Institute of Professional Willwriters
The Institute of Professional Willwriters was founded in 1991, a self-regulatory body to safeguard the public from unqualified practitioners and unethical business practices. Membership is available only to those who pass the IPW entrance examination, or an equivalent run by the Law Society, the Institute of Legal Executives or the Chartered Institute of Bankers. Members are required to update their knowledge and skills annually through a program of Continuing Professional Development in order to retain their practising certificate. All IPW members have a minimum of £2 million of Professional Indemnity Insurance, and subscribe to a rigorous Code of Conduct backed up by a disciplinary code. Clients can be assured that, by dealing with an IPW member, they will receive a service that is professional, ethical and competent.
There are other so called professional bodies that claim to represent the will writing industry and protect the consumer, but the Institute of Professional Willwriters is the ONLY organisation that is: Effectively lobbying the Government to introduce compulsory regulation in the industry, and insists on all members qualifying by entrance examination only, and ensures that all members undertake on-going training and development and whose members all have a minimum of £2 million of Professional Indemnity Insurance, and whose members have all been successfully police checked.