British Wills & Probate Awards – Judge Matthew Lagden discusses the trends in legacy giving and their impact on estate administration
For this week’s Judge’s Insights, in line with Remember a Charity Week, we are joined by Matthew Lagden, Chief Executive Officer of the Institute of Legacy Management, to discuss the latest trends in legacy giving, their impacts on estate administration and the greatest challenges faced by professionals dealing with legacies left in wills now — plus how to overcome them.
What do you see as the greatest challenge facing the wills and probate industry today?
The volume of work is increasing for everyone in the sector, because there has been an increase in the number of wills being written (including charitable wills, which is great for the charity sector), and a sustained increase in the number of people dying each year. It simply isn’t possible to grow staffing levels rapidly enough to cope with this using existing systems and practices.
What barriers need to be overcome to encourage greater integration of technology by practitioners in the industry?
I think there is an appetite for a greater use of technology, and an understanding that it is vital if we are all going to keep up with existing caseloads, but I think there is a lack of understanding about what solutions are required, a lack of expertise in selecting and implementing them, and an understandable hesitancy to commit to a particular solution in case it turns out to be the ‘wrong’ one.
As CEO of the Institute of Legacy Management, what trends are you seeing in legacies left in wills now?
The number of charitable wills is increasing very rapidly, as are the value of gifts, which is fantastic news for the sector and a real tribute to the growing understanding of the importance of legacy giving within the will writing community. These gifts are going to a broader range of charities, including NHS charities, air ambulances, and hospices — all of whom are seeing rapid growth — as well as to more and more local causes. Although of course, the major national charities still receive the bulk of legacies. This is partly down to the pandemic, which made people more aware of the causes in their local areas, partly down to excellent promotional work being done by local charities and will writers, and partly down to long term demographic shifts.
How are these trends impacting estate administration?
Our member’s caseloads are going up rapidly, and we know that the same is true on the other side of the ledger, with professional executors, which is leading to increased stress all round.
What are the biggest challenges faced in dealing with legacies left in wills and how can these be best overcome?
One major challenge is the ever increasing demand from auditors for charities to request information about the administration of the estate, which in turn places burdens on the executor. This is mainly due to the central role legacy income now has in funding the sector and is something that a lot of professional executors aren’t aware of – although our members do report that most executors are very understanding.
How can firms best work with charity legacy teams to maximise the value of legacy income and smoothen the distribution of an estate?
The principal issue is communication. If an executor is communicating with charity beneficiaries on a regular basis they will be reassured that all is well, and can focus on other cases. One of the reasons we wanted to sponsor an award for non-contentious probate is to celebrate the brilliant work that is taking place up and down the country every day, with executors working closely with charities to make sure everything runs smoothly.
Is technology impacting this part of the sector – if so, how?
Along with the rest of the legal world, we are looking at a number of technology solutions that will make everyone’s life easier – these are principally in the area of information transmission, so that an executor can upload a letter to a portal and all of the beneficiaries can access it without it needing to be emailed to everyone.
We are also looking at several solutions for verification of identity and bank details, which is often harder work than it should be.
What trends do you expect to see from the future of legacy management?
Income and caseloads are all going to continue rising, and at some point this decade, legacy income will be the single largest income stream for the charity sector. This is brilliant and is a real tribute to the generosity of the public and hard work by everyone in the wills and probate sector, but unless staffing issues can be resolved, we will have to implement technological solutions to make the process more efficient from beginning to end in order to manage caseloads.
What are you most looking forward to at this year’s British Wills & Probate Awards?
It is always a brilliant night, it was so lovely to be back at the event in person last year (it was my first proper night out after the pandemic!), to catch up with old friends, and of course Jennie Bond is just brilliant.