This week is Financial Planning Week which is run by the Institute of Financial Planners as a consumer awareness campaign to help you take simple steps to improve your financial “fitness”.

Its aim is to raise awareness of how important financial planning is. Making smart financial decisions to help achieve your goals and dreams in life is the first step towards taking control and gaining valuable peace of mind.

One such important financial decision is making a will.

If you do not have a will consider;

• Who is going to inherit when you die? Your partner or husband/wife does not automatically get everything.
• What age do you want your children to inherit? Without a will they will get everything at the age of just 18!
• Who is going to look after your children? Without a will it might be the courts who decide?

For more information on making a will read our helpful guide ‘Why make a will’

If you have already taken the step to make a will consider;

• When did you last review your will? It is recommended that you check it every 3-5 years to ensure it remains relevant.
• Have your circumstances changed since making your last will? Having already made a will changing it to be appropriate for your current circumstances will be a much easier decision.
• Do you have a professional executor, e.g. solicitor or bank, appointed in your will? If so, do you have confirmation in writing that they will stand down if requested by all beneficiaries. If not, did you know that you risk tying your beneficiaries to them and paying their professional fees.

Making a will gives you the peace of mind that everything is in order should the worse happen.

Over the last month the Law Society has been running a ‘Choose quality advice – your solicitor qualified to help’ campaign. But are they missing the point and misleading the consumer in some areas of law?

It states that we should use a specialist and be prepared to shop around – but isn’t this the case for most services.

It mentions that if the customer has a complaint regarding a solicitor they can go to the legal ombudsman while if they go to an unregulated legal service provider, such as a non-solicitor will writer, they don’t have the same recourse. Yes, this is true and the reason why it is now accepted that will-writing will become regulated sooner rather than later. Regulation is already happening in Scotland.

The campaign further states that all solicitors must hold a practising certificate issued by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). This “guarantees” that the solicitor is qualified to practise: herein lies the problem, qualified in What? A practising certificate confirms they have completed their solicitor training but it does not guarantee specialist knowledge in each and every area of law.

In fact in an area such as probate and wills there is no longer a mandatory examination. A solicitor can practice without their knowledge being tested.

This lack of knowledge and education in the field of will-writing is highlighted in a recent report by the Legal Services Board (LSB). The report published the results of their investigation into will-writing which found one in four of the wills examined to be inadequate. That is 25% of the wills written. It further states that “the same proportion of wills prepared by solicitors and will-writing companies were failed”.

The issue with training and education is further highlighted by a recent letter in the Law Society’s own Gazette. The letter is entitled “Legal training falls short on will drafting”.

In the area of probate and wills ‘properly’ qualified advisers are members of the Society of Trusts and Estate Practitioners (STEP) recognised by the letters TEP after their name. Not all solicitors offering probate and will services are members of STEP. And furthermore not all members of STEP, i.e. those with the specialist knowledge in this field, are solicitors.

A York-based probate and wills service is proving to other businesses across the region that funding streams are still available for business improvement.

Pavilion Row, established twelve months ago by MD Angus Houston, has recently accessed funding support from the Skills Funding Agency in conjunction with Leeds-based business consultancy Strategy to Succeed Ltd.

Angus explained: “I think this proves that it’s not all doom and gloom on the funding front and there are still resources available to assist businesses.

“We carry out probate administration which some see as a legal process but we view very much as an area of administration supported by effective management.

“The process mapping we are undertaking with Strategy to Succeed Ltd will make our approach to managing staff skills far more effective and focused and determine what roles can be carried out and by whom.

“The funding from the SFA has proved invaluable,” added Angus who has a management background within large scale outsourcing firms. He qualified in 2009 with STEP (Society of Trust and Estate Practioners) and sits on their regional committee.

Strategy to Succeed Ltd, established in 2010, is a business consultancy that utilises a network of skilled associates to deliver a comprehensive range of strategic and operational business development solutions.