• March 28, 2024
 Celebrating International Women’s Day: The Society of Will Writers

Celebrating International Women’s Day: The Society of Will Writers

On International Women’s Day, we thought it would be important to discuss women’s roles in the wills and estate planning industry. As gender equality, feminism and empowerment for women is in the public eye more frequently, more and more women are realising that estate planning and writing a will is extremely important.

Women are increasingly becoming business owners and entrepreneurs which brings with it more financial responsibility, and a greater need for a will. Recent polls and statistics illustrate that more women than men have written wills in the last four years. According to the most recent You Gov poll in 2017, 37% of women have a will in place where only 36% of men have. Will Suite have also seen this increase in their annual report in 2020 that shows that more wills are being written by women at 51.74% than by men at 46.2%.

This in turn has meant that more women have turned to will writing and estate planning as a career path. Here at the Society of Will Writers 32% of our members are women. While not being as large of a percentage as we would have hoped, it is a step in the right direction towards equality as this percentage has increased from 28% since 2017.

The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day is break the bias and we think that is extremely pertinent in the will writing and estate planning community. Many women can feel a lack of confidence in their role or feel unsupported and undervalued, here at the Society, we would love to support our female members more in their careers and see more women joining as members.

If any of our female members or members of the public want more information on women in this industry or are looking for a community, then we would recommend a look at a group named Women in Wills who in their words,

“Foster collaboration between women across the wills and probate sector”.

They hold networking events and talks educating women and creating a supportive community that can help women to create friendships and share knowledge of their industry.

For more information, or to find a member of the society click here.

The Society of Will Writers

The Society of Will Writers

https://www.willwriters.com/

The Society of Will Writers (SWW) is a non-profit making self-regulatory organisation that seeks to protect the public and serve the interests of those who are active professionals in the Will Writing and Estate Planning field, as well as the upkeep of advancement, education, and ethical standards within the profession. Founded in 1994, the SWW has grown to a membership of over 1700 estate planning professionals across the UK, Europe and further afield in places such as Asia and Africa, each championing our standards and enabling the public access to high-quality Will Writing and Estate Planning services.

The main goals of the SWW are:

  • To promote to the public at large the real need and sense in having a valid will.
  • To act as a self-regulatory body by vetting practitioners through stringent membership requirements, proficiency standards and ongoing training.
The SWW is proud to be one of the frontrunning organisations where steering the profession is concerned, regularly meeting with other regulators and industry stakeholders to ensure that our members voices are heard, and needs are matched. Being a member of the SWW also grants access to exclusive benefits such as unlimited technical support when you’re in need of help, bespoke PII cover available only to SWW members, a web listing through the Find a Member section on our website, and discounts on both our and selected partner’s products and services. SWW Members also have access to regional groups, ongoing training, and an annual conference, all designed to enhance their knowledge and create excellent networking opportunities.

The designatory letters of the SWW’s membership grades:

  • SWW (Affiliate)
  • MSWW (Full)
  • ASWW (Associate)
  • FSWW (Fellow)
  • SWW (Companion)
  • SWW (Honorary)
Each membership grade denotes its holders experience and is an assurance to the public that the Will Writer or Estate Planner that they are engaging with is trained, insured and SWW code compliant. We always encourage members of the public to ask their Will Writer if they are a Member of the SWW, and any Member would be happy to present their membership ID card as proof. The public can also rely on checking any Member’s credentials by contacting SWW head office.

Meet Sam Smith – Head of Membership

Sam manages the membership team here at the SWW. He is responsible largely for Member recruitment and handling enquiries from Members. As well as liaising with Society partners and third parties, he also looks after our 20 regional chairs. Sam is always on hand at SWW events to meet and greet. In Sam’s downtime, he enjoys going to the gym, restoring his camper van, and playing golf. Sam is the point of contact between the SWW and Todays Wills & Probate. If you have any enquiries, you can contact Sam by emailing him at sam.s@willwriters.com or calling the office on 01522 687 888 and he would be more than happy to assist.