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Will writers to be regulated in new crackdown on dodgy practices that can cost the bereaved tens of thousands

Will-writers face a major crackdown on dodgy practices that can cost the bereaved tens of thousands of pounds.

A damning report by the law regulator found ‘systemic problems’ across the whole will-writing industry.

It found vulnerable pensioners preyed on by firms using high-pressure doorstep selling.

Accuracy is everything: Entire wills can be invalidated by sloppy mistakes, the regulator warned

Advisers are entering people’s homes and refusing to leave until a will has been drawn up and signed. Many are stealthily inserting a clause into the contract so they can rake in thousands of pounds in future charges.

Even experienced lawyers are making ‘sloppy’ errors which in extreme cases can invalidate an entire will, the regulator says.

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The Legal Services Board regulator is urging the government to take action by regulating the entire industry.

Chief executive Chris Kenny says it is unacceptable for bereaved families to be left in a financial mess as they try to cope with the pain of losing a loved one.

‘There is some really nasty criminal stuff going on at the bottom of the market,’ he says.

‘But what was a real surprise to us was - across regulated solicitors and unregulated firms - was to find that one in five wills is just plain rubbish. Details about names, amounts and addresses are wrong and it creates an added level of stress relatives don’t need’.

The industry watchdog is putting together a ‘blueprint’ for will-writers - a completely new regulatory rulebook it will present to Conservative secretary of state Ken Clarke later this year.

Around 90  per cent of wills are written by solicitors, who are already regulated. But Mr Kenny says existing rules should be ‘tightened up’.

The remaining 10  per cent of wills are drawn-up by unregulated firms. Many are cut-price online or door-step outfits.

The legal ombudsman last July issued a warning over ‘flash firms’, which take money for a service then disappear without a trace. The regulator found some guilty of fraud.

This is Money and sister title Money Mail has time and again exposed the shameful exploitation of the bereaved on the High Street. When someone makes a will, they must appoint executors to sort out their estate when they die. Along with doorstep salesmen, big banks are guilty of offering cheap wills but then appointing themselves as an executor so that they can claim thousands of pounds when a customer passes away. Banks can charge over £4,000 on a £100,000 estate for these services.

The Legal Services Board wants everybody who provides will-writing or estate administration regulated under the same rules. A code of conduct, compensation arrangements and complaint procedures should all be standardised, it says. If minsters accept the proposals, the new rules could be in place by the end of 2013.

Jane Lee, a solicitors at Pannone law firm, welcomed the Legal Services Board's recommendations.

She said: ‘When people make wills, they want to know that their assets and family members are going to be looked after in the way that they intend and in a tax efficient manner. This is often not achieved when wills are written by non-professional will writers.

‘The LSB's proposals, if implemented, should give many people peace of mind that will happen by ensuring that only those who understand all the relevant issues will be allowed to draw up wills.’

Geoffrey Shindler, president of The Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners, says: 'The regulation of will-writing is a progressive move both for the public and those offering will writing as a service. There have been many horror stories reported on badly drafted and ineffective wills over the past few years, and the proposal is to be welcomed.'

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