One of your duties when administering an estate is to locate all of the Deceased's assets, which may include known, unclaimed, or lost assets. You must gather accurate information on the Deceased's estate. This could include contacting all relevant financial institutions to gather the necessary information on the Deceased’s assets, which can be an incredibly time-consuming task, and it can be difficult to know where to start. That's why we've teamed up with Inheritance Data to offer Financial Asset and Liability Searches for just £185 (+VAT).
The online asset-searching engine looks at 200 financial institutions and more than 350 databases, including:
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A credits and liabilities search is also included to help identify estate accounts, mitigate against the risk of debts or liabilities, and assess potential insolvency before you apply for the Grant of Probate.
The search is quick, concise, and easy to understand. The report will include information on:
Open and closed current accounts, credit cards, hire purchases, personal contract purchases (PCP), mortgage and equity release loans, personal and secured loans, payday loans, and utility accounts
Previous names, aliases, and addresses, as well as financially connected persons
Bankruptcy, County Court Judgements (CCJs), and Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs)
The thorough search will provide you with in-depth and reliable information about the Deceased's assets, maximising the value of the estate. You'll also be reducing the risk of a loss to the estate and protecting yourself and your client from future claims against the estate.
If an additional asset is subsequently discovered, you'll be able to demonstrate that efforts to locate the assets were undertaken and show that the financial institution failed to disclose the asset. This will also negate the risk of an Inheritance Tax issue with HMRC.
It can take a significant amount of time and effort to write to all relevant financial institutions. Our Financial Asset and Liability Search service working with Inheritance Data contacts the financial institutions on the Executor's behalf. It requests a full search of their databases for any accounts whether they may be active, dormant, or lost. This service is provided for a fixed fee of £185 (+VAT).
The number of unclaimed assets is increasing year-on-year and it is predicted that UK financial institutions hold over £200 billion in dormant accounts. Between 2011 and 2017, financial institutions have returned more than £65.7 million as a result of asset searches.
It's incredibly easy for an individual to forget about or lose track of an account or policy. Many factors make keeping on top of assets challenging, including job changes and companies that grow, merge, change their names, and cease trading. That's why it's crucial to search for assets and ensure all are accounted for in the estate administration process.
To conduct a search, you simply need to upload all of the relevant data about the Deceased such as their name, previous addresses, date of birth, date of death, National Insurance number, and previous occupations, along with the death certificate and a letter of authority. This information will then be used to conduct a detailed search of 200 financial institutions. The institutions will receive the client profile information and respond with any matches.
You can log in to your secure account on the online portal to check matches 24/7. Each report shows all institutions that have responded, along with details to help with the claiming process. The online report is available from day one of a search and is a map of the estate's financial history.
Click the button below to register for free. Once you've registered, confirm your identity and you can then start your search(es) directly for your account.
If you have already registered, you can also use the button above to log back in to your account.
During the estate administration process, you may also find a need for some of Title Research's other services.
We can provide accurate date of death valuations on shareholdings or provide added assurance that the shareholding still exists and forms part of the estate.
We can quickly and efficiently sell UK shareholdings on behalf of Personal Representatives, so you can receive funds on account quickly.
Our dedicated team of experts are available Monday to Friday between 9am - 5pm to answer any questions you may have about conducting a Financial Asset & Liability Search.
If you want to find out more about mitigating risk in estate administration, take a look at our useful resources that have been created to help you overcome challenges.
This informative guide introduces you to the faces behind Title Research, shares how we can assist you with complicated estate administration cases, and how we can mitigate risk for you and your clients in the process.
This webinar looks at the various challenges and risks that arise when dealing with an estate. We explain how to mitigate those risks as well as providing advice on how to ensure the estate administration process runs smoothly.
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