Legal technology company Estatesearch has announced it has added international searches as an additional service to its Financial Profile search service. The change will enabling professionals to search additional jurisdictions across the world, including America, Asia, China and Europe.
Firms will now be able use the International Financial Profile Search to reduce the risk of missed assets in estate administration on complex cross border investigations.
Mark Taylor, sales manager at Estatesearch, said: “Hundreds of thousands of people emigrate from the UK every year. Similarly, ex-pats return from living overseas.
“Increasingly, therefore, where individuals have previously lived or worked abroad, estates can unknowingly include overseas assets whether that’s a pension, property or bank account.
“As a result, UK searches alone may no longer provide legal representatives with the full picture in estate administration cases.
“This can create a difficult situation for private client practitioners, as without physical documentation, it would be extremely difficult to know where to even begin with investigations. Furthermore, family members may not be aware of accounts held abroad, or may only have partial or anecdotal information.
“This can unfortunately increase the risk of assets being missed and executors not fulfilling their duty to identify all assets. However, our new International Financial Profile searches now enable due diligence to extend beyond the UK, so executors can move forward with more confidence.
“Just like our UK Financial Profile Search, our International Financial Profile Searches can be ordered through our free, secure portal and we carry out enquiries with banks, insurers and institutions in the relevant country. Results are returned in a clear, structured report which can be saved as part of an audit trail to demonstrate all reasonable steps before estate distribution.”
