header-logo header-logo

Grayling opts for guidance not regulation for wills

17 May 2013
Issue: 7560 / Categories: Legal News
printer mail-detail

Chris Grayling, Lord Chancellor, has rejected the Legal Services Board’s (LSB) recommendation that will-writing activities be regulated.
 

The LSB made the recommendation in February, after conducting a two-year study which uncovered evidence of poor practice. However, Grayling said in a statement this week that,
while the report indicated “consumer detriment” in the market and that reservation of will writing could address this, it did not adequately demonstrate that reservation was the “best solution” or that alternative measures had been exhausted.

Grayling suggests instead more targeted guidance for the legal profession and strengthening existing regulation along with voluntary regulation schemes and codes of practice, as well as “greater efforts made to educate consumers” about the different types of providers.
David Edmonds, LSB chairman, says: “Naturally, we are disappointed by the government’s decision. However, it is their decision alone to make and we will study the details and respond in due course. The onus is now on both regulated and unregulated providers of will-writing services to improve standards and thereby earn consumer and public confidence.”

Paul Sharpe, chairman of the Institute of Professional Willwriters, says: “While we are astonished by the outcome, once it was found that existing regulated providers were just as bad at writing wills as unregulated providers, the Lord Chancellor was going to find it difficult to approve reservation as a solution.

“I can’t see any of the suggestions offered by the Lord Chancellor changing anything in the will-writing market. That is why mandatory regulatory schemes were, and still are, essential in the will-writing sector.”
 

Issue: 7560 / Categories: Legal News
printer mail-details

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Birketts—trainee cohort

Birketts—trainee cohort

Firm welcomes new cohort of 29 trainee solicitors for 2025

Keoghs—four appointments

Keoghs—four appointments

Four partner hires expand legal expertise in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Real estate team in Yorkshire welcomes new partner

NEWS
Robert Taylor of 360 Law Services warns in this week's NLJ that adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) risks entrenching disadvantage for SME law firms, unless tools are tailored to their needs
The Court of Protection has ruled in Macpherson v Sunderland City Council that capacity must be presumed unless clearly rebutted. In this week's NLJ, Sam Karim KC and Sophie Hurst of Kings Chambers dissect the judgment and set out practical guidance for advisers faced with issues relating to retrospective capacity and/or assessments without an examination
Delays and dysfunction continue to mount in the county court, as revealed in a scathing Justice Committee report and under discussion this week by NLJ columnist Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School. Bulk claims—especially from private parking firms—are overwhelming the system, with 8,000 cases filed weekly
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
From oligarchs to cosmetic clinics, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) target journalists, activists and ordinary citizens with intimidating legal tactics. Writing in NLJ this week, Sadie Whittam of Lancaster University explores the weaponisation of litigation to silence critics
back-to-top-scroll