Briefing
Issue 4 • Aug – Sep 2013
Rock and roll will never die, but …
T
hin Lizzy guitarist Gar y Moore unfortunately left no will and no instructions on how to distribute his £2 million estate, so intestacy rules apply. This means that his girlfriend Petra Nioduschewski, to whom he is reported to have proposed shortly before his death, will receive nothing. Instead, under English probate law the proceeds of Mr Moore’s entire estate is likely be divided equally between his four children. The musician died two years ago in Spain after a drinking binge. Sadly, it seems that the rock star lifestyle became a reality for this talented guitarist who
perhaps forgot or chose not to take care of his practical responsibilities as a partner and father until it was too late. This we are sorry to say, is all too common among UK citizens. If you do not make a will your estate is dealt with under the laws of intestacy. It may be that dying intestate will affect the people you leave behind more than you realise. If you need to find out about making your will, please visit our main site. Our online will form lets you input the details for your will very easily. We will then create your will for just £25, including VAT.
Gary Moore: His girlfriend may never see any of his £2 million fortune
Widow’s £50K a year ‘not enough’ A lthough we at IWC strongly agree that it is always advisable to leave enough funds to ensure the financial wellbeing of those you leave behind – at least for the short term – even we were staggered when we read about millionaire’s widow Rosana Berger’s probate dispute. The late Clive Zola Berger, a property tycoon, died in 2005 leaving an estate worth around £7 million. Rosana, his second wife, aged 77
when he died, was to be allowed to remain in the £4.25 million family home for the rest of her life. In addition, a large portion of the estate, valued at almost £3 million, was to be put into a trust, providing her with an income for life. Most of us can only dream of such an inheritance. But Mrs Berger has since been disgruntled, claiming that the resulting £50,000 a year income is not
sufficient to fund her lifestyle, with staff for the eight bedroom home costing £33,000 per year. When asked how much she would need to live comfortably, Mrs Berger replied £222,540 a year – a figure which, perhaps understandably, Mr Berger’s sons from his first marriage – are questioning. Mrs Berger has been told by a High Court judge that she has left it too late to make a claim.
IWC • Suite 43-45 Airport House, Purley Way, Croydon CR0 0XZ 020 8150 2010 • www.iwc-ltd.co.uk • enquiries@iwc-ltd.co.uk • @IWCLtd
Solicitors’ body Regulation: Why we pulls plug on should work together its genealogy T tracing service I OPINION
he Wills and Inheritance Quality Scheme run by the Law Society, which represents solicitors in England and Wales, will open for applications on 31 October. But it appears that the Law Society itself, through its “independent regulatory body”, the Solicitors Regulation Authority, is not succeeding in gaining the trust of the consumer. In the absence of government regulation of our industry, the scheme will encourage firms offering services like will writing, probate and estate administration to sign up to offer additional security for clients. Practices regulated by the SRA will be have to observe guidelines and their staff will undertake compulsory training. While IWC believes that regulation is definitely the way forward for the wills and inheritance industry, we see this step by the Law Society as rather short sighted. We wonder why the Law Society feels there is a need for additional regulation when firms in this area are already regulated. And we fear that, by setting up the SRA, the Law Society is closing itself off from other practitioners in this sector who include not only
law firms and solicitors, but also accountants and other individual professionals. You will see why if you read the newspapers regularly. Barely a week goes by without articles about individual solicitors who have been charged with misconduct or fraud – that’s hardly great publicity for the legal eagles. We suspect that when truly independent regulation is introduced – and we believe that it will be at some point – this particular scheme, which will have cost the Law Society no small sum, will fall by the wayside. Rather than the legal sector trying to differentiate and promote itself in this way, why not work together with accountants and independent professionals to offer a high level of service to all clients? In the meantime, if you are looking for a professional to prepare a will or carry out probate, just take sensible precautions. Ask your friends and family. Research relevant, self-regulated specialists on the web and ensure that they offer clear, fixed fees. And check out any good or bad reviews. The internet can be exceptionally revealing. If there are any complaints about a firm, you are likely to find them very easily.
t makes perfect sense to IWC, as a business and as a professional organisation, to cater for public demand as much as possible. So we were confused to learn that the Solicitors Regulation Authority has withdrawn its genealogical tracing service, due to unforeseen demand. The problem, it seems, is that its callcentre is struggling to cope with the volume of calls received. But instead of identifying and allocating additional resources, it has decided to shut down the service.
The service level that the SRA set itself was to answer a call within 60 seconds (which, anyway, seems a long time to us). But research showed that only 17% of its calls were being answered within this time. All genealogical tracing calls will now be dealt with by the Law Society’s library, leaving the SRA callcentre to focus instead on its other, presumably less popular, services. ■■If you need help with genealogy services, please do not hesitate to get in touch with IWC.
Heir Hunters Association warns of scam T he Heir Hunters Associ ation (HHA) has warned of a nationwide scam by a company that claims to be recruiting “case workers” to interview individuals over the telephone. Victims of the scam are told they are to contact prospective heirs and collect information from them to find out whether there may be a link to an unclaimed estate. In fact, calls routed by the company to its victims are via premium rate numbers which cost £8 for 10 minutes. In this way, the scammers rake in
another source of income – without either the “case worker” or the individual who has been contacted realising that the whole set-up is bogus. Anyone who applies to become a case worker is offered completely unrealistic bonuses. But they are not told that, in such industries, cases can take up to two years to complete. The HHA is investigating complaints about the company which has used websites including missing-millions.com and eurta.com.