Morrisons Solicitors is one of Surrey’s leading law firms who has been providing legal services for over 200 years and is a Legal 500 listed firm.

David Kingham, Head of Private Client, Morrisons says: “We offer Will registration to existing and new clients and the level of interest is very good. Our approach to offering Will registration to a client is an information process that encourages them to register without feeling that they are having something sold to them. We regard it as very important that a Will is registered and we give a default position to the client regarding registration of their Will as standard. If a client perceives that they do not have a need to register their Will we explain how registration aims to minimise the risk of difficulties in the future. Informing clients of these difficulties and how they can occur allows the client to make a truly informed and enlightened decision on registering their Will. Simply, we inform them of the benefits.”

Morrisons also report a 7.5% uplift in requests from clients to review their Wills following communication regarding registering them. With over 400 solicitor practices throughout England and Wales now using the Will register it is clear that the profession is becoming very proficient at offering Will registration.

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

The truth is you are no longer simply competing with the solicitors down the road.  The market has in recent years become much more competitive with other organisations entering the private client market and traditional areas of work being offered in different ways. Furthermore, over the next five years private client practitioners can expect to experience even greater threats and competition as the effects of the Legal Services Act begin to be fully felt.

If you, as a private client practitioner are concerned about the level and sophistication of the competition, then you should be S and it will only get tougher over the next few years.

So what in practical terms should you be considering in light of these threats? Here are the top 5 key issues that ought to be on your real and mental agendas for discussion:

1.Focus on personal performance marketing skills - Ask yourself these questions. How would you rate yourself and your colleagues when it comes to sales, influencing, writing and networking skills? If these are not strong points and you have had no real training in these areas then you are always going to be on the back foot. The big high street brand names who you may have to compete with, will have people who are very comfortable and highly trained in these personal skill areas. Like it or not your legal skills will be a given to most private clients. If you want to be able to compete in the years to come you need to ensure that all your team at all levels have beefed up their personal performance marketing skills. Think about it. They all either deal with enquiries from prospective clients, talk to existing clients or know and meet people who are potential clients in the future.

2. Don’t be a www firm! - You all know what www stands for. I have an alternative meaning to describe many practices I have met in the last year.  It stands for ‘worry’, ‘winge’ and ‘wait’! Many practitioners tell me how worried they are about the external threats, then ‘winge’ about how bad things have got and how ³this isn’t the legal profession they entered² S but what do they do about it? They ‘wait’ to see what others are doing and in the meantime do nothing! I can tell you S right now there are opportunities out there to be taken advantage of. The longer you wait however, the less chance you will have to find and exploit them.

3. Strengthen your relationships with your existing clients – This is very important indeed. Focus on this before you spend your marketing budget attempting to generate new business. The rationale for this is very simple.
Your competitors will be after your clients. You need to secure your relationship with them now to make them feel like you are ‘their’ legal firm. The object is to make them as uncomfortable as possible about going elsewhere.

The key thing is to keep in touch with your clients as often as possible once a matter has been concluded. This of course needs to be for things that are for the client’s benefit, without bombarding them with too much junk post or e mail.

Two good things worth considering that help in this respect, are offers to review past Wills they have made, or perhaps an invitation to them to register their Will through your firm with Certainty the national Will Register. Both of these demonstrate client service, cement your relationship and are potentially  revenue producing.

4. Work with others – As you cast your eye over the growing competition, you will see a pattern emerging of people and organisations with different strengths joining together for mutual benefit. Typically, both are able to bring something different to the party. The model of private client practitioners from legal firms providing front line Wills and Probate services for large brand names is a good example of this. Actively, discuss and explore the question S who can you work with?

5. Review your opening hours - I rang a firm two days ago at 9.20 a.m. S believe it or not as a prospective client. A recorded message greeted me with an message that they don’t open until 9.30 a.m! As simple as it may seem, start to ask questions about your opening hours and accessibility. Many of the brand names and your new competitors will simply generate more clients and business because they are open and available when you are not!

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

My fellow legal colleagues and I joined Certainty because we realised it had taken an old idea (a Wills Register), grabbed it by the scruff of the neck and turned it into something that produces enormous marketing, fee earning and client-enhancing benefits for the Wills & Probate professional.

Aside from the fact that Certainty is probably the most advanced Will register in the world, Certainty was developed to ensure a Will writing client is a client for life not just a one-off transaction and also creates further opportunities to gain new work from new clients. Certainty makes it easy to achieve this and it all starts with a simple Will registration.

Thoroughly researched and developed over two years, Certainty is extremely innovative. Subsequently it launched in early 2008 and is currently rolling out geographically around the UK.

With several hundred firms now on board as Founder members, Certainty is proving to be extremely beneficial for solicitors and the general public – clients and clients’ families.
Certainty is a living, breathing, easy to use and highly effective resource that can be at the heart of generating revenue for you.

A few important facts: the Certainty Will Register is ARERT compliant (European Network of Register of  Wills Association) so enjoys an easy interface with all jurisdictions. Certainty’s advisors and advocates are leading legal figures. Certainty has issued 750,000 Will registrations to date.

A Note on the Current Climate

I do understand how difficult things are at present – the credit crunch, property market, the impending Legal Services Act and stark warnings about technology taking over most law firm’s functions. 
What better time to strengthen and develop that part of your firm which may well be the jewel in the crown – the private client department.  Steal a march on unqualified will-writers, be on the front foot, make Wills and estate administration exciting and rewarding.

Certainty has great potential for the profession so please get in touch for an over the phone resume, or as one member puts it, “the biggest thing to hit our profession, ever!”

Reading-based Boyes Turner is one of the UK’s leading full service law firms. They work with many of the world’s largest multinationals and successful UK and European businesses – as well as looking after private clients’ interests.

Partner Caroline Wallis advises the firm’s high net worth clients on Wills, Inheritance Tax Planning, Probate and Trusts.  She says:

“Our first act after joining Certainty was to send a letter to everybody who has made a Will with us since May 2000, adapting one of the Certainty template letters.  There’s no doubt this has reminded people about us – the response rate was 10-20%, significantly higher than normal.

Nobody said ‘How dare you write to us!’ and everybody appreciates having a certificate that shows where their Will is held.

I like to think we will be able to prospect further using Certainty’s very cost-effective membership options and offers.”

Nicholls Christie Crocker offer a range of private client services from their offices just outside west London.
Solicitor Nicholas Christie finds the Certainty service

“very good for our firm.  Naturally we offer Certainty’s Will registration to clients whose Wills we have executed and also advise new clients to register.  We don’t charge extra for registration but include this within our scale of charges.  I’d say people are impressed with the service.

I hope it will bring in extra business as well.  For example, I’m about to send letters to 50 or 60 clients for whom we have acted recently but whose Wills we don’t at present hold.  Certainty’s letter templates are helpful.  We simply modify them to suit our particular needs.”

Glazer Delmar is one of south east London’s largest law firms, offering a range of legal support services and advice.  Head of their Wills & Probate department Susan England says:

“Certainty’s service has enabled us to conduct a review of our Wills bank with the added value of being able to introduce Will registration as a special offer.”  They charge £25 to register an individual Will, £40 for a couple’s mirror Wills.”

The firm’s website reminds clients that 67% of people do not know the location of their parents’ Wills, and adds:

• The Register records that we are holding  your Will. No one at the Register actually sees it and we keep it.
• Following your death, the Register gives us details about anyone who asks them about your Will.
• We answer the query if it is legitimate, but  if not, we ignore it, thus protecting your privacy.

“Although Glazer Delmar has taken care of all Wills lodged here in the past, and will continue to do so, there has never before been a national Wills Register and we do believe this service would be of benefit to our clients.”

Ms England adds:

“Although the Wills and probate market in this part of London is very cost-driven, our clients understand the benefits of registration.  Many have previously asked us how their family would know where to look for their Will.
I’d say that Certainty’s service helps us to engage with existing clients.  It also gives us extra marketing muscle that will prove especially valuable in combating the competition from non-solicitor firms when the new business structures permitted by the Legal Services Act start to impinge on our business.”

Phillips, a seven-partner practice, serves Hampshire’s private and business communities.

Solicitor Shirah Real, who specialises in Wills and probate and elderly client matters, says:

“Certainty has given our Wills and Probate team the opportunity to check that all our records are up-to-date, and offer Will registration as an additional service.  We’ve had a lot of positive interest from clients in response to our letters.  Often they tell us that hearing from us reminded them to update their Will.

We’ve also attracted new clients.  It can be difficult to market Wills as a service, which makes Certainty’s letter templates really helpful.  We explain that registering with Certainty records only the fact that their Will exists and where it is – not its contents.

Three types of clients find the service of particular value: those who don’t have much or even any family in the local area, those who travel a lot, and those who like to keep their affairs very private.

They all appreciate that registering the Will with Certainty is going to make probate easier for their family when the time comes.  So Certainty’s service has boosted our business and at the same time enabled us to give our clients added protection by registering their Wills.

I’d say that Certainty’s service is beneficial to our firm – it helps us to generate revenue – and is of real value to our clients.”

Developed over a two-year period, Certainty.co.uk has invested in excess of £1.5 million to provide a truly innovative national will register. Extensive research has ensured that the register complies with legal requirements. Certainty is also Basel Convention compliant and exceeds ARERT’s specification.
Certainty.co.uk is exclusively for the use of solicitors, STEP members and the general public. Unregulated ‘will writers’ are not eligible to use the register.

Certainty’s chairman, Kevin Martin, Law Society President 2005/6 holds the firm belief that Certainty provides a definitive solution supported by advanced technological investment and regular consultations with the most senior and experienced legal professionals.

Kevin says, “The historical need to set up a will register has been met by Certainty. The solution to the chronic problem of will registration has arrived for the first time. The Certainty will register has gone to extreme lengths to ensure in terms of ease of use, cost, and the marketing opportunities it creates for Solicitors and STEP members that it is a definitive and all encompassing solution. This world leading voluntary register certainly ticks all the boxes. It has been developed, funded, meets criteria, has national and international capabilities and is here now.”

Certainty is rolling out to the profession by postcode and has been extremely well received – this is demonstrated by the rapid uptake of members and users. If you are interested in Certainty and would like to know more contact 0845 408 0404 or email: info@certainty.co.uk

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

The statutory legacy payable on intestacy to surviving spouses and civil partners rose as of 1 February 2009 to £250,000 where there are children and £450,000 where there are no children but parents or siblings.

Spouses and civil partners have a right to capitalise the life interest under sections 46 and 47 of the Administration of Estates Act 1925.
The capital value of the life interest is calculated according to tables in the Intestate Succession (Interest and Capitalisation) Order 1977/1491 (SI 1977/1491). The tables are based on the yield of 15-year government stocks, and the age and sex of the surviving spouse or civil partner.
With effect from 1 February, the Intestate Succession (Interest and Capitalisation) (Amendment) Order 2008 (SI 2008/3162) replaces the tables in the 1977 order with new tables that take into account increases in life expectancy and decreases in the yields on government stocks.

Interest on legacies
The rate of interest payable on legacies is fixed by reference to the basic rate payable on money in court unless the will provides otherwise (practice direction 40, paragraph 15 of the Civil Procedure Rules. That basic rate changed to 2% on 1 February – it had been 4% since February 2002). There is a useful leaflet on the Court Funds Office website that gives interest rates payable on money in court going back to October 1965.

Applications for a grant
There are also changes to the procedure for applications for a grant of representation. The new IHT 400 inheritance tax account form (replacing the IHT 200) was launched on 17 November 2008. HM Revenue & Customs will accept IHT 200 accounts until 9 June 2009, but from that date the new IHT 400 account must be used.

HM Courts Service has issued a notice advising of a procedural change when solicitors are applying for a grant. From 1 January 2009, all applications must include two A4 copies of the deceased’s sworn will and, where applicable, codicil.
The notice contains advice on the required appearance and physical condition of the copies, and a warning that the application will be stopped and delayed if it does not comply with the new procedure.

The notice also includes advice that, if it is necessary to take apart either a will or codicil, to copy it. A letter should accompany the application to explain this and confirm that the will has been restored to its condition, prior to the copying.
The Law Society Probate Section expressed concern that some wills and codicils may be bound in such a way as to make it impossible to reconstitute them as they were before being copied. In the event of any query being raised about possible tampering with the will, valuable evidence as to the appearance of the will after death may be lost. HMCS responded by saying that, statistically, there are now very few wills created in a format that needs to be unbound before copying. It is clearly something that needs to be considered when preparing wills for clients.

Business property relief
A bit of good news on the business property relief front. HMRC has lost its appeal from the special commissioners in HMRC v Trustees of the Nelson Dance Family [2009] EWHC 71 (Ch). (Note, however, that the Revenue has been given leave to appeal.)

Nelson Dance (the deceased) carried on a farm business as a sole trader. The assets of the business included land and buildings. He transferred some of the land, which had substantial development value, to a discretionary settlement and died shortly afterwards. The transfer would attract inheritance tax unless it qualified for 100% relief. It was common ground that the land attracted agricultural relief on the agricultural value of the property, but that left the very considerable development value unrelieved. HMRC contended that relief was not available because the deceased had not transferred relevant business property. HMRC lost before the special commissioners and also before Mr Justice Sales in the Chancery Division.

Section 104 of the Inheritance Tax Act 1984 provides that relief is available where the value transferred is ‘attributable to the value of any relevant business property’, and ‘relevant business property’ is defined in section 105 as, inter alia, ‘a business or interest in a business’. HMRC argued that the deceased had not transferred a business; he had merely transferred individual assets, so relief was unavailable.

However, other sections of the act are relevant. Section 110 defines ‘value of a business’ as the value of its assets reduced by its liabilities.
Mr Justice Sales held that all that is necessary for relief to be available under section 104 is that the value transferred can be attributed to the value of the deceased’s business. It is irrelevant that it is also possible to attribute value to the assets transferred. The wording of section 104 is convoluted, but in the case of a business there is a direct cross-reference to the simple test in section 110 to determine whether the value transferred is attributable to the value of the business. The operation of section 104 does not require a choice to be made to make an attribution exclusively to one category or the other. If the land transferred was used in the business then the value to be attributed to it would, inevitably, also be attributed to the value of the business by section 110.

This reading of the legislation makes life much simpler for taxpayers by giving a straightforward test. However, it raises a query as to the policy behind business property relief. The transfer the deceased made was not made for the purposes of his business. In fact it was made with the intention of removing assets from his business without consideration. In the present economic climate, it might not be too surprising if the government took a close look at the detail of business property relief.

Apportioning trust expenses between capital and income
The Court of Appeal judgment in HMRC v Trustees of Peter Clay [2008] EWCA Civ 1441 is worth a look on this question. The court held that it was beyond argument that an expense incurred ‘for the benefit of the whole estate’ must be charged to capital. However, those portions of expenses which can be shown to relate exclusively to income can be set against income. The onus is on trustees to demonstrate that part of a trust management expense relates exclusively to income, which may require detailed record-keeping.

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.

High level support for regulation also came from the Joint Committee report (of Lords and Commons) on the draft Legal Services Bill. It recently recommended that will writing should be regulated.

Fiona Woolf Law Society president, said: ”There is clearly a consensus for regulation and evidence to support the extent of the problem. There are some dreadful examples of poor advice, shoddy service and unethical behaviour by will writers. A poorly drafted will may have no legal meaning and can leave families in real difficulties.

”The government must ensure that will writers are properly qualified, insured and able to offer consumers effective complaints-handling procedures. Solicitors who draft wills are trained, regulated and required to be insured by the Law Society should anything go wrong.”

The survey also reveals a worrying statistic that only 41 per cent of the adult population have an up-to-date will and about one-third of respondents (32 per cent) said they have no intention of ever making a will.

Ms Woolf added: ”Writing a will is one of the most important financial and personal decisions for people to make. This survey reveals a worrying level of complacency and the need for the public to be educated about the importance of making a will.

”If you care about what happens to your property and assets after you die, you must make a will. Without a will, the state decides who inherits your estate, so your friends, relatives and favourite charities may get nothing. If your circumstances change, your will must be updated or it may be invalid.

”It is also vital to see a solicitor for expert advice so your family can avoid paying unnecessary levels of inheritance tax. Recent changes to the inheritance tax regime mean that it is more important than ever to obtain a solicitor’s advice on wills, tax and trusts planning.”

Example case study

An old lady found a will writer who was advertising in the local newspaper for wills at £24 each.

She wanted a will so that her son would not inherit anything, as she had not been in touch with him for 20 years and he had stolen from her in the past. Instead, she wanted her long-time carers to inherit her estate.

She died in hospital, and her son immediately emptied the house when he heard the news. He found the will that said that he was to inherit nothing, but was told the will was invalid because the witness signatures had not been signed together and there were other mistakes with the will. He inherited everything, and the lady died intestate.

The carers organised and paid for the funeral; the son did not attend. The carers are now using a solicitor to try to recover what is rightfully theirs. Because the will is invalid, they cannot get anything. They are now trying to sue the will writer, but he has no insurance, and their claim is likely to be dropped due to the fact that they can’t afford to take it further.

This is a press release from the Law Society
Source: http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/view=newsarticle.law?NEWSID=296195