I am delighted for Gill Tobin that she has been admitted as a CILEX Probate Practitioner. Now, Gill has specialised in the area of Wills, Probate, Estate Administration and Trusts for over 20 years, and has been a Fellow of CILEX for many of them, so what does this mean?
What you may not know is that, by law, there are certain legal activities that only a regulated practitioner, and most commonly a solicitor, can undertake. One of those areas includes the right to ‘probate activities’ which includes preparing any probate papers for the purposes of the law of England and Wales or in relation to any proceedings in England and Wales. “Probate papers” are those on which to found or oppose a grant of probate or a grant of letters of administration.
To become a lawyer carrying on these activities without supervision requires additional study and passing additional exams. The practitioner then becomes independently regulated by the approved regulators in the legal services sector, working under the oversight of the Legal Services Board.
When you are choosing who to work with and who to trust your matters to, it is important to consider whether that person specialises in the area of work where your matter sits, whether they are qualified but, most importantly, whether they are regulated and insured because all of these things together protect you. They ensure you have someone who really knows what they are doing, can be held to account through their regulatory body and has insurance in the very rare situation that a mistake is made.
The additional exams are tough, testing the practitioner’s knowledge thoroughly. Gill deserves all the congratulations for getting through that process.