Over the last few weeks, we have reminded members of the importance of GDPR and how the Society is helping you become and remain compliant. It seems that, at the same time, the ICO is reminding us all of the consequences of getting things wrong – having published their intention to fine businesses over £280million…
Many of our members believe they are fully GDPR compliant but we thought it worth raising the GDPR myths that are still circulating over a year after GDPR came into force. GDPR is just like Y2K 25th May 2018 came and went – just like 31st December 1999. Despite what many still believe, GDPR is…
Under our Code of Practice, the Society of Will Writers expects our members to observe the law of the jurisdiction in which the member practices. Within this, we highlight certain statutory obligations to protect consumers – unsurprisingly, this includes the Consumer Rights Act, Consumer Credit Act and Unfair Trading Regulations but perhaps surprisingly it also…
A recent case concerning who will inherit following the deaths of an elderly couple is causing strife for two stepsisters, whose inheritance of their £280,000 joint property will depend on which of the couple is determined to have died first. John and Ann Scarle were found dead at their home on 11 October 2016 having…
I had hoped that we would not see a return to the late nineties when low cost Wills, free Wills were rife within the profession. Unfortunately, we are seeing a resurgence of this practice, which is neither good news for the profession or the consumer as most clients who took these services believing they were…
We’re incredibly proud to report that The Society of Will Writers is celebrating 25 years trading this year. When the SWW was first formed in 1994 it had a very simple objective – To provide a framework of support and self-regulation for will writers. Combined with this, we sought to highlight the need for a…
On 1 June 2018 the CMA launched a market study into the provision of funeral services in the UK. This was in response to concerns that there is a lack of transparency in the funeral market and rapidly increasing prices. In particular they investigated the following two points: how competition between funeral directors works and…
We reported late last year that probate fees would be rising as the fee structure for obtaining a grant was due to be changed from a fixed fee to a tiered structure based on the value of the estate. This would have resulted in probate fees rising up to £6000 for the highest value estates.…
The High Court have ruled in the case of Whittaker v Hancock [2018] EWHC 3478 (Ch) that an attorney who was acting under a property and financial affairs LPA could step in to replace a donor who had lost capacity as a personal representative. John Parker (the deceased) had executed a will in 2003 appointing…
Earlier this year the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) was asked by the Chancellor of the Exchequer to conduct a wide review into inheritance tax (IHT), looking into it from both a technical and administrative standpoint. The report received a record amount of responses from a wide variety of people effected by IHT. Over 3000…
