THE NEED FOR REGULATION OF ESTATE ADMINISTRATION AND WILL WRITERS
23/06/2010
Regulation of legal services has been under consideration for almost a decade following various reports including the Office of Fair Trading in March 2001 “Competition in the Professions”, The Lord Chancellors Department in July 2002 “In the Public Interest”, and Lord Clementi’s review of the Regulatory Framework for Legal Services in December 2004 “The Clementi Report”.
The Legal Services Bill received Royal Assent in October 2007 and created the Legal Services Board (LSB) as oversight legal services regulator. The LSB is currently appointing frontline regulators who will regulate individual lawyers and organisations but has yet to appoint a regulator for Alternative Business Structures (ABSs) who are currently offering probate and estate administration services.
The need for regulation for estate administration is pressing as the current law does not protect the consumer from individuals and organisations offering professional probate services without fair and transparent pricing structures, proper protection for client monies, indemnity insurance, professionally qualified and trained staff and a formal complaints body if things go wrong.
Regulation will also provide for investment into and the establishment of multi-disciplinary practices allowing lawyers accountants and financial advisers to work together to deliver an integrated and professional legal service to clients.
Kings Court welcomes regulation for probate services and believes that it is fully compliant with the anticipated requirements for regulation as it already has in place consumer protection measures equivalent to those required by approved regulators overseen by the Legal Services Board. We support more choice and more protection for consumers.
We also welcome the current discussions about regulation for will writing and support actions to protect the consumer that are proportionate and appropriate. Will writing is an important part of financial planning and inheritance management should not be left to chance by not writing a will.
For further information please contact William Feeny.