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Finders International - No two the same: how specialist services can help you clear estate administration hurdles
No two the same: how specialist services can help you clear estate administration hurdles
By Louise Levene, International Asset Services Manager at Finders International
There has been a development in new complexities due to the rise in multi-family households, and an increase in assets held overseas as people increasingly live, work and invest outside of our borders.
However, we haven’t got much better at making Wills. Statistics indicate that two thirds of British people still don’t have a valid Will, and nearly 60% of parents don’t have a valid, up-to-date Will in place. This can have a profound effect on estates and the heirs. Private client practitioners are required to have a very broad skill set, so it can be comforting to know that, where needed, professional probate genealogists can step in.
No instructions
On learning of the death, practitioners may have a problem right at the start: no instructions to act, no access to funds, and little or no information about next of kin entitled on intestacy. Probate genealogists can assist to help get the administration process moving, with a variety of flexible fee options.
Due diligence
The subject of Wills – or their lack – can be thorny. The family is convinced that a Will was written naming them; or that a more recent Will exists than the one in your possession. Our thorough Missing Will Search, backed up by Missing Will indemnity insurance, can remove uncertainty and allow the estate representatives to move on with the process.
Verification
The work of tracing missing beneficiaries utilises many research tools via publicly accessible online records of births, marriages and deaths, census records and social media, as well as electoral roll and other commercial data. It’s the training, credentials, special records access and research methodology that set a professional probate genealogist apart from ‘bedroom’ sleuths: ensuring that all parts of the family tree have been carefully researched, and all beneficiaries located.
Estate practitioners can find themselves misinformed about the true extent of the family. The family members don’t always know about additional heirs that emerge through research, but genealogists find some beneficiaries are economical with the truth. Taking the word of the ‘sole heir’ at face value is a potentially costly risk to take, that can be avoided by engaging a professional probate genealogist to independently verify the family tree.
Finders International was involved in the estate of a man with a £400,000 intestate estate. The man’s sister asserted she was the sole beneficiary. Finders verified the tree and found that she had a nephew, entitled to half the estate. She had, it appeared, neglected to mention his existence because she didn’t approve of his behaviour. The nephew received his rightful share of the inheritance, and the practitioners saved a great deal of trouble and expense from a potential later claim.
Finding assets
It’s easy for a person to acquire assets overseas: perhaps being paid in company stock, combined with an increase in wealth managed overseas, helps us feel that we live in a truly globalized world.
It’s when the owner of these assets dies, that we tend to find out the world is not so globalized after all. A virtual security gate crashes down, and the estate representatives and legal practitioners must deal with a string of unfamiliar requirements from a foreign-based asset-holding institution, that may create legal, financial or administrative complications – or all three! Outsourcing this to an experienced professional firm of probate genealogists can help with what can be unfamiliar, lengthy and time-consuming work.
Case study
A lady died leaving what was once a straightforward, London-listed UK share portfolio. In recent years and with failing health, she stopped actively managing her portfolio. After her death, her Executors found she had ‘accidentally’ acquired several high value shareholdings listed in the USA, through corporate acquisition and stock spin-offs. The legal practitioners advising the estate had little experience with this kind of work and brought Finders International in to complete the necessary steps. US estate tax clearance was procured due to the high value of the assets, and the shares transferred out of the Deceased’s name, using Medallion Guarantee stamps, and sold.
Finders International are an award-winning Probate Research firm established in 1997. We trace missing heirs and beneficiaries to Estates, property, funds and assets worldwide as well as a range of additional Legal Support services. We work with Solicitors, Accountants, Corporate or State Trustees and financial institutions. We are the founding member of the International Association of Professional Probate Researchers, Genealogists and Heir Hunters (IAPPR), which aims to provide a single, authoritative voice for corporate industry professionals.
If you would like to contact Finders International for advice or information, contact us on +44 (0)20 7490 4935, email: quotes@findersinternational.co.uk, or visit our website to view our services.
Source: https://www.royallondon.com/media/pressreleases/2018/december/perplexed-by-wills/
