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Legacy Wills

including wills and probate
SteMiS
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Legacy Wills

#66169

Postby SteMiS » July 10th, 2017, 6:33 pm

I've had some discussion with an online will writing company (https://www.legacywills.co.uk) about preparing a will for me. It's a pretty cheap quote (£39.99), they seem well reviewed on sites such as trustpilot and say they are members of the Society of Will Writers.

To be honest my requirements are pretty straightforward. I'm divorced with two sons under 18 who would get all my estate. Even if I died intestate it probably wouldn't matter much. I'm just trying to close the few years between now and when they can become executors and ensure one or two things in the meantime whilst they are minors (i.e. their mother can't get her hands indirectly on the money and that school fees etc are paid without interruption).

Anybody got any horror stories to dissuade me from this course of action?

Itsallaguess
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Re: Legacy Wills

#66194

Postby Itsallaguess » July 10th, 2017, 8:53 pm

SteMiS wrote:
Anybody got any horror stories to dissuade me from this course of action?


I've not got any horror stories, but just offer this as a potential alternative in case you'd prefer to pay a little more as a charitable donation, and perhaps find someone more local than an online option.

A few years ago my wife and I used the Will Aid process to find a well-renowned local solicitor who was participating in the scheme, and we used them to draw up a similarly simple will for us both.

We were pleased with the whole process, and glad of the opportunity to give something to charity via the solicitors use of the charitable scheme.

Some info here if you're interested -

https://www.willaid.org.uk/will-makers/about

The scheme is run through November each year, and you can find participating local solicitors on the above site from the 5th September 2017.

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

Clitheroekid
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Re: Legacy Wills

#66202

Postby Clitheroekid » July 10th, 2017, 9:27 pm

SteMiS wrote:I've had some discussion with an online will writing company (https://www.legacywills.co.uk) about preparing a will for me. It's a pretty cheap quote (£39.99), they seem well reviewed on sites such as trustpilot and say they are members of the Society of Will Writers.

Legacy Wills & Estate Planning Limited is owned and operated by two gentleman called David Fuher and Anthony Crossman.

The company was formerly called Legacy Probate Services Ltd. It was incorporated in July 2013, so when they refer on their website to “Our many years of experience” some might see it as a slight exaggeration.

It used to be 85% owned by another company also owned by these two, FCT Enterprises Ltd, which was coincidentally also set up in July 2013.

Very sadly, it ran into serious financial trouble and appointed an administrator in May last year.

Remarkably, considering the very short period in which it had traded it had managed to run up debts of £3.5m, including a debt to HMRC of £692k. It wasn’t even able to pay its unfortunate employees, and there was a claim on the Redundancy Payment Service (i.e. the poor old taxpayer) of £196k.

In total the administration realised just £271k. Fortunately (for them, not so much for the creditors) Messrs Fuher and Anderson Crossman had had the foresight to grant themselves security over the company’s assets, and they therefore extracted £156k for themselves.

If there was a debt of £692k to HMRC that indicates a pretty hefty taxable profit, and one might reasonably ask where all that profit had gone.

It’s not the first time Messrs Fuher and Crossman have suffered financial misfortune – Fuher was CEO of a mortgage broker called Carrington Carr Group, which went into administration with debts of £9.5m - http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/mortg ... story.html However, judging from this piece in The Guardian it would seem that it was no great loss to the nation - https://www.theguardian.com/money/2010/ ... ngton-carr

Fortunately, these various financial misfortunes it don’t appear to have impacted Mr Fuher unduly – this was his house until recently - http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for ... 20526.html

Of course, the question of who owns a company doesn’t necessarily have any effect on the services it offers, but as a taxpayer I must say that I would rather resent lining the pockets of Messrs Fuher and Anderson Crossman , whom I would judge to have received more than enough subsidy from the public purse already.

For those who are interested in reading the depressing machinations of the insolvency business the administrator’s report in respect of FCT can be found here - https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/docu ... wPWNywU%3D


Moderator Message:
Post edited above to correct Anderson to Crossman in line with CK's later post (chas49)

staffordian
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Re: Legacy Wills

#66203

Postby staffordian » July 10th, 2017, 9:30 pm

The only point I would make is that if your children are minors, and you died before they came of age, would you not need a trust, and trustees to look after the money?

This may be bread and butter stuff even for a will writer, but I just wonder if this takes the will out of the straightforward category.

Staffordian

Gengulphus
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Re: Legacy Wills

#66235

Postby Gengulphus » July 11th, 2017, 12:52 am

Clitheroekid wrote:Legacy Wills & Estate Planning Limited is owned and operated by two gentleman called David Fuher and Anthony Crossman.
...
... Fortunately (for them, not so much for the creditors) Messrs Fuher and Anderson ...
...
... It’s not the first time Messrs Fuher and Crossman ...
...
... Of course, the question of who owns a company doesn’t necessarily have any effect on the services it offers, but as a taxpayer I must say that I would rather resent lining the pockets of Messrs Fuher and Anderson, ...

Are more than two people being talked about, or are there name changes, or typos, or something else?????

Gengulphus


Moderator Message:
Post edited above to correct Anderson to Crossman in line with CK's later post (chas49)

Clitheroekid
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Re: Legacy Wills

#66240

Postby Clitheroekid » July 11th, 2017, 1:45 am

Gengulphus wrote:
Clitheroekid wrote:Legacy Wills & Estate Planning Limited is owned and operated by two gentleman called David Fuher and Anthony Crossman.
...
... Fortunately (for them, not so much for the creditors) Messrs Fuher and Anderson ...
...
... It’s not the first time Messrs Fuher and Crossman ...
...
... Of course, the question of who owns a company doesn’t necessarily have any effect on the services it offers, but as a taxpayer I must say that I would rather resent lining the pockets of Messrs Fuher and Anderson, ...

Are more than two people being talked about, or are there name changes, or typos, or something else?????

Gengulphus

My apologies, for `Anderson' read `Crossman'.

Moderator Message:
Post edited above to correct Anderson to Crossman in line with this post (chas49)


Incidentally, I recently noticed that a new company has been set up called Legacy Probate Services Ltd, which sharp-eyed readers will have seen was the original name of this set up.

And surprise, surprise, its sole director is none other than our old chum Mr David Fuher, and the whole of the issued shares are owned by Legacy Wills & Estate Planning Limited ("LWEP").

Curiouser and curiouser ...

I omitted to mention that the FCT assets were bought from the Administrator (who was appointed by Fuher and Crossman) by LWEP - theirs being, would you believe it, the only offer received; and that the 85% shareholding in LWEP that FTC owned was bought from the Administrator for the princely sum of £5k by ... er, Messrs Fuher and Crossman.

And they didn't even pay any cash over - the £5k was offset against the debt they claimed to be owed by FCT, and which, unlike more naive creditors, they had prudently secured against the company's assets.

Still, it can't be said that the Administrator didn't do his best to sell the FCT assets - they were advertised for all of 10 days!

I can't help thinking that the concept of limited liability, which made a lot of sense and had many commercial merits when first invented, is now used primarily as a means of enriching a very few people (directors and insolvency professionals) at the expense of their many creditors, particularly the Great British Taxpayer, who seems to bear the brunt of insolvencies.

It cannot be right that wealthy people who can afford expensive professional advice can basically screw creditors with impunity and keep their ill-gotten gains, whilst ordinary people in a similar situation but involving far less money lose everything.

Time for a Great Reform Bill!

Slarti
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Re: Legacy Wills

#66374

Postby Slarti » July 11th, 2017, 12:18 pm

SteMiS wrote:I've had some discussion with an online will writing company (https://www.legacywills.co.uk) about preparing a will for me. It's a pretty cheap quote (£39.99), they seem well reviewed on sites such as trustpilot and say they are members of the Society of Will Writers.


Another recommendation to use Will Aid.

Worked a treat for us and lead to a bit more work for the solicitor in setting up LPAs.

Slarti

beeswax
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Re: Legacy Wills

#66393

Postby beeswax » July 11th, 2017, 1:04 pm

There was a scheme whereby a charity like Cancer Research would actually fund your will with a reputable local solicitor which we have used a couple of times. They are very well known and have been going a long time and it worked out just fine. I'm not sure whether its still available though. Their idea is they hope you will leave them some money in the will drawn up of course.

I agree with CK that the bankruptcy rules need revising back to what they were supposed to do and think you could not restart a similar business up unless you have paid all your debts but possibly when administrators are involved who then agree 6p in the pound etc that gets around the problem. Football clubs use this avenue regularly.

Marvin
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Re: Legacy Wills

#209095

Postby Marvin » March 21st, 2019, 12:59 pm

HI,
I'm new here and i have specifically joined because i thought should add that these Legacy people are now asking for customers passport and/or driving licence details, in fact they asked for a copy of mine. This rang a bell but a quick search found a Lemon and me almost being a Fool.
Thanks for the advice .. i'll be back.

RedRob
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Re: Legacy Wills

#299387

Postby RedRob » April 9th, 2020, 6:07 pm

These people are classic hard sell merchants. Tried to get one of my relatives to hand over card details on the first call and would not take no for an answer when we changed our minds. I would urge you to avoid them.

Chrysalis
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Re: Legacy Wills

#299672

Postby Chrysalis » April 10th, 2020, 5:00 pm

My observation is that your will doesn’t sound straightforward to me. You want to leave your assets to minors, you are divorced from their mother and don’t want her to be able to access (or presumably have anything to do with managing) the money.

This would seem to cry out for a professionally advised will.

PinkDalek
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Re: Legacy Wills

#299690

Postby PinkDalek » April 10th, 2020, 5:48 pm

Chrysalis wrote:My observation is that your will doesn’t sound straightforward to me. ...


In case it is not obvious to others, the OP was back in 2017 and SteMiS may have resolved the situation since then but hasn't contributed further to the thread.

Perhaps if I provide a quote
SteMiS wrote:I've had some discussion with an online will writing company
it may draw SteMis back for an update.

SteMiS
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Re: Legacy Wills

#299702

Postby SteMiS » April 10th, 2020, 7:25 pm

PinkDalek wrote:
Chrysalis wrote:My observation is that your will doesn’t sound straightforward to me. ...


In case it is not obvious to others, the OP was back in 2017 and SteMiS may have resolved the situation since then but hasn't contributed further to the thread.

Perhaps if I provide a quote
SteMiS wrote:I've had some discussion with an online will writing company
it may draw SteMis back for an update.

Gladly.

I never continued my discussions with legacywills and just told them I wasn't interested. I've remained without a will since then and luckily managed to survive. My youngest is 18 in a few months when it'll all be pretty simple.

brianlom1
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Re: Legacy Wills

#342466

Postby brianlom1 » September 24th, 2020, 11:21 am

Thank you to everyone who posted. I was beginning to feel uneasy with the amount of personal and private information I was required to provide over the phone (such as debit card details inc. CCV and passport) so I decided to do a quick internet search. The reviews appeared to support my concerns so I aborted the process. It remains to be seen if my money is refunded (this may be difficult as I've cancelled the debit card), I may have to put this one down to experience.

Maroochydore
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Re: Legacy Wills

#342469

Postby Maroochydore » September 24th, 2020, 11:34 am

brianlom1 wrote: It remains to be seen if my money is refunded (this may be difficult as I've cancelled the debit card), I may have to put this one down to experience.

Which re-enforces the old maxim: Do your own research before parting with any money.

Not a dig at brianlom1 but a reminder to everyone.


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