“Where There’s a Will there’s a Way”

Where there’s a will, there’s a way is a well known phrase which means basically if you have got the motivation and determination to solve a problem then there is always going to be a solution, you have just got to find it.

However BBC Panorama did not quite see it that way this week. Where there’s a Will there’s a way can also mean that where there is a Will there is a way of ripping you off in preparing your Will. Unscrupulous Will Writers are abound here in the UK and this was exposed by the BBC Panorama team with their usual reliable forensic team.

Until quite recently Solicitors and Banks were the usual port of call when one wanted to prepare a Will. Both were regarded as professional and respectable and could be trusted to look after the money following your death, to pay your bills and distribute your Estate in accordance with your wishes expressed in your Will.

There were of course safeguards. If a Bank employee fiddled and stole your money, this would at some stage come to the attention of the other Bank staff and that Bank employee would be dismissed with reports to the Police and probably imprisoned and the client i.e. the benificiaries would not lose out because the loss would be the Banks.

Similarly, if a Will was prepared by a Solicitor or employee of a Solicitor and the client was defrauded, the firm of Solicitors would be required  to pay out either under the Solicitors Indemnity Fund i.e. the Solicitors’ professional insurance, or if that Solicitor went broke or did not have insurance, the Solicitors Compensation Fund which is a pool of money held by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, formerly the Law Society, raised by a levy on practice certificates each year and the Fund is in place specifically to pay out in the event that there is an unsatisfied claim against a firm of Solicitors.

Well, what about Will Writers? It seems to be the case that they can do what they want. They do not have to be qualified or insured and they can definitely rip you off with ease. This appears to be the position from the Panorama programme; and why not? They do not have the umbrella organisation of a Bank or of the Solicitors Regulation Authority. They are a law to themselves.

If you entrust your money to someone then, generally speaking, you are in a position to enquire and challenge them if you feel that things are not going right. However how can you do this when the Will only takes effect when you die and you are not in a position to challenge their decisions and their handling of your Estate? Often people who make Wills do not want the proposed Beneficiaries to know that they are leaving them money property or gifts. Thus, the Beneficiaries are not in a position to challenge the Will as they are not aware that they were going to receive funds from the Estate. This makes for a beautiful scheme for any fraudulent Will Writer with both the client and the Beneficiaries in the dark.

The simple way to avoid all this trouble is to get your Will prepared by a firm of Solicitors so that you are fully insured in respect of negligence and loss and both you and your Beneficiaries will be fully protected. At Brendan Fleming Solicitors we have decades of experience in preparing Wills on behalf of clients. We have been around since 1982 and we were fully involved in the Law Society’s Will Week and Weekends when we dealt with thousands of Wills for the public. At Brendan Fleming’s we have Brian McGeown who has been in law for 4 decades working with Brendan and we are pleased to promote Bargain Wills so that Wills are affordable to the ordinary man and woman in the street.

So.. “Where there’s a Will there’s a Way. And the Way to get your Will is to ring the number on this website or send an e-mail."

BRENDAN FLEMING SOLICTOR