Cheap £99 Wills aren’t always what they seem…

Whilst listening to the radio on my way into work today I heard yet another advert about a company able to offer clients full estate planning and a Will for just £99. On getting into work, I decided to google the name of the company advertising this service. No where on their website does it state they offer this service for £99 but what it does state is that they will telephone the client to take instructions, prepare the Will and then send the Will to the client to sign. At no point does it mention meeting the client to understand their Estate and their circumstances to ensure that the client has the right Will for them or that they will check the Will once it is signed to ensure that it has been properly executed. I wonder how many individuals instructing them later have issues with these Wills? It also states that they can store the Will for an annual fee which when you multiple by the number of years it is likely to be held, would likely work out more than the fees we would charge given we store Wills free of charge. Many of these companies are unregulated and put in place Wills which are not quite right for the client or in some cases, Wills which the clients do not properly understand because they have not been able to sit down with a qualified solicitor to ask questions and who would go through the Will with them. I have seen this first hand in the last couple of months when a client came in with their mother’s Will who had died thinking that the property passed to him absolutely as that is what the Will writer told his mother but instead it passed into a trust for his stepfather and it is only on his death given he does not have capacity to end the trust, that it will pass to my client. He advised that was not what his mother wanted. The point here, is that cheaper is so often not better. It is worth paying more to get the right advice and the right Will in place than having a Will which is perhaps not fit for purpose or not executed correctly. I really hope in the future that Wills do become more regulated! If you would like to talk with one of our experienced solicitors about creating or updating your Will, please contact us to speak to a member of our Private Wealth & Inheritance Team, or visit our Creating a Will page.