By Mark Taylor, Sales Manager, Estatesearch
There is a dark secret hiding in the filing cabinets of many professional firms. At least in the cabinets of those firms that offer Will writing services and it’s time to bring it out into the open. The challenge with Wills is not only do they last a long time, they should also be reviewed and revised regularly throughout a person’s lifetime as their circumstances change. Because of this, some people can amend or make new wills several times during their lives. Different iterations could also be in different places.
Also, where documents are on file that were created many years ago, contact details may no longer be accurate for many. In the past, nothing was digitised. Keeping historic paper records up to date is a constant challenge, and data integrity quickly declines if it’s not routinely and robustly managed.
Therefore, the challenge and the dark secret hiding in the filing cabinets are Wills which may not be the latest iteration or be inaccurate in terms of contact details.
But this may not be the only issue. Our own findings suggest that an average of 10% of Will Bank clients are already deceased. The age, formulation and management of that Will Bank will have a large bearing on whether or not the percentage is higher or lower. In one example, we identified 60 deceased subjects over 12 months, where the firm was only aware of one in three of those.
This challenge is likely to be exacerbated through firm mergers and acquisitions. The new entity will have inherited data with no way of understanding how up to date it is or have the ability or resources to rectify this.
This therefore begs the question: how often is the accuracy of data considered during an acquisition? Just how much is hidden in the filing cabinet? Could this have been further compounded by legacy acquisitions or where a firm has bought a Will Bank?
According to GDPR Article 5, customer data should be kept “accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date; every reasonable step must be taken to ensure that personal data that are inaccurate, having regard to the purposes for which they are processed, are erased or rectified without delay”.
For legal firms busy with day-to-day caseloads, this would be a significant undertaking. The good news is that new technologies and services are available to assist in this area. Recently, Estatesearch launched a new Will Bank Management Service to help private client practitioners manage data more efficiently. The unique service allows firms to understand their client dataset in terms of mortality and comply with GDPR.
Revisiting and regularly reviewing the data held on file can also present a great opportunity. The circumstances of a firm’s client base can easily and frequently change without knowledge. Government data shows that in the first quarter of 2024, there were 254,090 (seasonally adjusted) property transactions in the UK. How many of those were brought about by a change in circumstance that could or even should require a Will to be reviewed and rewritten?
It therefore also offers the opportunity to maintain targeted engagement with your client base and maximise their potential pipeline of work from existing customers.
Estatesearch’s Will Bank Management service includes three stages – Screening, Cleansing and Notifications. The initial screen provides a free health check of the testator database. This enables firms to see the percentage of out-of-date records, before proceeding with a full cleanse.
Estatesearch’s bespoke platform pulls information from several data sources to complete the cleansing phase, identifying deceased subjects and the date of death as well as forwarding addresses for anyone who may have moved. Finally, the ongoing monitoring phase notifies firms of life events which may impact files and ensures databases can be updated easily, while alerting the professional to the potential needs of a client.
Numerous forward thinking legal firms are now already using Estatesearch’s Will Bank Management service successfully.
Michael Tobin, Marketing and Business Development Manager, Solicitors LLP explains: “We have over 400 Wills that were made in 2013. Last year, we invested time into getting the data stored in a digital format. Our Excel spreadsheet was simply uploaded to Estatesearch’s secure portal and I was notified once the data cleanse had taken place. I was able to download the cleansed database plus a password protected report which clearly indicated the number of people who had passed away in addition to the living categorised by a high, medium or low degree of confidence that their data was correct.
“The report was insightful and informed us of who had passed away and when. We were then able to send sensitive and appropriate communication to the executors, providing them with the Will and introducing our range of services should they need any assistance.”
Estatesearch can now help firms to maintain the health and integrity of their Will Bank while also maximising the opportunity for probate work at the same time. It also helps avoid awkward questions about what dark secrets and out of date data is lurking in filing cabinets.
For further information about Estatesearch’s Will Bank Management services please see: https://www.estatesearch.co.uk/service/will-bank-management/
This article was 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.
