Birchall Blackburn is a trusted legal partner with offices throughout the North West.
Rosemary Johns, Partner, is based in the Chorley office and along with the private client team of more than 20 team members across the different locations including Preston, Leyland, Southport and Morecambe, Birchall Blackburn offers professional client focused legal services locally, where clients tend to return time and time again.
Rosemary Johns explains:
“We have used Estatesearch’s services since 2021, including the company’s asset and liability searches, Will searches, overseas bankruptcy searches, share valuations, insurance and statutory notices.
“Where our partners are executors in a probate case, we will always use Estatesearch’s Will Search and Section 27 notices and the Financial Profile Search to establish the assets within the estate. Often the profile search confirms what we already know, but equally there have been instances where matches have been confirmed. Sometimes, further enquiries will show the account has been closed however, we have also found unknown assets too.
“We often engage in Court of Protection work where an individual has lost capacity. Using Estatesearch’s Will Search we have been able to locate the most recent Will where otherwise it would have been impossible to know where to start. Estatesearch offers us what I’d call a ‘belt and braces’ approach which ensures due diligence in a variety of circumstances.
“We always suggest that lay executors take advantage of Estatesearch’s reports and statutory notices as they offer cost effective protection. I always ask executors ‘how can they be certain that they have the most recent Will or a complete list of assets?’ However, instructing a search is their choice and it usually depends on how well they knew the deceased if they decide to go-ahead.
“I have found Estatesearch’s Overseas Bankruptcy Search particularly useful. We often have beneficiaries based abroad and I have recently run searches for subjects based in South Africa, Germany and Australia and the reports were returned within a couple of days.
“The next stage of the process is to add the details of each confirmed asset into Exizent’s system which helps us identify and auto fill documents such as the IHT400 form, in addition to the production of estate accounts. The previous system we used was clunky and complicated and several of my colleagues struggled and gave up, choosing to use Excel to produce accounts instead. Now we all use Exizent as it has a simple layout and it’s easy to input information, saving time and generally making life easier all round. The end report looks professional and is good to send to clients.
“The Exizent team have also been great to work with. We felt we could benefit from a few enhancements to the system early on, and they listened and were able to implement these for us through their development roadmap. They have also provided training and are helpful if we need any support, usually responding to messages within minutes.
“The Estatesearch team are great too and supply us with data about who is using their reports and services and how often, which helps us keep track of workflow.
“As experts in our field, a number of our team are professional members of the Association of Lifetime Lawyers, we are also members of STEP and the Professionals Deputy Forum, we specialise in offering a highly professional service combined with a uniquely personal and local approach.
“Estatesearch and Exizent’s offerings are complimentary and support us so we can provide a an even better service to our clients. I’d definitely recommend both Estatesearch and Exizent to other private client solicitors looking to gain efficiency and ensure due diligence in estate administration.”
For further information about Birchall Blackburn please see: https://www.birchallblackburn.co.uk/
For further information about Estatesearch please see: https://www.estatesearch.co.uk/
For further information about Exizent please see: https://www.exizent.com/
This article was submitted to be published by Estatesearch as part of their advertising agreement with Today’s Wills and Probate. The views expressed in this article are those of the submitter and not those of Today’s Wills and Probate.
