everything be frozen- leaving the family in distress- but also the adviser will lose control of the relationship, unable to offer support at a very stressful time.
Something we hear a lot from clients is the misconception that LPAs are only for the older generation. Lasting Powers of Attorney should be for everyone! Sadly, even an accident on a night out or a car accident could demonstrate the urgent need to have an LPA in place, something that could be completely unforeseen. Without an LPA stating the capturing requirements of your client in place, social services could become involved, resulting in a situation which wouldn’ t reflect your client’ s wishes.
We’ d also recommend LPAs are put in place in cases of pension drawdown or transfers, for those clients involved in equity release, or if they have discretionary managed funds.
It can be hard to believe this is the case, but without a property and financial affairs LPA in place, even joint assets are frozen. Without a health and welfare LPA in place, if a life-threatening event was to arise and health queries needed to be raised, the family wouldn’ t necessarily be able to act- frightening I know.
Without having an LPA in place, the client’ s family and friends would need to apply for deputyship, sadly a longwinded and variable process costing in the region of £ 3,000. Even with this, it’ s not guaranteed the family will gain control, as deputyship orders can be granted to social services which would then be in control.
At APS, we have around 500 associates in this field, all supporting their clients in arranging their wills and lasting powers of attorney, offering professional service, and an added income stream without adding extra administration.
This area of planning not only delivers the duty of care and level of satisfaction the client deserves, but also ensures you are again maintaining an in-depth relationship with them. Being involved at this stage really feeds into the cycle of being involved when the time comes for probate to be required, offering future opportunities with the next generation.
Options for getting involved
Refer clients? associate( estate planning specialist only, non-adviser) to the client and ensure that they are contacted within 48 hours for the arrangement of a face-to-face meeting.
On completion of the case, a referral fee would be paid. There is no training needed, or costs involved, and the benefits of this option are numerous.
Choose an Associate Route( either combined estate planning and probate or individually):
This route gives you full control of advising your clients on all aspects of wills, Lasting Powers of Attorney, and trusts. Our full training package ensures that all our associates have the skills and confidence to deliver a first-rate service, while offering continuing support in the form of have associate helplines, ongoing face to face courses, bi-weekly webinars, and an online hub. You would meet the client as you would usually, advise them on their specific situation and take instructions from them; we draft all documents in house, under cover of our PI insurance.
Enhanced client relationships, and an additional income stream are a major benefit of the Full Associate route. Being at the front of clients’ minds during the probate stage allows advisers to support the next generation of clients and secure future financial services business. Our Full Associate route is not only open to advisers, we accept other colleagues within the business. The training needed for this is over three days with the IPW recognised examination, probate services can be added on at any time. The Institute of Professional Will Writers has a code of practice recognised by the Trading Standards Institute, this offers recognised value and security in an otherwise unregulated environment. Fees for the course can be discussed with the team at APS, but these are extremely competitive.
Client education around this is vital and highlighting the risks of what will happen if planning isn’ t completed is much needed.
Please get in touch with us on 01909 531751 or enquiries @ aps-legal. co. uk for more information around referring your clients, or joining APS as an Associate.
We’ re also running a series of webinars exclusively for Simplybiz members- book your place today in the‘ Events’ area of the website.
Referrers arrange for their clients’ estate planning to be provided through companies such as APS, but without becoming involved in this process themselves.
You would simply need to pass the client’ s name and postcode on to us. We would then allocate the closest
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