as the law of intestacy.

Under the Administration of Estates Act 1925 the spouse and children do not automatically receive everything in the deceased’s estate. (more…)