What questions should advisers ask clients who are expecting an inheritance?

One of the things I hear most often when I explain Inheritance Advances to advisers is: “I wish I’d known about this sooner.”

Usually, they’re thinking about a client they’ve already dealt with; someone who was expecting a big inheritance but spent months waiting for probate to finish. 

Maybe they were trying to buy a property, maybe they had debt they wanted to clear, or maybe they had another financial goal they wanted to hit.

The adviser knew the money was coming, what they hadn’t necessarily considered was what options existed if the client needed some of it sooner.

That’s understandable. Most people assume that once somebody becomes a beneficiary, they just have to wait for the estate to be administered before they can access their inheritance. Often, waiting is absolutely fine.

But sometimes the timing of an inheritance can have a real impact on the financial decisions somebody is making today. And that’s where I think advisers have an opportunity to ask a few more questions.

What is the client actually planning to do with the inheritance?

This is where I’d start. Knowing that a client expects to inherit £100,000, £300,000 or £1 million is useful, knowing what they actually intend to do with it is much more useful.

They might want to pay off their mortgage or clear debt. They could be planning to buy a property, invest the money, help their children with a deposit or use it to bring retirement forward.

Once you know what the client wants to do with the money, you can work out whether waiting for it is actually a problem.

If the client just wants to invest the money whenever it arrives, waiting another few months may be okay. But if they’ve found a house they want to buy, are paying interest on debt they wanted to clear or have another urgent need for the money, it’s a very different conversation.

So I wouldn’t just ask a client what they’re expecting to inherit, I’d ask what they’re waiting to do with it.

When do they actually need the money?

I think there’s sometimes an assumption that an inheritance will become available fairly soon after somebody dies. Anyone who works around probate knows that’s not how it works.

Even relatively simple estates take time to administer, while property sales, Inheritance Tax, overseas assets, disputes and other complications can push things out considerably further.

For a beneficiary, that can create a strange situation. They may know they’re entitled to a substantial amount of money, but have very little control over when they actually receive it.

That’s why I’d want to understand whether the client’s plans have a deadline attached to them.

A client saying, “I’m going to use my inheritance to buy a property at some point” is one thing. A client saying, “I’ve found the property and need the deposit in three months” is something else entirely.

The amount they’re inheriting hasn’t changed, the financial problem has.

What happens if the inheritance takes another six months to arrive?

When I speak to advisers about beneficiaries, this is normally the question I come back to.

What actually happens if the money isn’t there when the client expects it to be? Maybe nothing. But they might lose a property they want to buy or continue paying interest on debt they were expecting to clear.

Once you start looking at it this way, the question isn’t really whether the client would like their inheritance sooner. I’m sure most beneficiaries would. It’s whether waiting has a financial consequence. 

Would earlier access actually improve their financial situation?

If waiting is costing the client money or stopping them from doing something, that’s when I’d start looking at the numbers.

This is where advisers are particularly valuable because you already understand the client’s financial position.

Take somebody expecting £300,000 from an estate who has £50,000 of debt that is accumulating interest.

If that inheritance is likely to stay tied up for another six months, there is a cost attached to waiting. An adviser can compare that cost with the cost of accessing part of the inheritance sooner through an Inheritance Advance and decide whether it makes financial sense.

How much of the inheritance do they actually need now?

This is another question I think is worth asking.

Someone might be expecting £500,000, but only need £75,000 to clear debt or buy their dream home. 

It all comes back to what the client is trying to achieve. If there’s a specific reason they need the money sooner, how much do they actually need to make that happen? You can then look at whether accessing that amount through an Inheritance Advance is a smart financial move.

Clients probably won’t ask you about Inheritance Advances

This is something I think is important for advisers to understand. Most beneficiaries have no idea that accessing an inheritance early is even possible.

They know mortgages exist, they know about bridging finance, personal loans and investments. But Inheritance Advances aren’t particularly mainstream, so they’re unlikely to come into a meeting and ask whether they should apply for one.

That’s exactly why I hear “I wish I’d known about this sooner” so often.

An Inheritance Advance allows a beneficiary to access a portion of their inheritance before probate has completed. At Provira, we can advance up to 50% of the beneficiary’s expected inheritance, often within days.

The advance is repaid from the estate when it’s settled, rather than through monthly repayments from the beneficiary.

Advisers don’t need to become inheritance finance specialists to recognise where this might be useful. You just need to spot when waiting has become part of the client’s financial problem.

Start the conversation today

For me, this is the main takeaway. If a client tells you they’re expecting a big inheritance, don’t just make a note of it and wait until the money arrives before making it part of their financial plan.

Ask what they’re planning to do with it and when they expect to need it. And, most importantly, ask what happens if probate takes another six or twelve months.

Sometimes the answer will be that waiting makes perfect sense. But if the client is under time pressure, paying unnecessary interest or making financial decisions around money they know is coming but can’t yet access, it’s worth understanding what other options are available.

At Provira, we’re always happy to act as a sounding board for advisers.

You don’t need to decide whether an Inheritance Advance is right for your clients before you call us. If you have a beneficiary expecting an inheritance and you’re wondering whether accessing some of it sooner could improve their financial position, book a call with our team and talk us through the case.

About Provira

Provira is the UK’s most established provider of inheritance and estate advances, trusted by hundreds of financial advisers and brokers. We’ve supported thousands of families, advancing £20,000 to over £1 million to help cover IHT, legal fees and personal needs – quickly, securely, and without personal guarantees or property charges.

We work closely with introducers and can provide everything from referral copy to co-branded materials. All you need to do is make the introduction – we’ll take it from there.