A law firm identified £629,000 of lost assets held in multiple bank accounts following a hunch over the proceeds of sale of a farm.
National firm Anthony Collins, acting on a probate case, identified the monies despite little information regarding the estate and the passing of both a mother and her daughter.
Lindsey Bohanna, a legal director in the personal planning team at Anthony Collins Solicitors, explains how the firm had been passed a probate case from another firm that had been acting as a deputy for a lady who had been in care and passed away in 2017. Anthony Collins had been acting as deputy for her daughter who had a life interest in her mum’s estate, when she too passed away. Although separate, the two cases were interlinked and complex adds Bohanna.
As more and more estate collateral is held online it has become increasingly difficult to identify assets within an estate as often, even close family members are not fully across the finances of a deceased loved one said Bohanna. But acting on a hunch, Bohanna ran a financial profile search on the estate after identifying the sale of a family farm.
“I couldn’t help but wonder what happened to the proceeds of the sale. I decided to run an asset search through Estatesearch” said Bohanna.
“Estatesearch quickly reported multiple positive matches, enabling me to contact each of the banks to establish the nature of the assets held. More matches were confirmed and I continued writing letters. Ultimately, we discovered £629,000 held in multiple accounts with various firms.
“As well as ensuring the residual beneficiary will receive what is rightfully theirs, Estatesearch’s asset search has ensured that we can make the correct inheritance tax (IHT) calculations and that our client has full peace of mind that no further assets will be discovered at a later date. As a firm, we are also protected from the requirement to re-distribute any assets which may have come to light years down the line.
Bohanna goes on to explain how one of the impacts of the COVIC-19 pandemic is the move toward online; with online banking increasingly prevalent making is more difficult to keep track of bank accounts.
“Previously, it was possible to monitor bank statements sent by post but this is no longer the case. I recently managed the estate administration for one of my colleagues when their parents passed away and an asset search revealed something no-one was aware of. This demonstrates just how difficult it is for anyone to have complete knowledge of someone else’s financial situation.
Estatesearch themselves say there is an estimated £200bn of unclaimed assets sat dormant in bank accounts in the UK. It’s own internal survey of clients suggested as many as 70% of respondents identified assets they would otherwise have had no knowledge of. Earlier this year the firm helped another law firm identify and reclaim £270,000 in lost assets through the Financial Profile Search which makes enquiries of more than 150 organisations, searching over 450 companies and brands including banks, building societies, investment managers, share registrars, pension providers and insurers to help identify accounts. Firms then make further enquiries if a financial institution confirms the subject holds, for example, an account or a pension of which they were previously unaware.
