According to new research by one of our partners, Exizent, 79% of 18–44-year-olds suffer financial difficulties when paying for the estate administration process. 66% of this age group also reported suffering mental health issues when administering an estate.
The delays on probate services, inefficient administration processes and increasing economic pressures are compounding to create an even more stressful bereavement process for individuals. A whopping 94% of legal professionals agree that the estate administration and probate process could be more efficient than it is today, up from 52% in 2022. Signalling that both the service providers and the consumers are fed-up with current processes.
How can estate planning professionals help?
49% of individuals identified estate administration as the most stressful part of the bereavement process. But is there anything that estate planning professionals, like you, can do to help? Here are our thoughts:
- In Trusts, we Trust – you could create a Lifetime Trust for your client. If their family members are reliant on your client for cash, this can be paid out of the Lifetime Trust whilst the estate is going through probate. This could be a Discretionary Trust or a Vulnerable Beneficiary Trust.
- Instructing a professional Executor – who’s fees could be taken out of the estate itself. This saves the beneficiaries from not only the financial headache, but the administerial one too.
- The controversial, pre-paid probate plans – You could offer your clients the ability to pay for their estate administration upfront. This might help defend your clients from financial difficulties and protect them from the less scrupulous firms out there. However, there is the risk that your client’s estate changes value significantly over time.
- Adding an Expression of Wishes document to the Will pack and encouraging families to communicate plans – The Expression of Wishes document can reinforce the Testators wishes, which can reduce family squabbles. If families are fighting over the Will, there will be further delays and fees.
Making the end-to-end process of estate administration more efficient and less stressful (for professionals and consumers alike) is part of Arken Legal’s mission. Our software significantly reduces your administrative burden, speeding up the process and helping to keep your clients engaged. Exizent creates the same outcomes for the probate process, which is why Exizent and Arken Legal integrate seamlessly.
For more information about our services, explore our website.
The statistics used in this blog are from Exizent’s 2023 Bereavement Index. Click here to download a copy.