Society of Will Writers supports the licensing of will writers

The Society of Will Writers thanks the Legal Services Consumer Panel for taking the bold step to carry out their own investigations rather than continuing to rely on the anecdotal evidence that has been regularly provided by various parties in the past in an attempt to discredit professional will writers.
Although will writing has been around for over 20 years, it is only in very recent years that we have seen a rise in the numbers of will writing companies, in particular, that work outside of any regulatory regime, and as a consequence have succeeded in bringing the profession into disrepute through their poor practices.
The Society recognises the importance of ensuring that the consumers' interests lie at the heart of all we do. We believe that now could be the right time to introduce a system of regulation that will ensure that any person or company that provides wills and other testamentary documents in exchange for a fee are properly licensed to practice.
The Society of Will Writers already has in place the infrastructure needed to support such a scheme including well established training and legal support systems, a Code of Practice which its members are required to adhere which is currently before the OFT for stage one approval under their CCAS scheme.

Stephen Pett of APWW.co.uk, Sussex Regional Director of the Society of Will Writers says "Every month we hold a three and a half hour up updating and training session in Sussex, and prospective members are welcome to attend. Will Writing is a far more complex business than most people realise, and the law, tax and individuals personal circumstances are in a permanent state of flux."