Insurance backed expert advice
Preference Trusts and Wills Limited is a well-established estate planning practice; owned and run by Andrew Williams.
For more than ten years Preference Trusts and Wills Limited has provided expert estate planning advice; in a friendly, approachable, understanding way to hundreds of people throughout the South of England.
Andrew is an Associate of the Society of Will Writers and Estate Practitioners (SOWW) by examination and an Affiliate Member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP). As a condition of such memberships, we have a duty to comply with the Code of Conduct of SOWW; the STEP members Code of Professional Conduct and the STEP Code for Will Preparation in England and Wales.
We are registered with and directly regulated by HM Revenue and Customs as a Trust Service Provider. Our unique registration number can be found at the foot of every page of this our website
We are committed to continual personal and professional development and by fully utilising the resources provided by SOWW, STEP and HM Revenue Customs, we keep up to date with relevant practical changes, new statutory legislation and precedents set by case law.
This means that our expert estate planning advice is always current and effective at the time of providing it to you.
SOWW has a robust and effective procedure in place to handle any complaints from the clients of its members. We are pleased to confirm that we have never had a complaint about our services lodged with SOWW and that we welcome the spirit and the objectives of a measure designed to maintain professional standards and provide consumers with protection.
All our expert advice is backed by full Professional Indemnity Insurance protection of up to £2million per claim and as we visit our client’s homes and businesses, we also have appropriate Public Liability Insurance too.
All these measures are designed to help us deliver a high-quality service to you whilst also providing you with peace of mind.
Full, written Codes of Conduct and details of Professional Indemnity and Public Liability Insurance are available, upon request.
Confidentiality & Integrity
We are registered under the Data Protection Act.
This means that we are committed to keeping your information confidential at all times.
Any client information that we store on computer is password protected. Any papers and documents that are in our possession are kept in locked filing cabinets and locked desks in our secure office premises.
On the rare occasions that we need to post them, we send legal documents via the Royal Mail Guaranteed Delivery process.
We never share information about our clients with a third party unless we have their express permission to do so.
We take our responsibilities to our clients very seriously and welcome the spirit and the objectives of the Data Protection Act.
This is another measure we are committed to, which will provide you with further peace of mind.
We do not charge by the hour
After our first meeting with you, we take time to analyse the information that we have gathered.
We prepare our full written recommendations, which are set out in a simple to follow yet accurate and detailed manner. We have found this to be very important considering the potential complexity of the solutions that we are proposing.
We calculate the fees that we require in order to undertake our recommendations and we detail the fees at the end of our written recommendations.
We do not charge by the hour and we do not charge percentages of what you own.
Our fees are entirely dependant upon the volume and the complexity of the work that we would need to undertake for you, in order to for your objectives to be achieved.
We then visit you for our second meeting to go through our recommendations.
We make sure that you are in an entirely informed position before you make the decision for us to proceed and therefore, before you incur any fees.
All our advice to you, is provided in writing
We consider that the provision of advice in writing is an essential element of providing an advisory service.
It is your permanent record of your circumstances at the time of the advice provided. It evidences the advice given. This is an invaluable protection for you and for us.
One of our top tips for financial success in life, is to always ask for confirmation of verbal advice in writing.
If a professional adviser is not prepared to confirm their advice in writing, it begs the question; why?
We help you to keep your affairs up to date and we’re there when it matters most
One of the many unique elements of our service to you; is our Private Client Scheme.
For as little as £4.35 per month, membership can provide you with the following benefits;
A. Safely storing your vital Documents
Independent storage of all your important legal documents including your Will, Powers of Attorney, Life Assurance, Investment and Pension Policies, Shareholder or Partnership Agreements and even private letters and photographs.
We store these in specialist document storage, with our Regulatory Body, The Society of Will writers and Estate Practitioners, who are based in Lincoln.
B. Helping your Executors and Trustees
In the event of your death, we will meet your Executors, Trustees and Legal Guardians (If required) to help them understand how to apply for a Grant of Probate, how to administer a deceased’s Estate and any how to administer any Trusts which may exist. This meeting is at no further cost to them or your estate.
We know that these meetings have been extremely useful and informative to those involved in helping them understand the different ways in which these matters may be handled and by whom. This meeting can save time and money whilst also relieving stress at a very difficult time for the deceased’s family.
C. Helping you to keep your affairs up to date
We will write to you every three years to encourage you to review your affairs. We know how important it is to keep your affairs up to date and relevant to your circumstances. We also know that legislation can change which can alter the effectiveness of the provision that you have in place.
Think back three years. How much has changed for you in your life?
In the past three years, there have been major changes in legislation. For example, changes in respect of Mental Capacity, Taxation on Trusts, Inheritance Tax, Capital Gains Tax and Company Law to name just a few.
Reviewing your affairs is essential. We will prompt and help the members of our Private Clients Scheme, to do so.
D. Reduce the costs of updating your affairs’
As a member of our Private Client Scheme, you can have your documents entirely redrafted every three years to reflect changes in your circumstances or in legislation, at a significantly reduced cost.
It doesn’t matter how complex the changes are – costs to members of our Private Client Scheme are significantly reduced.
Even if your circumstances change to such an extent that you need to make changes within the three-year period, we shall significantly reduce the costs of re-drafting your documents.
We believe that our Private Client Scheme can potentially save you and the beneficiaries of your estate, thousands of pounds over the years ahead.
It is no surprise; that over 98% of our clients have joined our Private Client Scheme.
