About us
Benson Williams have been members of The Institute of Professional Willwriters since 1996.
The IPW is the only organisation representing the Will writing sector which requires all of its members to pass an entrance examination to guarantee their competence to give advice and to write Wills. We are compliant with The IPW Code of Practice and as such can guarantee that all of our clients will be dealt with professionally, ethically, and competently. The IPW Code of Practice was approved by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), [now the Trading Standards Institute (TSI)], under its Customer Codes Approval Scheme in April 2010. All work conducted by Benson Williams meets with the requirements of the TSI. If you would like a free copy of The IPW Code of Practice please contact us, telephone us on 0808 1789172 or email us at info@benson-williamsltd.co.uk
The importance of face to face consultations
As we mentioned in our home page, all of our clients are offered a face to face consultation with one of our representatives both before making a Will and also during the subsequent signing and execution of the Will.
There can be uncertainty over best practice when it comes to how your Will instructions should be taken, and how the Will signing should be supervised. Other firms have used post, email, technology such as Skype, and telephone calls to obtain the necessary information from their clients. We believe that face to face consultations are the best and safest way to make Wills and here are a few reasons why:
Most of the Wills which are rejected by the Probate Registry are rejected due to errors in the execution of the Will (the signing of your Will by you in the presence of two valid witnesses) and not due to errors in the draft of the Will itself.
The contesting of Wills is often down to a failure of the firm drafting the Will to interpret the client’s intentions correctly. Clearly the more remote the information gathering process is, the more likely it is that misunderstandings will arise.
Wills often fail due to confusion over the client’s capacity (or lack of capacity) to actually make a Will (known as “testamentary capacity”). This can be more complex than you may think, and dates back to the case of Banks v Goodfellow in 1870.
Wills can also fail due to third parties unduly influencing proceedings, or worse still coercing family members into making Wills.
For the above reasons all of our clients are given a face to face meeting with one of our consultants to discuss their situation and requirements prior to making their Will. Any advice given during these meetings is given free of charge and at no obligation. Once we have drafted a Will we then conduct a second face to face meeting to explain and read it over to our clients and to supervise the correct signing and execution. No Wills are posted back to clients unsigned leaving them alone to work out what they mean and how to execute them.
By doing things this way we ensure that none of the above listed potential pitfalls are going to become a problem at a later stage, and that our clients are being looked after in the best possible way.
Unnecessary mistakes being made when the Will is being signed and executed are eliminated.
Misunderstandings over the clients intentions are eliminated.
Arguments over our clients capacity to make a Will are eliminated.
Potential fraud, undue influence, and coercion from third parties are eliminated.
