I paid £350 for my will to be kept safe. Where is it?
R.R. writes: Can you help me find my will, please? It was drafted and stored by Wills & Trusts Limited of Lincoln, and I want to make some changes. I wrote to the company and got a message on my answering machine, asking me to call either Chloe or Daniel on a mobile number. I did, and Chloe said she would ring back shortly, but I heard nothing more. NONE of this surprises me. In 2012, I reported that Wills & Trusts Limited had been dissolved a year earlier, but the man behind it, Daniel Pudney, had immediately set up another will writing business called DP Legal Limited, which he ran with colleague Chloe Griffiths. And I asked: ‘Why should customers now trust DP Legal?’
You told me you had paid £350 in fees, including for your will to be held in safe keeping, and you had no idea that Wills & Trusts had closed down. After I gave you Pudney’s latest contact details, you then tried unsuccessfully to reclaim your will from DP Legal.
I warned, though, that things did not look good. I can tell you now that DP Legal failed to file accounts that were legally due at Companies House eight months ago, and failed to file details of its ownership, due four months ago. Moves to strike off the company have begun, but have been suspended – apparently while enquiries are carried out.
The basic problem is that anyone can call themselves a will writer. There is a professional body called the Society of Will Writers, but it lacks official recognition and powers, and membership is not compulsory.
Pudney was not a member, but the society told me a few days ago: ‘He did dump a lot of wills on us before he disappeared.’
If you contact the society on 01522 687888, staff will be glad to search and see if your own will is among them.
Attempts to contact Pudney for comment at his last known address failed.