How Exizent and Estatesearch Play Vital Role for Nicholsons Solicitors
Delivering Modern Estate Administration Services
Nicholsons Solicitors LLP offers the highest quality legal services to businesses and individuals across Norfolk, Suffolk and beyond. Members of LawNet and with offices in Lowestoft, Norwich and an appointments-only office in Great Yarmouth, the experienced team are committed to personal, long-term client relationships with a breadth of specialist services usually only found in the largest regional law firms.
Luke Johnson, Trainee Solicitor and Susannah Parr, Head of the Private Client Department at Nicholsons Solicitors, use both Exizent and Estatesearch to support estate administration.
Susannah explains: “We are a well-established firm, and particularly in Lowestoft, many local families have used our services through the generations. We respect and value those relationships developed because of the level of personal service we provide.
Yet, in the background, we are a modern organisation committed to keeping up to date and changing the way we work to serve our clients properly in the digital age.
“Exizent and Estatesearch’s range of searches, services and reports allow us to be progressive and still treat each and every client as a person who needs our legal support.”
Improving Accuracy in Estate Accounts and IHT Reporting
Luke Johnson confirms: “We use Exizent for Grant of Probate only applications and also full estate administration. The switch to a flat fee model was welcomed as it is cost-effective and means we use Exizent for nearly all estates. For the IHT400, information on assets and liabilities are input then the system automatically populates the form. This means we can actively add or change values as information returns, and all the forms are updated automatically.
If this were completed manually, it would be easy to miss altering values in one place, but Exizent merges each time, so we can ensure accuracy and certainty in reporting. It also speeds up the process significantly.
“The Estate Accounts feature is also great because it offers consistency. Because we are all using a single model, if someone is on annual leave, it is easy for another team member to make any updates to ensure the file keeps progressing. This means members across all levels of the team can progress the file at any time.
“Exizent’s new correspondence feature, which automates letters, has also been easy to set up. I showed our new Paralegal Apprentice, who joined us just two months ago, a single letter and she was able to set up all the templates for us quickly without any issues. The correspondence feature pulls through addresses for the letters, which is particularly helpful as often banks push for online notifications, which are not always set up for Solicitors to notify.”
Exizent tailor training on their platform to suit individuals’ and team members’ needs and also provides comprehensive ongoing support through their customer success team.
Enhancing Due Diligence With Estatesearch’s Financial Profile Tools
Susannah adds: “The Exizent team have been very keen to support us too. Their customer service is excellent. The system works well alongside Estatesearch, which has prompted us to review our policies as a firm. If we are executors, we now always use Estatesearch for Financial Profile searches, Will searches and Section 27 Notices, for example. For lay executors, we provide a checklist of recommended services for them to sign off on.
“We are currently working on one estate administration case where Estatesearch’s Financial Profile search has enabled us to uncover liabilities the family were not aware of. In the past, we would have relied on a paper trail, but with the move to online banking, this is now not possible.”
Luke continues: “When it comes to something like a £1,000 gambling debt, or an unknown credit card, this would often be hidden from the rest of the family, so the Financial Profile search enables us to discover these types of liabilities.
“It’s a similar situation with pension pots; they are not generally a topic of family discussion. However, with the new IHT rules relating to pensions, it is even more critical that these assets are identified. The executors could be liable if a pension was discovered at a later date after the accounts were closed. HMRC could also impose penalties for delayed reporting. Therefore, Estatesearch helps us and lay executors demonstrate that reasonable steps have been made to identify all assets and liabilities within an estate.”
Susannah confirms: “We did discover one pension pot which the beneficiaries were unaware of. The deceased had passed away before he was able to draw the pension and the estate was left to his son, a minor. The deceased had moved house and was separated from the mum, so without the Estatesearch Financial Profile search the pension amounting to around £60,000 may never have been found. It meant the son was financially set up for his future which was important as his dad was no longer around to support him.
“In this way Estatesearch has become vital to administer an estate.”
Luke continues: “Estatesearch helps us be more efficient too. Share Valuations are now simple and are returned a day later in a report suitable for the IHT400. The Probate Property Insurance is also great, it does not ask onerous questions allowing us to quickly set it up, even when visiting the property for the first time. We just took on a new estate and used Estatesearch to set up Unoccupied Property Insurance, Vehicle Valuations, a Financial Profile, s27 notices and undertake a Will Search to ensure we were dealing with the latest copy of the Will, and this was all completed in less than an hour, with all the information easily accessible in one place.
“Similarly, Exizent has changed the way we work as a department. It allows any team member to pick things up if someone is away from the office, so cases keep moving forward. At any point we can print off a summary to update executors or colleagues.”
Susannah concludes: “Estatesearch and Exizent’s systems work hand in hand, enabling us to offer an even better service to our clients. As a firm, our approach to our due diligence is enhanced, and in an increasingly digital world, both Estatesearch and Exizent are now a vital part of our estate administration processes.”
Originally published on Today’s Wills and Probate