The appointment of a will writer’s parent company as the executor of a will has been heavily criticised in a widely publicised case involving a family from Bolton, Lancashire.
Nigel Smith died of a brain tumour in 2024 and had written his will online through a now-dissolved company, Nine Minute Wills, offering their drafting services for £19.99. Mr Smith left his estate, including his property, to his long term partner of 20 years, Wendy Roberts.
However, apparently unknown to Mr Smith, Nine Minute Wills had appointed its parent company MedEx Direct, as executor of the estate, and in its small print said it would charge 4% of the estate’s value for its services.
The case has hit the national press after Ms Roberts was left with a £10,000 bill, and legal fees, for their work. Without enough money in the estate to pay the charges, MedEx Direct has said the fees must be covered from her own expenses, or it could sell the property or place a charge on the property.
Ms Roberts said Ms Smith would not knowingly have signed the agreement had the terms and conditions been clearer. There was ‘not a prayer’ her partner would have done it she added.
Approached by The Telegraph, Steven Katz, director of MedExDirect, said:
“We will administer the estate of our client in accordance with the law”
Both the Society of Estate and Trust Practitioners (STEP) and Society of Will Writers have said the practice is far too common and ‘discouraged’ members from automatically appointing a professional executor.
“STEP members regularly advise and support people who have previously been given bad will advice.”
Sarah Manuel told The Telegraph.
“A professional appointment may be appropriate in certain circumstances, such as where a client has no suitable friends or family members to act, or where the estate is particularly complex for example, however, it should always be discussed with the client, with the fees for such a service explained clearly.”
added Managing Director of the SWW, Anthony Belcher.
The story has seen the Law Society appearing to throw its weight behind regulation with President Richard Atkinson saying
“Proper regulation will ensure that will-makers are held to a standard that gives people peace of mind.”
4 responses
So my tuppence worth. We don’t do this (we can’t as an unregulated provider anyway) but the comments around regulation are a red herring
We’ve all seen Wills written but regulated providers that have their firms written in as executors. I’d like to believe that every one of those clients knew exactly what they were signing up for. But the number who have expressed surprise at the appointment when coming to make new Wills tells me that is not the case.
I think we need to look in general at the practice of appointing a firm and information provided at the time, rather than making sweeping assumptions based on this case …
How is it possible for someone to sign a will without having read it or without having it read to them?
Also, any executor can be asked to rescind and, if they are a professional executor charging a fee they will know that they will have to consider continuing to act and run the risk of having the fees charged disallowed.
An executor’s charging clause impliedly only authorises proper and reasonable remuneration, and beneficiaries are entitled to insist on the charges being investigated. The onus is on the Executor to justify the charges rendered.
On either assessment brought by the beneficiaries (under the Solicitors Act 1974) or otherwise upon the taking of an account, the Court will consider the reasonableness and proportionality of the work done, the time spent, the hourly rate billed, and the seniority of the fee earner.
Regulation doesn’t stop charging clauses but it allows a regulated person to be disciplined if code of conduct is breached. Professional charging clauses allowing non regulated professionals to charge for providing “professional services” is an abuse.
https://todayswillsandprobate.co.uk/executor-charging-clauses-common-pitfalls/
Solicitors are FAR worse than Will Writers in this respect, appointing themselves as reserve executors knowing full well that they will AUTOMATICALLY be executors on the second death.
The correct fee for a recent case I saw was £3,600 but the (no doubt unexplained BUNCE (sorry, responsibility) element took the bill WAY over £20,000.
EIther system is wrong!
Having worked in both regulated and non-regulated field, I have seen excessive charges from both sides, and both solicitors and other professional bodies who can deal with probate, and none of them have been explicit about their charges. I appreciate that it can be difficult to predict what the charge WILL be, but you can say that “at today’s prices, it is likely to this amount. However, you may appreciate that costs do change, but we cannot predict at this stage what the actual cost will be”.
However, education about different options for clients is sadly lacking as most clients do not understand the differences between the different types of firms, who is regulated, who is not, nor do they realise that some firms purport to be regulated but in fact refer their work to another firm – this really does need to be made clearer at the point the Will is created and this is a spectacular failure by online will writing companies because they do not engage with the clients like those of us who specialise in giving advice along with the documents being created because it is in the small print and never highlighted properly.