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To: The Rt. Hon. Sajid Javid MP
Regulate the Probate Services Industry
Bring the Probate Services Industry under the regulation of the FCA, the SRA or a new regulatory authority.
Why is this important?
Currently the probate services industry handles in excess of £1 billion of assets every year. Yet there is no regulatory body to watch over the companies that provide probate services. In fact, anyone who is reading this could quite legitimately become a provider of probate services and handle £100,000's of assets left to others in the wills of deceased people, including cash, savings and property without being answerable to any authority.
Because of this incredible lack of regulation, many companies who offer complete probate service packages can quite literally do as they please with the assets of a deceased person whilst working under the guise of the probate process, often taking literally years to complete fairly basic cases. Many companies in this industry use delaying tactics to ensure interest is earned on estate assets, without passing it on to beneficiaries. There are many reported cases of companies over-charging, lying and deceiving customers, often to cover up mis-handling of cases. Many firms have deals with high street banks which give them automatic access to the bank's deceased customers' personal details and account information and work to convince relatives or executors of the deceased that the probate process is a very difficult system to negotiate. These companies often use leaflets placed at Registry Offices which falsely appear to be provided by charities officially endorsed by Local Governments.
The probate industry must be regulated by an official body who can effectively ensure that the companies which deal with the financial assets and properties left to beneficiaries pass the assets over to them speedily, accurately and without causing any undue extra stress on bereaved people.
What other industry could handle such high value personal financial assets without coming under regulation in the UK? None, so it is imperative that the Probate Services Industry is brought into line to eradicate the deep-seated 'cowboy' companies, some of whom are currently the largest providers of these services in the UK.
