If the Will Writer or the company is registered with the Society of Will Writers, please contact us and we will consider whether we can become involved.

A member of the Society of Will Writers has to comply with our Code of Practice, and if your complaint is that you believe a member has deviated from this Code, please contact us.

If your problem relates to a commercial dispute (including the fees you’ve been charged), you may only be able to find a solution through the courts. Although we may be able to deal with certain issues of professional conduct related to the dispute, only the courts can pass judgement on contract terms.

If your problem relates to a criminal matter, you should ask the police (or other relevant authority) to investigate it first. Please let us know that you have reported the matter because, if the Will Writer is convicted, we may need to take further action. However, we can’t say whether an individual has committed a criminal offence.

If your problem is a matter of poor work or professional conduct, please contact us and we will consider whether we can become involved.

Firms offering investment business advice have to be authorised. The current authorising bodies are: The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for what is called mainstream investment business; and a number of designated professional bodies.

All our member firms have to investigate complaints they receive from clients about the service they have provided, so before you make a complaint to the Society, contact your Will Writer to give them an opportunity to address your concerns.

Write to the proprietor, managing director or principal to explain your complaint, and if appropriate, say what you would like them to do to resolve the problem.

If you can’t resolve the problem satisfactorily, you can either fill in the online form on or use one of the alternatives listed at the end of this page and we’ll see whether we can become involved.

We may not be able to help if you have nothing to support your allegation, so please send us copies of any relevant supporting letters and other documents with your complaint form. If you have a clear idea how your complaint might be resolved, tell us on the form.

We will write to let you know we have received your complaint and will pass it to an assessor.

If it appears the Will Writer may have failed to comply with The Society of Will Writers standards, guidance or regulations, we will consider the best way to deal with it. Not all complaints however lead to the Will Writer being disciplined; for example, if the Will Writer has made a simple mistake.

If we can’t help, we will tell you as soon as possible. Depending on the nature and seriousness of the problem, we may:

1. offer conciliation if we think there is something that can be done to resolve your complaint; or
2. decide that it would be best to deal with the subject matter of the complaint by investigating it further to see whether the Society should discipline the Will Writer.

If the assessor believes your complaint might be resolved through conciliation, it does not mean that it is less serious than other complaints. It means that a different approach is more likely to meet your needs.

The conciliator will try to help reach an agreement that is satisfactory to both you and your Will Writer. If the Will Writer is prepared to take the steps you have outlined, or suggests alternatives which you agree with, we will try to resolve the matter without using our formal disciplinary procedures.

Although we do not have the power to award compensation, it may nevertheless be possible to agree a financial settlement through conciliation. If we resolve your complaint through conciliation, we will close the matter and there will be no disciplinary consequences for the Will Writer. If conciliation does not resolve the problem, we will see whether the Society should investigate the matter further.

If an assessor believes the complaint should be investigated, we will tell you which aspects of the matter we can deal with and pass the file to a case manager who will look into your complaint in detail. If there are any matters we can’t deal with, we will explain why. We will also tell you if we need further information before we can start investigating.

The case manager will ask for the Will Writers version of events and will usually invite you to comment on their response. At this stage, it helps if you and the Will Writer make all relevant correspondence available to each other. Our investigation concentrates on whether the Society should discipline the Will Writer.

To make a complaint please use the online form.

Or, download the form and send it to us using the contact information as follows:

By post to:

The Society of Will Writers
Chancery House
Whisby Way
Lincoln
LN6 3LQ

By email to:

[email protected]

Society Complaints Procedure

Member Disciplinary Hearing Information