What to do if you have been the victim of a rogue willwriter........

1. Read our advice below
2. Phone our Advice Line on 01684 573012 - open until 20th May
3. See our Regulatory Board Chairman's comments in the News section


After the recent convictions of two Directors of Willmakers of Distinction Ltd, a willwriting company based in Lincoln, for fraudulent trading and theft of over £400,000 of clients’ money, the Fellowship has the following advice to offer consumers if they have been the subject of any rogue willwriting company:

If you don’t know where your will is - If it was kept by the company it may be difficult to retrieve it, particularly if the company has not gone into administration but has simply disappeared. They may have had an arrangement with a separate will storage company and you should have been given the details at the time. If you cannot locate your will, it is best to have a new one written, ensuring it properly revokes the earlier one. We understand the wills drafted by Willmakers of Distinction Ltd were stored ether at the offices of Bird & Co, Solicitors, 15 Castlegate, Grantham, NG31 6SE (0800 389 4832) or by the Society of Willwriters (01522 687888).

If a friend or relative has had a will drafted by the company and has since died – You have the right to apply to the Probate Registry for a copy of the will and the Grant of Probate. It may be too late to do much but you may be able to satisfy yourself that the Beneficiaries actually received their gifts. Some of the Beneficiaries in some wills drafted by Willmakers of Distinction did not receive their gifts and were instead pocketed by the Directors.

If a Director of a defunct company was named as Executor and/or Trustee in your will – You probably would not want them to be so now and so it is safer to have a new will drafted choosing different Executors and Trustees. You can merely execute a codicil to amend any aspect of a will but it is probably safer to execute a new will.

If you have a Lasting Power of Attorney – Ensure that the person named as attorney is someone you can completely trust. If you are in any doubt have a new one drawn up.

If winding up has already started - If winding up of an estate has already commenced by an Executor who is no longer able to carry on the process because they have died, or are in prison for example, or are just unwilling to do so then you, as a Beneficiary in that will, can apply to the court for a different Executor to carry on the task.

If you just don’t trust your will – Have a new one executed. Peace of mind is important. If your will was drafted by a company who are or were members of the Society of Willwriters contact them to find out what protection they have in place to assist you.

If you have had your joint tenancy severed- do make sure that it was done in your best interests. If you are in any doubt see a solicitor.

If you think you may be a victim of theft by Willmakers of Distinction Ltd, you can contact Neil Hollingsworth at Lincolnshire Police on 0300 111 3000.

Heather D’Arcy, senior insolvency manager from Begbie Trayners, the liquidators of Willmakers of Distinction Ltd, has said that she is happy to take calls from anyone who is concerned and was a client of this company. Heather can be contacted 01522 526161.

Each consumer may have been affected in a particular way, and it may be appropriate to seek independent legal advice from a Solicitor.

Your local Citizens’ Advice Bureau will have a list of Solicitors in your area. If you would like a Fellowship member to contact you, please let us know. Fellowship members have been police checked (by the Criminal Records Bureau), carry insurance and know what they are talking about. Above all, until willwriting becomes a regulated activity, the Fellowship’s Regulatory Board ensures that our members are internally regulated and abide by our strict Code of Conduct.



Further Advice

You could telephone your local Consumer Direct advice line who may be able to advise you and put you in touch with your local Trading Standards department.

The Fellowship is are setting up an Advice Line between 10.00am and 5.00pm from Thursday 13th May until Thursday 20th May.

Phone 01684 573012 if you have any concerns with your will or other documents drafted by Willmakers of Distinction Ltd.

Had the Directors of Willmakers of Distinction Ltd been members of the Fellowship, and not a member of another willwriting body, we would be duty bound by our Code of Conduct to work on your behalf to try to rescue the situation and pay compensation where losses had occurred. In fact, the Directors of Willmakers of Distinction Ltd would never have been accepted as members as they would have clearly failed their police checks.

Overall, the advice from the Fellowship is for any client of Willmakers of Distinction Ltd to urgently check their will or any other document prepared by them and not wait until it is too late.

The Fellowship is striving for regulation of the willwriting industry to stamp out what this case illustrates and the harm that can be caused.

The Regulatory Board would be very interested to hear from anyone who would like to share experiences with us to strengthen our case to the government to regulate willwriting on regulatoryboard@fpwpp.co.uk