The naivety of consumers around the costs associated with estate administration is placing huge financial pressures on people at a time of great distress as they navigate the process of dealing with bereavement and managing estate administration.
It’s part of the story behind the growth of FCA-regulated lenders who offer options to families hit by unexpected liabilities, including inheritance tax (IHT), property maintenance, and care home fees; an acute issue for many considering recent economic pressures.
Partnerships director at The Estate Registry, James Emery joins the latest Today’s Wills and Probate podcast to discuss how lenders are offering solutions to both the families of those who have died, and practitioners, for cases involving asset-rich but cash-poor estates, where urgent funding is required before a grant of probate can be issued?
Emery highlights the “legal paradox” in England and Wales where assets cannot be liquidated or sold until the grant of probate is received, yet the grant cannot be unlocked without paying HMRC first. He says specialist financing, like inheritance loans, solves this by allowing early access to up to 50% of the anticipated net inheritance, taking the risk away from the estate to cover these urgent liabilities.
Operating in this sensitive market requires strict FCA compliance he explains, meaning practitioners must handle signposting ethically, focusing on transparent, compliant referrals rather than direct recommendations.
The lending service operates alongside a notification service offered by The Estate Registry, which allows executors to alert multiple service providers simultaneously, removing the administrative process of sending repetitive emails, or having to have countless painful conversations.
It’s all part, adds Emery, of a more joined up approach to private client law; where once solicitors once operated in silos, there is now a robust connectivity between legal experts, funding providers, genealogists, and probate property specialists, all of which ensures a better client service concludes Emery.
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Thank you to our podcast sponsors LEAP Estates, Estate Research, Property Ladder Group and Finders International.
