Beware of the shiny-looking wills company with fake IDs and whose owner spent time in jail, says TONY HETHERINGTON

Tony Hetherington is the Financial Mail on Sunday’s top researcher, taking on readers’ corners, uncovering the truth that lies behind closed doors and delivering victories for those left out of their own pockets. Below you can read how you can contact him.

IS writes: Town & Country Law Ltd sounds solid and reliable, with several offices, glossy sales materials and a special focus on wills. However, we paid them £1,990 last June and have been looking for answers to simple questions since September, after they sent us a ‘letter of advice’ with draft wills.

Tony Hetherington replies: You contacted the Legal Ombudsman but found that despite its name, Town and Country Law is not regulated, so the Ombudsman could not help you. This is because drafting wills and trust deeds can be done by anyone, even without qualifications or experience.

You were frustrated by your contact with the firm, which prepared ‘specialist wills for wills’ for you and your wife. If you had questions, you wanted a written answer, but were told you were being called. The firm also explained: ‘We continually seek advice from tax counsel in relation to our trust products, and we have recently been advised that there is further advice that we need to discuss with our clients before moving forward with the Specialist Probate Trust .’

Shortly after you contacted me, Town & Country Law issued you a full refund, which was great news. However, dealing with the company was not easy for me either. What I can say is that it believes it has tried to respond to you and has not neglected you.

That said, there are a lot of unanswered questions. I wrote about Town & Country Law two years ago, after discovering that owner James Scotney had been cleared by the Financial Conduct Authority. He and his company were on the FCA’s public register of vetted and approved people and companies.

This was surprising because the FCA requires all applicants to disclose any criminal convictions, and Scotney has a criminal record. He has stayed out of trouble for several years, but the normal rehabilitation rules that wipe the slate clean do not apply to certain companies, including those covered by the FCA and guaranteeing a high level of fairness.

Scotney failed to reveal his past to the FCA, although he admitted it a year later and the FCA decided to let him keep his clearance, although he gave up after The Mail on Sunday’s report in 2022. It has been suggested that the FCA’s demand for details of a criminal history is vague, and that Scotney has simply misunderstood. The FCA has declined to discuss Scotney’s case, but says its website and forms make disclosure expectations very clear. They say, ‘If you are a candidate for approval, you must notify us of any criminal convictions.’

Town & Country Law and Scotney will no longer be authorized by the FCA in September 2022. However, I discovered that at least one of the company’s websites promoted funeral plans. This requires FCA approval, which Scotney’s firm does not have, so I asked him if he would have to do this.

Scotney did not respond and appears to view his websites purely as advertising. Some details, such as an offer of low-cost plans, disappeared after I questioned him, but a Town & Country Law website still says: ‘We offer a range of services including wills, trusts, lasting powers of attorney and funeral plans.’

Town & Country Law and Scotney are no longer approved by the FCA in September 2022

Two of the company’s promotional websites go even further and surprisingly carry the completely false claim: ‘Town & Country Law Ltd is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.’

Until about two weeks ago, one of Scotney’s sites also claimed that they are “Members of the Society of Will Writers,” a real trade body that maintains professional standards. The claim has since disappeared and the Society says: ‘We have no members from Town & Country.’

Since anyone can make a will without any experience or consent, do all these untruths really matter? Being able to say that you have been vetted and approved by the FCA and that you are a member of a professional body certainly paints an image of a trustworthy and honest company. But what kind of picture is being painted if these claims are false?

We’re watching you

A disbarred lawyer who was a central figure in a multi-million pound land investment fraud has finally been paid the full amount owed under a confiscation order.

Dale Robert Walker, 64, gave a false impression of respectability to a network of scammers selling house-sized plots of land, telling investors they would increase in value if development began. But the land consisted only of farmers’ fields, which had been bought up by the fraudsters at agricultural prices. It had no planning permission for housing and no chance of obtaining one.

We mentioned Walker in 2012 after a reader paid £15,000 for a plot in Chesham in Buckinghamshire. A sales brochure mentioned a residential area, but the municipality had already started a procedure to ban even the building of a fence on the site. The actual value of the plot was less than £200.

Walker, who ran a small law firm in Sevenoaks, Kent, was dismissed as a solicitor in 2015. He and seven others were convicted, with Walker sentenced to five and a half years in prison.

In 2017, the Financial Conduct Authority won a court order forcing Walker to hand over £716,719, his share of £4.25 million collected by the fraudsters. He paid in installments until he failed to pay the last £33,500, and last month he was sentenced to 62 days in prison. A family member subsequently paid and Walker was released.

FCA enforcement boss Steve Smart welcomed the decision to send Walker back to prison, saying: ‘It is clear that this has convinced Mr Walker to find the means to pay.’

If you believe you have been a victim of financial misconduct, please write to Tony Hetherington at Financial Mail, 9 Derry Street, London W8 5HY or email tony.hetherington@mailonsunday.co.uk. Due to the large number of questions, personal answers cannot be given. Only send copies of original documents. Unfortunately, these cannot be returned.