If you buy a will bank, do you need to write to all the testators to advise them of the change in location and ownership?
This
has arisen recently following the purchase of a will bank (not one of
our clients but a general query). Both the seller and the buyer had been
concerned that the buyer should write to the many thousands of
testators in the will bank to advise them that the potential ownership
and location of their wills has changed and to get their consent to the
transfer of location. This has obviously raised issues as to whether or
not it is possible or practical to purchase a will bank if you have to
do this when a sale occurs.
Any Ideas?
We
would welcome any thoughts on this issue as we have, in the past, heard
conflicting advice from the regulators. The following information is
not intended as advice, but rather simply anecdotal experiences we have
had, and should not be relied upon to take a particular course of
action.
Anecdotal Information
We
were involved some time ago in the sale of a law firm somewhere in the
UK, where the seller discovered a will bank in the cellar and was very
concerned as to what they ought to do with it when it came to the
transfer of the business. In fact they were so concerned they contacted
the SRA and received advice that permission was needed for the wills to
be transferred to a buyer. They relayed this information to the buyer,
who promptly put the whole thing on hold and eventually pulled out. The
same firm managed to sell a year later to a buyer who wasn’t the
slightest bit interested in contacting all the testators in the wills
and simply took over the practice.
Similarly,
many years ago family members had wills drawn up by a law firm in West
Yorkshire who subsequently closed down due to fraud by one of the
partners. The family members in question were not aware of this until I
alerted them to the fact that the firm had closed down some years later.
We discovered the practice had been taken over by another firm and
their wills had been moved to their premises. At no time had the
practice taking over the will bank contacted the family members in the
intervening period. Presumably, the practice taking over had decided
that it was either not practical or required for them to contact all the
testators in the wills.
Prohibitive Costs
Presumably
the cost of contacting every testator to get permission to transfer
their will (or at least notify them) would be so prohibitive it would
make any sale of any law firm or will bank impossible. If there was a
will bank of 10,000 you would have to send out 10,000 letters, and then
follow these up, because chances are in 80 to 90% of cases you would not
get a response, so a 10,000 will bank would suddenly turn into a 1,000
will bank and completely remove any value at all.
If
anyone has experience of this issue or can point us in the direction of
regulations or practice guidelines that confirm the position one way or
the other, we would be most grateful. We can either post a link to your
site or relay the information anonymously.
Jonathan Fagan is Managing Director of Ten-Percent Legal Recruitment and a non-practising Solicitor. Ten-Percent Legal Recruitment provides online Legal Recruitment for Solicitors, Legal Executives, Fee Earners, Support Staff, Managers and Paralegals. Visit our Website to search our Vacancy Database.
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