Part 2: Start by understanding your client’s role

Whenever an adviser tells me they have a client going through probate, one of the first questions I’ll ask is whether that person is acting as an executor, a beneficiary or both. It sounds like a simple distinction, but it shapes almost everything that follows because the responsibilities, pressures and funding requirements can be very different.

It’s also more common than people sometimes realise for someone to be wearing both hats. A son or daughter administering the estate of a parent, for example, is often both an executor and a beneficiary. They’re responsible for dealing with the estate while also waiting for their own inheritance. Depending on the circumstances, they may ultimately benefit from an estate advance, an inheritance advance or simply understanding that both options exist.

When I’m talking to someone acting as an executor, my attention naturally turns to their responsibilities. Many people underestimate what being an executor actually involves until they find themselves doing it. They’re responsible for administering the estate properly, settling its liabilities, acting in the interests of the beneficiaries and making sure everything is dealt with within the appropriate legal timescales. If inheritance tax is payable, they’re also responsible for ensuring it is paid when it falls due.

That naturally leads me to a different set of questions. Does the estate have enough readily available cash to meet those obligations? If inheritance tax is due, how is it going to be paid? Is there a property that would benefit from renovation before it’s sold? Are there professional fees or other estate costs that will need to be met before assets can be realised? Advisers often know enough about their client’s circumstances to recognise where those pressures are likely to emerge, even if they don’t yet know the precise figures involved.

I don’t expect advisers to calculate inheritance tax or become probate specialists. In fact, I’d encourage the opposite. Probate can become complicated very quickly, particularly where estates involve valuable property, business interests, investment portfolios or more complex family arrangements. Good advisers recognise when specialist probate advice is needed and work alongside solicitors and estate administration professionals rather than trying to do everything themselves. Their role is to identify where a client may need additional support and help them access the right expertise at the right time.

The conversation changes quite noticeably when the client is a beneficiary rather than an executor. More often than not, the issue isn’t responsibility; it’s expectation. One of the assumptions I come across time and again is that beneficiaries expect to receive their inheritance relatively quickly. Unfortunately, that’s rarely how probate works. Even straightforward estates can take many months to administer, while more complex estates may take considerably longer.

That’s why I often encourage advisers to think less about the inheritance itself and more about the person who’s waiting for it. If your client had access to that money today, what would they do with it? I find the answer to that question usually tells you much more than asking whether they’d like access to their inheritance early.

For some people, it simply allows them to bring forward plans they’ve already made, whether that’s buying a property, helping family members or investing in a business. For others, the need is much more immediate. They may be managing debt, paying school fees, meeting day-to-day living costs or relying on the inheritance to relieve financial pressure that already exists. Every client’s circumstances will be different, but an inheritance expected in twelve months’ time won’t necessarily solve a problem that exists today.

Those conversations shouldn’t be about persuading someone to borrow against their inheritance. That’s never the objective. They’re about helping clients understand the choices available to them. Many beneficiaries assume the only option is to wait because nobody has ever explained that another route may be available. Simply making them aware of that possibility allows them to decide, based on their own circumstances, whether waiting or accessing funds earlier is the better option.

I’ve found that once you’ve established whether your client is acting as an executor, a beneficiary or both, the rest of the conversation becomes much clearer. You begin to understand where the pressure is likely to come from, what questions are worth asking and whether there may be an opportunity to help in a way that neither you nor your client had previously considered.

Read the series:

• Part 1: Why advisers miss referral opportunities
• Part 2: Start by understanding your client’s role
• Part 3: Recognising when timing becomes the issue
• Part 4: Setting realistic expectations about probate
• Part 5: Looking beyond inheritance tax