The few occasions this happened, it was probably due to having more appearances for the club than any of the other players on the park, rather than a status thing.
Set piece takers are down to management to decide. If the manager wants one player to take all the set pieces, then that player is going to follow that instruction.
This "daddy wants his boy to move to Ibrox" keeps coming up, but I don't recall either Hateley or his father ever stating this was their intended move. It seems people view this as fact purely because of who his father is.
On the few occasions I've had any dealings with him, I thought he seemed a polite and quiet kind of guy, who was happy to chat to any Motherwell fans, and seemed to genuinely enjoy playing for the club.
Whilst I don't doubt some people may have had run-ins with him, as I'm sure many fans have with players, it seems some people are basing their dislike of him on some pretty poor reasoning.