• March 28, 2024
 Should will writing be a reserved activity?

Should will writing be a reserved activity?

The Legal Ombudsman has called for the Government to work together with wills and probate regulators and representative bodies, to tackle the issue of sub-standard service within the industry.

Only 13% of the 8,000 wills and probate complaints received by the ombudsman were resolved in 2013. These were primarily complaints regarding costing, delays, and failure of the solicitor to follow instructions or provide adequate advice. However, the latest report states that 72% of all the complaints actually required a solution.

Around 180,000 wills were written by non-lawyers last year, however consumers are currently not entitled to file a complaint with the ombudsman should they not receive the level of service they were expecting.

Chief Legal Ombudsman, Andy Sampson, is advising that the Government need to introduce a voluntary scheme as part of the Legal Services Act, whereby unregulated practitioners can opt into the system, meaning their customers would have protection should they be unhappy with the service received.

"Failing a move to regulate all will-writers; we want the government to at least consider a voluntary ombudsman scheme into which service providers can opt themselves. Provision already exists for the lord chancellor to make this happen." says Sampson.

The recent report from the Legal Ombudsman, titled “Complaints in focus: Wills and probate”, advises that one of the steps service providers can take to help prevent complaints, is to avoid misleading claims and be more transparent with consumers.

According to the report, the ideal option would be to make wills and probate services entirely reserved activities. However this proposal was presented by the Legal Services Board in 2013 to the Lord Chancellor, Chris Grayling, who refused to have this enforced.

Leading organisations, such as the Society of Will Writers, are in support of increasing regulations, which would be enforced within their growing base of over 2,000 practitioners within the UK.

As it stands, the most likely scenario is having the voluntary scheme brought in, but only as a short-term solution until an alternative concept is formulated.

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