PRESS RELEASE: 18thOctober 2017

UK Wills, Probate & Trusts Market

IRN Legal Market Briefing
STEADY MARKET GROWTH EXPECTED – CAGR OF 3.7% IN MARKET VALUE FROM 2016 TO 2020

The UK Wills & Probate Market Briefing2017 is the fourthedition of an annual Legal Market Briefing from IRN Research and provides anoverview of the UK wills, probate & trusts market.

Each year around 4 million adults make a will and 3.6 million handle probate/estate administration matters. Despite this relatively large market size, it remains a largely unregulated market relative to other sectors of the law, and remains very fragmented, primarily made up of small and medium-sized solicitors and unregulated will and probate firms.

The wills, probate and trusts market is expected to see modest but steady growth in the future, supported by a rising number of deaths each year and the continuing aging of the UK population. There are a number of possible developments in the pipeline which could radically change the market. Among these are:

  • Potentially making will writing a regulated activity.
  • Enforcing solicitors to publish on their websites their prices (and their complaints data).
  • Changing the legal forms of wills, allowing electronic wills, video wills and audio wills, which opens the prospect for the electronic storage of wills.
  • The greater introduction of new technology into the market such as automation of legal forms and precedents, cloud-based practice management solutions, digital submission of forms to the HMRC and an online probate service.
  • In England and Wales, the lowering of the minimum age of testators from 18 to 16 and applying the test of capacity in the Mental Capacity Act 2005 to wills.
  • The introduction of the Code of Professional Conduct in Relation to Taxation, meaning law firms must be more careful when handling wills, trusts ad inheritance tax issues.
  • The introduction of a new UK Trust Register, which might make trusts less attractive to those wanting anonymity.

40 practitioners in the sector responded to an IRN survey on workload and revenues: 63% are expecting an increase in workload in the next 12 months (compared to 60% in last year’s survey).

The briefing(51pp, PDF), is available directly from IRN Research, priced at £180.UK sterling price is plus VAT so total price is £216.

The UK Wills, Probate & Trusts Market Briefingis one of a series of briefings produced each year with others coveringB2B Legal Services, Conveyancing,Family Law, and Personal Injury.Briefingsprovide details of:historical market size and trends; future trends and forecasts; industry opinion surveys; market drivers; key players; commentary on key issues impacting on the market.

Wills, Probate & Trusts Table of Contents

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY...... 4

Introduction...... 4

It’s a large but very fragmented market...... 4

It’s a market driven by age and death...... 4

A market held back by consumers adopting an ostrich approach to the future...... 5

Price transparency and regulation are possible future scenarios...... 5

2. INTRODUCTION...... 6

Wills and Probate...... 6

Trusts...... 7

Legal Guardianship...... 8

Abbreviations...... 9

3. MARKET STRUCTURE...... 10

Official Regulation...... 10

Professional Regulation...... 10

A Fragmented Market...... 10

Law Firms and Solicitors...... 11

Unregulated Companies...... 13

Other Probate Providers...... 14

4. MARKET DRIVERS...... 15

Ageing population could aid the market...... 15

Number of deaths rising but the incidence of death in decline...... 15

Growth of dementia...... 16

Ignorance is holding the market back…...... 17

Because many consumers don’t want to think about the future…...... 17

A fact compounded by the lack of big brands...... 17

Changing patterns of family life...... 17

Rise of probate fees cancelled...... 18

Growing pressure for price transparency...... 18

Potential regulation of will writing in England and Wales…...... 18

And new regulations could also come into force in Scotland...... 19

The law on wills could also be changed in England and Wales...... 19

Changes in tax rules make trusts less attractive…...... 20

And new inheritance tax changes mean trust holder could lose out...... 20

Law firms need to be careful not to assist tax avoidance when giving advice...... 21

The New UK Trust Register...... 21

5. KEY PLAYERS...... 23

Overview...... 23

Co-op Legal Services...... 23

Blake Morgan LLP...... 23

Bond Dickinson LLP...... 24

Boodle Hatfield LLP...... 25

Clarke Willmott LLP...... 25

Charles Russell Speechlys LLP...... 25

Estate Planning Group (Holdings) Ltd...... 26

Hugh James LLP...... 26

Kings Court Trust...... 26

Lawpack Publishing Ltd...... 27

Irwin Mitchell Solicitors...... 27

Mills & Reeve LLP...... 28

Penningtons Manches LLP...... 28

Redstone Wills...... 29

Shoosmiths LLP...... 29

Simplify Group/Chorus Law Group...... 29

Simpson Millar Solicitors LLP...... 30

Slater & Gordon...... 30

Thompsons Solicitors...... 31

Trust Inheritance Ltd...... 31

Which? Legal ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….31

6. MARKET SIZE AND TRENDS...... 32

A market valued at around £1.3 billion...... 32

The will writing market is valued at £300 million...... 33

Probate...... 34

Guardianships...... 38

162,000 Trusts in existence...... 39

Court proceedings...... 40

7. THE FUTURE...... 42

Market Forecasts...... 42

An ageing population should make will and probate services more relevant...... 42

Market to reach £1.6 billion by 2022...... 43

A low priced offer could open the mass market...... 44

New technology could change the market...... 44

Wills & Probate Practitioner Survey ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..45

8. ASSOCIATIONS………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..48

IRN Research
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Established in 1991, IRN Research is a market research consultancy with a particular focus on the legal services market.We offer a range of bespoke research services, on an ad-hoc and continuous basis, to law firms and suppliers to the sector. These services include client satisfaction surveys, market studies and competitor intelligence, client industry reports, and strategic studies.

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