Wills and Probate | Certainty UK Will Register Blog

Will Aid has teamed up with Certainty to enable the public to register their Wills during this years Will Aid campaign which runs throughout November.

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Looking seriously at protecting Private Clients? Then look seriously at Certainty because it is ’so much more than just a Will Register’.

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The Certainty National Will Register is the proud sponsor of the forthcoming STEP Autumn Conference. The conference will take place on the 9th October 2009 in London.

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The primary purpose of the Certainty National Will Register is to give each individual member of the public an opportunity to safeguard their most important document and so protect their family from further distress after their death.

This should be an issue of choice which does not rely on everyone else being compelled to do the same. After all, making a choice to ensure traceability of a Will is only relevant to the person who has chosen to register. Importantly the Ministry of Justice has recently confirmed to Certainty that they have no plans to make registration of a Will compulsory, a position acknowledged by most of the legal profession.

However, this does not remove the need to deliver a viable register in order that the public can make the choice to protect themselves. Significantly the Ministry of Justice has given their sanction for a voluntary viable register to offer this choice. In a recent survey 77% of the public questioned said they welcomed and would use a voluntary register and a similar percentage was sceptical about using a government-led initiative.

Certainty meets the need required by the public. Certainty offers a search facility for both registered and unregistered Wills. Therefore even if a client hasn’t registered their Will it can still be searched for after death. In conclusion it should be recognised that compulsory Will registration is highly unlikely in the UK. Certainty has provided a viable voluntary register which works in the best interests of both the public the profession.

Be Safe and use Certainty to register a will on the UK’s National Will Register.

Paul Bricknell of Liverpool solicitors Mace & Jones, a Certainty founder-member firm, says: “Making a Will is not the only important step to take. There is no doubt that every year people’s estates are administered as if they were intestate, even if they had prepared a Will, simply because no one knows where the Will is kept. The Certainty service enables families to find the Will even where they have no idea as to where it is stored.”

But what about the many “tens of thousands of people” who die intestate each year? The Law Commission quote this figure as background to their current review of the law of intestacy. They add: “National Consumer Council research suggests that more than 27 million adults in England and Wales do not have a Will and that those who need one most are the least likely to have one…nearly one quarter of 55 to 64 year-olds have personal experience of the human and economic costs associated with intestacy or know someone who has.

“The problems caused range from inconvenience, to serious hardship or distress. Equally, applications under the family provision legislation can be expensive, and damaging to family relationships.”

Be Safe and use Certainty to register a will on the UK’s National Will Register.

Certainty announced it has received in excess of 90,000 hits to its website from the public within the first 12 months of going live. Lea Bellion, Head of Customer Relations, Certainty says: “We are extremely pleased with the amount of visits to the Certainty website from members of the public.

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The vexed question of whether or not Will drafting should be regulated has dogged the legal world for years. However, as we await deliberations on the regulation of solicitors by Lord Hunt on behalf of the Law Society and the decision of the newly created Legal Services Board on which legal services should be regulated and which need not, it seems timely to re-visit this question.

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Registering a client’s Will delivers real benefits to the Wills and Probate professional in addition to the families of the deceased. For if a Will cannot be found the consequences may be two-fold:

• The estate is deemed intestate, so the testator’s wishes are in effect ignored.
• The solicitor who prepared the undiscovered Will loses the probate work.

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This is a letter the Certainty National Will Register has received from a member of the public.

Ageing is expected in any population and looking after elderly relatives is only one part of this community wide problem. People of any age who are rendered unable to look after themselves properly as a result of disease or accident can also need help and assistance in dealings regarding their money and belongings, as well as in dealings regarding their well being and healthcare.

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This is a letter the Certainty National Will Register has received from a member of the public.

My elderly parents have expressed interest in giving me lasting powers of attorney. On reasearching the subject, it appears that there are two types. The Personal and Welfare lasting powers of attorney allows a person to hand over the decision-making powers in regard to their healthcare and welfare to a responsible person of their choosing. The Property and Affairs lasting powers of attorney allows a person to hand over the decision-making powers in regard to their property and affairs to a responsible person of their choosing.

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