Solicitor, will-writer or national firm. Compared honestly.

Safe Harbour Legal and Legal Studio Solicitors are trading names of MDLS Solicitors Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, SRA 598793.

Writing a will is not a reserved legal activity under the Legal Services Act 2007. No licence or regulator is needed to offer it. Some will-writers join a voluntary trade body.

A national law firm is regulated by the SRA or another approved regulator. Some national will-writing brands are not law firms, so check the register.

Compulsory for every SRA-regulated practice, at a minimum level of cover the SRA sets.

No statute requires it. Some trade bodies require cover of their members, and the level varies.

Compulsory on the same terms for any SRA-regulated firm.

If a complaint is not resolved by the practice, you can take it to the Legal Ombudsman. It is independent of the firm and free to use.

The Legal Ombudsman covers authorised legal providers, not unregulated will-writers. A trade body may run its own scheme for members. Otherwise the route is the courts.

Any firm regulated by an approved regulator is within the Legal Ombudsman scheme.

Aaron Johnson, Consultant Solicitor and TEP, takes your instructions and drafts the document himself.

Often a form you complete online, sometimes checked by staff. The law sets no minimum qualification for a will-writer.

Often a solicitor, a legal executive or a paralegal working under a supervising solicitor. Who drafts it can vary, and you may not meet them.

Every fee is on the pricing page with VAT stated, and third-party costs listed. A standard will for one person is £420 inc. VAT (£350 + VAT); mirror wills for a couple are £660 inc. VAT (£550 + VAT).

The headline price is usually published. Extras such as a trust, document storage or an executor appointment are not always priced up front.

The SRA Transparency Rules require published prices for probate, but not for wills or powers of attorney. Those are often quoted on enquiry.

Every job is a fixed fee agreed in writing before work starts. Probate is never charged as a percentage of the estate.

The will is usually a fixed price. Where the will-writer’s company is appointed executor, probate may later be charged as a percentage of the estate.

Wills are often fixed. Probate is often charged by the hour, and some firms add a percentage of the estate value on top.

Preparing probate papers for a fee is a reserved legal activity (Legal Services Act 2007, Schedule 2, paragraph 6). A solicitor is authorised for it, so Aaron obtains the grant and administers the estate himself.

Preparing the probate application for a fee is reserved to authorised persons under the Legal Services Act 2007. A will-writer may handle other estate work, but cannot apply for the grant for a fee. Some therefore pass the estate to a partner firm, or write their own company in as executor.

A regulated law firm is authorised for probate. The work is often done by a probate department rather than the person who drafted the will.

Across East and North Yorkshire, at no travel charge. Evening appointments if daytimes are hard.

An online service works by web form, email and phone. Some traditional will-writers do visit at home.

Most work from offices, by phone or by video. Some offer home visits on request, sometimes at extra cost.

Aaron takes the first call, drafts the document, oversees the signing and, when the time comes, administers the estate. Nothing is handed off.

The will comes from a template or a consultant. Any later probate usually goes to a different company.

Matters often pass between departments and people, and your contact can change part-way through.