News ...
A Cambridgeshire woman has been jailed for forging her partner's Will
Karen Phillips, aged 46, forged the document after her businessman partner Stephen Chambers, 56, died suddenly in Godmanchester in 2011.
Peterborough Crown Court heard she made herself the main beneficiary, to the detriment of his family, and would have gained several hundred thousand pounds.
She admitted fraud by false representation and was jailed for eight months.
Speaking after Thursday's hearing, police said Phillips alerted Mr Chambers' family after finding the father of three dead at his home in Crowhill on 23 January 2011.
Security for children
She told his children he had written a will which had been given to her solicitor.
A month later, the Chambers family obtained a copy of the will which they suspected had been forged by Phillips.
It stated that each of Mr Chambers' children would receive £10,000 and his mother £15,000, police said.
Phillips was arrested and denied forging the will, but admitted the offence when she realised her computer was to be examined.
She claimed she wanted security for herself and her children, and that Mr Chambers would have wanted that, a police spokesman added.
Two women, aged 74 and 29, were cautioned by police for signing the forged will.
Det Con Derek Cornhill said: "Phillips was upset when Mr Chambers died and believed she was carrying out his wishes, but forging a will is a criminal offence and her actions caused Mr Chambers' family extra concern and anxiety during their grief.
"If Phillips has succeeded in the fraud it would have denied Mr Chambers' immediate family of the inheritance due to them.
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Probate & Estate Administration 3 November ...
The Legal Services Board's Consumer Panel has published an analysis of complaints received by the Legal Ombudsman (Leo) about probate and estate administration.
During the twelve months to 12 October 2011, Leo received more than 1500 complaints from members of the public regarding alleged poor practice by solicitors in probate and estate administration. (Leo only handles complaints about lawyers).
The most common reason for a complaint was costs.
In 12 per cent of cases, the client alleged fees were excessive, either relative to the size of the estate or because the estate was apparently straightforward to administer.
In a further 10 per cent of complaints, the solicitor did not provide a proper explanation or estimate of costs, according to the complainant. Some clients complained of final bills being far higher than initial estimates, often with little communication from the lawyer to explain the extra costs, and no attempt to break them down.
Others said they were charged for an initial consultation which they had understood was offered free of charge, or were charged fees for work that the lay executors had done. Some complained that the solicitor had sold property at well below the market value in order to achieve a quick sale.
Delay and failure to progress an estate were also major sources of dissatisfaction, accounting for 27 per cent of complaints to Leo. However, the latter sometimes found that slow progress was due to external agencies rather than the solicitor's shortcomings. Clients' dissatisfaction was often more about the firm's failure to keep them informed, or its inability to estimate the timescales accurately, than about the length of time involved.
In 11 per cent of cases, the cause of the complaint was solicitors' alleged failure to provide proper legal advice to interested parties. These included not informing beneficiaries and executors about their inclusion in a will; not alerting people to their right to challenge a will; failing to warn them of the possible consequences of a course of action; incurring unnecessary tax liabilities; and not alerting consumers to a change of fee earner.
Thirteen per cent of complainants said the solicitor had failed to follow their instructions. Here the alleged offences included releasing papers to parties against instructions; failure to send copies of letters and documents as promised; financial loss caused by mishandling of money from the estate; and not following instructions specified in the will.
Our Thoughts; It would appear that most of the complaints could have been avoided by better communication and keeping the next of kin in touch with developments. Here at Will Writing & Probate Services Ltd we provide regular updates to our clients and would never agree a lower sale price for a property without the full agreement from the next of kin.
Bristol man jailed for stealing £75,000 from his elderly aunt - 29th October
A BRISTOL "family man" was jailed for nine months after admitting stealing more than £75,000 from his 87-year-old aunt's savings. Bristol Crown Court heard that Terry Pocock stole the money to repay debts after using a power of attorney to deal with his aunt's estate.
Mr. Pocock drafted a power of attorney application to take over the affairs of his aunt, Marjorie Insall, in 2002. He drafted the document but it was never registered with the Office of Public Guardian.
In 2006, Mrs Insall was diagnosed with dementia and admitted to a care home in Torbay, Devon. The court heard her house was sold for £124,000 in 2007. "In May 2010, Pocock wrote to the NHS trust that ran his aunt's care home and told them she only had £20,000 left in her savings and may need help paying for care in the future. "A benefits officer looked into the matter and found out about Mrs Insall's house being sold, and found there was a shortage of about £75,000 in the pensioner's account."He wrote to the defendant asking where the money was. At first Pocock claimed that the house had only sold for £50,000 and then he claimed he had put the missing money into a bond. When he was not able to prove this the benefits officer informed the police."The court was told that in police interview Pocock said he used his aunt's money to pay off debts he had accrued when he changed his job and that he had no previous convictions. Tabitha Macfarlane, defending, said: "Pocock is a hard working family man. He works hard to support his wife and his two sons. "He had a very close relationship with his aunt – she looked after him and even considered adopting him. "When she became ill he started caring for her. He believed he had power of attorney and started to use the money to pay for her care. It was unfortunate that he then got into debt and used her money without her knowledge to pay off his own debts."
She added: "He was extremely remorseful and felt incredibly guilty about using her money for his own means. He is truly ashamed of what he has done." Judge William Hart told Pocock he would have normally jailed him for 18 months but believed the case was exceptional.
Our Thoughts; When you are acting as an Attorney you can only use the money for purposes that the Donor would themselves, you cant spend it on yourself or you could join Mr. Pocock.
Court refuses to rectify Will signed by spouse - 28th October
A Will mistakenly signed by your spouse cannot be retrospectively rectified, the England & Wales High Court has ruled.
The testators in the case (Marley v Rawlings 2011 EWHC 161 Ch) were an elderly married couple, Mr. and Mrs Alfred Rawlings. In 1999 they instructed their family solicitor to prepare simple mirror wills leaving everything to one another. In the event of their death it was to go to their adopted son Terry Marley, who was also a joint tenant of the family home.
Although the solicitor and his secretary went to the Rawlings' home to supervise and witness the execution of the wills, the testators both managed to sign the wrong wills without anybody noticing.
The error was not spotted until the second death, that of Mr. Rawlings, seven years later.
Mr. Rawlings' will was thus on the face of it invalid. As a result, the Rawlings' combined estate did not pass to their intended beneficiary, Terry Marley. Instead, under the intestacy rules, it would pass to the couple's two natural sons, who had not been not mentioned in the mirror wills.
Terry Marley brought the High Court action to challenge this clearly unintended outcome. He put forward two grounds.
One was that the wills had in fact been properly executed within the meaning of s.9 of the 1837 Act, which requires that a testator "intended by his signature to give effect to the will" which he or she had signed.
The court ruled out that attempt, citing the cases of Hunt (1875) and Meyer (1908), while rejecting subsequent case law from other jurisdictions.
Marley's second string was an application to have the mistake rectified under s.20 of the Administration of Justice Act 1982. However, that section can only be invoked if the mistake was either a clerical error or a failure to understand the testator's instructions.
The High Court decided it was neither, and refused to rectify the will. Marley now intends to bring a negligence suit against the family solicitor responsible.
Our Thoughts; Since 2002 we have printed the name of the testator next to the place for signature. Whilst there will always be the occasional distraction, this helps to alleviate this problem.
Give to Charity and pay less Tax... July 19th
The Chancellor, in his March 2011 Budget statement, announced a proposed new IHT relief: from April 2012 where a person on their death leaves 10% or more of their net estate to charity the rest of the estate not passing to charity will be liable to a reduced rate of IHT at 36% rather than the normal rate of 40%.The details of the proposed new relief were to be announced and finalised by HMRC following consultation.
A consultation document was duly published on 10 June 2011 requesting comments on the details set out in the document. The closing date for comments is 31 August 2011, watch this space...
Legal Services Board... July 13th
A statutory investigation into will writing, probate and estate administration markets has been launched by the Legal Services Board following the conclusion of the Legal Services Consumer Panels investigation into the will writing industry including Solicitors and Will Writers.
The move is in response to recommendations by the Legal Services Consumer Panel that will-writing services should be regulated. The panel, established in 2007 to provide independent advice to the Legal Services Board, responsible for overseeing the regulation of lawyers in England and Wales, says all providers would have to demonstrate they are competent to write wills, follow a code of conduct and allow complaints to the Legal Ombudsman.
This is a move we have supported since our almalgomation in 2010 and look forward to the next step in the process in 2012.
Intestacy ... 28th February
As the recent BBC2 show, "Can’t Take It With You", has shown, it is very important for families to have wills stating what they would like to happen to their assets after their death. If you die without a will or with a will that is out-of-date, a number of problems can arise and the end result is often not what you would wish.
Two recent public disputes about inheritances highlight the importance of these issues and serve as a lesson to the 70% of the population currently without a will.
One of the great publishing successes of the last few years has been Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy, which has sold millions of copies worldwide, spawned a successful series of films in Sweden and is about to culminate in Hollywood, with David Fincher’s forthcoming film, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. However, the Swedish novelist has not been able to enjoy his success, having died suddenly before his books went global.Despite having lived with Larsson for more than 30 years, his partner was not entitled to any of his estate because Larsson died without a will; the estate instead passed under the Swedish intestacy laws (which, like English intestacy laws, do not recognize cohabitation) to his family, from whom it is claimed he was estranged.
This has led to a series of court battles between his family and his partner as they fight for control of Larsson’s legacy and wealth.Legal status for unmarried couples
It is estimated that there are currently 2.3m cohabiting couples in the UK, how many of them realise that in the absence of any will, they would have no rights to any of their partner’s estate upon their partner’s death.
The Intestacy Rules..
Despite the longstanding misconception of a common-law wife, there is no such legal concept in England and Wales, and under the statutory intestacy rules, an unmarried partner would not stand to inherit anything, irrespective of how long they have lived together.Under the intestacy rules, even if you are married, your spouse will only receive your personal belongings and the first £250,000 (£450,000 if you are married with no children) of your estate outright (they will also receive any property owned together as joint tenants). The balance will be split into two equal shares.
One share will pass to your children at 18 in equal shares, while the other will be held in trust for your spouse, so that they receive the income from it during their lifetime and it will then pass to your children. Although £250,000 is a large sum, the value of many people’s homes is in excess of this and so the end result can often be that the family home has to be sold and the proceeds divided up
CHRISTMAS WORK TIMES... December 2010
First of all on behalf of everybody here may I wish you a very merry Christmas and a happy and healthy new year. Because Christmas Day falls on a Saturday this year we will be available right up until 1pm Christmas Eve, 24th December.
Saturday: 25th CLOSED
Sunday: 26th CLOSED
Monday: 27th CLOSED
Tuesday 28th, 29th, 30th and 31st OPEN
Saturday: 1st January CLOSED
Sunday: 2nd January CLOSED
Monday: 3rd Bank Holiday CLOSED
In the event of an emergency you can call a special number 07895 670 125
STANDARD RATE VATE... December 2010
In an attempt to raise funds to help reduce the massive National Debt the coalition Government has announced that the Standard Rate VAT will increase from the current rate of 17.5% to 20% from January 4th 2011. In almost twenty years we are proud to confirm that we have never increased our clients annual subscriptions so we are unhappy but unable to do anything regarding this increase. Well before then each customer will have received a letter explaining this and confirmation of the name change detailed below.
CLIENT LETTERS... Tuesday 21st 2010
Our letter confirming our amalgamation and change of company name has now been sent to over 15,000 clients. We actually had to order more "old style" headed paper to ensure each client received the letter in a format they are familiar with. Our envelopes have been exhausted so for the last 6,000 received the new style envelope which contains our flower logo.
We have in storage a large amount of special headed paper and envelopes which includes our old logo with Holly and golden bells that was to be used during the festive season. This will now have to be scrapped, so if you know of any society or charity that could use 10,000 sheets of headed paper and 10,000 envelopes then please point them in our direction.
TELEPHONE CALLS... Tuesday 10th 2010
After last nights programme we were concerned that some clients may have thought that WDS Associates Legal Services Ltd were in some way associated with our company. In the whole, that has not happened and I am delighted to report that almost all calls into the office today were from customers who just wished a bit of reassurance. Every telephone call was dealt with and, after a quick glance at our web site and a few words from our staff we were able to quickly put their minds at rest.
I would like to thank those clients who took the trouble to telephone and email conveying support for our hard work in providing a cost effective professional service to all our clients and their family's - every word is much appreciated.
PANORAMA... Monday 9th August 2010
Some time ago we were contacted by Stephen Scott a producer of Panorama to see if we were able to assist with their investigation into the unregulated side of the will writing industry. They were looking in particular at companies that advertise "cheap" wills then sold expensive up-front Probate packages and others that charge excessive probate fees and then fail to deliver a proper service.
In every industry there will always be a small minority of rogue Builders, Mechanics, Plumbers, Vets and even Will Writers who will look to cut corners, overcharge or not work in a proper or ethical manner. That’s what keeps programmes like Panorama, Watchdog and Rogue Traders on the air. As a professional company we can confirm we are not involved in any of the areas they reported on Monday 9th August’s programme;
We are not involved in up-front probate packages.
We do not advertise "cheap wills" with a view to selling expensive packages - all our prices are clearly advertised.
Our professional indemnity insurers are currently Royal and Sun Alliance PLC.
We have no link with WDS Associates Legal Services Ltd in Kingswood Bristol and have no wish to be inadvertently associated with them.
Will Writing and Probate Services Ltd is an honest, transparent company that provides independent professional will writing and probate services to the general public - you will not do better than to use us.
THE AMALGAMATION OF OUR COMPANIES... Thursday 22nd July 2010
We are in the process of amalgamating Will Writing and Probate Services companies to create one company - Will Writing and Probate Services Ltd. I believe this will provide significant benefits for all our customers.
If you are a customer, you may be aware we have been dealing with Will Writing and Probate Services for many years stretching back to 1992. Today, we have over 18,000 clients and owe our success to providing a professional home will writing and Probate Services at rates generally lower than Solicitors or Banks.
When will this happen and what do you need to do?
For our clients, no action is required at all - we will do everything. We will continue to use our existing stationery until our stocks are exhausted. Our new headed paper will retain the same style, our contact details will be the same and the office and staff will remain. Everything fresh we publish will be “Will Writing and Probate Services Ltd”. We have already changed our name with companies house and our bank HSBC. We have obtained www.wwaps.co.uk for our website and the our customers and suppliers will all be notified in time. The whole process will probably take about twelve months to complete, but will eventually prove worthwhile.
Please be assured that we are all here to help with your Will Writing and Probate Services (including intestacy work) when needed. Please click on any subject you are interested in finding a bit more about.
We hope to serve you for many years, if you, a family member or friend are interested in any of our services or you have a query including amending your Will please do not hesitate to contact us, asking for Penny, Alan, Kim or myself.
