As a personal representative or Executor, one of your responsibilities is to maximise the value of the estate. Doing a thorough financial asset search means that you can locate assets that would have been previously missed. For instance, a person could have a pension from a previous employer that is now worth tens of thousands. In maximising an estate, this will increase the estate value and entitlements due to residual beneficiaries including charities.

All major Financial Institutions and 350 financial databases. This also includes a thorough search of Equiniti, Computershare and Link for Share Holdings.

There are increased government pressures to repatriate ‘lost accounts’ and locate lost account holders. This can be occur 5 to 10 years later. If a Financial Asset Search has not been done, the solicitor/executor will need to reopen the case to distribute funds. This could incur further costs to the estate. The Estate Distribution Warranty will cover you for up to £10,000 for 10 years, in the event that additional searches are required. Also, the comprehensive search report that you receive can be used as evidence of due-diligence if ever required by HMRC of beneficiaries in the future.

2-5% of shares and 10% of pensions are missed during the time of estate administration. Locating and reporting financial assets to HMRC now, will save you time and stress down the line.