The Society of Will Writers

Dear Member, 

Please follow the link for the latest on regulation both in Scotland and in England and Wales. 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2010/jun/08/will-writing-key-battleground-legal 

Course Update – following the last meeting in Strathclyde, I am pleased  to tell you that the first dedicated course for Will Writers in Scotland will be delivered in the near future by Hazel Johnson. This is the first of many we hope. Hazel is also working on a one day introductory course for consultants/instruction takers. 

The Society is taking an office in Lower Gyle, and we hope to be in for the 5 July when I return from holiday. The office will be available to members to use to meet clients and to hold meetings, as well as regional group meetings and training, as well as a base for me to meet and work from. 

Writing Wills in Scotland has never been so easy and fun. 

Members in England and Wales have been using Sure Will Writer for over 5 years and now Greens Legal Publishers in association with DPL have brought out Express Wills for Scotland.  

Hazel has also been instrumental in negotiating the new agreement with Greens on Express Wills for Scotland exclusively for SWW members who can obtain the software at half price. The cost to SWW members is £75 plus VAT (normal £150.00) and the units/lives are £4.50 plus VAT (normal £9.00 plus VAT) and can be purchased in blocks of 10 or more. The software is fully up to date, and is already on its 6^th update.

 

DPL who have produced the software also produce Sure Will Writer for Society members in England and Wales. The main contributor is John Kerrigan. 

For a look at how it works go to www.wgreen.co.uk/ews-slides.ppt to view a power point presentation. 

As the program is very similar to Sure Will the Society will be supporting the user in the use of the software (as we do with Sure Will Writer) , and we will be shortly introducing a short course/introduction in Lower Gyle later in July. 

On-line CPD 

We would welcome members to contribute questions (and answers) for publishing on the CPD web site. Submitting questions can be used towards your annual CPD requirement as you will have researched the questions and answers. All questions should be submitted in multi-choice format please, with a choice of 4 possible answers. 

Back to regulation 

Regulation is moving a pace and we expect further information in September (if not before). However the proposal that have been put forward we think, are fair and workable without burdening the member with too much additional cost or administration. 

But we do need to act now, we all need to make sure our PII is in place and levels maintained if you purchase it elsewhere other than through the Society approved scheme, that your CPD is maintained at 16 hours a year and this has to include all consultants, and any member who has instruction takers these need to be registered with the Society now in order to comply with your PII, you need to ensure that your customer complaints procedures are in place and that all your staff including receptionists are aware of them and if you store client documents that the Society is made aware of how and where you store Wills etc in case. 

To make sure you will be ready, we are forming a small ‘steering committee’ in Scotland of Scottish members to work with the proposals and to work with the Society and its Executive on the matter of regulation throughout the UK. 

When I have finalized the offices I will advise you all of the address, phone number, email and the date of the next meeting. 

In the meantime, please feel free to contact me direct on info@willwriters.com or David Silvester on dave@willservicesscotland.co.uk should you have any comments or questions. 

Warmest regards

Brian

The Society of Will Writers and The Scottish Society of Will Writers are the trading styles of the Society of Will Writers and Estate Planning Practitioners Registered at Companies House 02918900