Oath: No extra training for ICAEW probate firms
Chartered accountants are finally to get the right to administer oaths, six years after their regulator gained the power to grant it.
In 2019, the Ministry of Justice approved the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) as a regulator for this reserved legal activity but it has not yet been put into action.
The ICAEW already has the power to authorise firms it regulates to provide probate services – and 348 are currently licensed – and it is these firms that will have to option to administer oaths too under proposals which it has been consulting on.
It said a 2023 survey of firms providing probate services showed that most would consider offering oaths too.
“Administering oaths can be a valuable service for accountants and probate practitioners,” the consultation said.
While oaths are no longer required for grants of probate, affidavits may be required to address specific issues in estate administration, while statutory declarations and certified copies of documents are also needed in various situations.
“Offering these services can help to attract new clients, demonstrate your expertise and allow you to streamline your business.”
The ICAEW did not propose to introduce new training requirements, on the basis that the existing course to become a probate practitioner “already provides some content on oaths”, but it would expand the course materials and also publish “some explanatory guidance” for those who are already authorised.
The charges for oaths are set under statute as £5 for each affidavit, declaration or affirmation and £2 for each exhibit or schedule required to be marked.
The consultation also outlined proposed changes to how ICAEW probate firms deal with complaints about legal services, implementing the statement of policy and guidance issued last year by the Legal Services Board.
Back in 2016, the ICAEW sought approval to regulate all the other reserved legal activities, which it said it would limit to tax-related matters.
However, the following year, the then Lord Chancellor, David Lidiington, unexpectedly rejected the LSB’s recommendation to legislate to this effect, a decision upheld by the High Court except in relation to the administration of oaths.
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