Samantha became a client of Foresight after attending one of our estate planning events. Her mother had recently passed away and she was not confident about what to do.
The mother had collected a significant number of banking and investment accounts through her lifetime and, as sole executor and beneficiary, it now fell on Samantha to administer these as a part of the probate process. Her primary aim was to achieve a simplification of her late mother’s estate and, by extension, her own holdings once she had inherited the remaining estate.
Firstly, we contacted the various product providers to inform them of the death. We then sent out notifications of death, obtaining all valuations and relevant information for probate. We introduced Samantha to a Solicitor to ensure she had the right legal support at this most stressful time.
Once Probate had been granted, we transferred the holdings to Samantha and focused on simplifying her investments. Her mother had in excess of 20 bank accounts, split across 7 providers and all attracting minimal interest.
We looked at Samantha’s financial situation and agreed an amount to hold as a cash reserve and made sure this was invested in an account with a competitive rate of interest, ensuring that all the deposits were covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
We then used the remainder of the inheritance to develop a balanced and diversified investment portfolio that matched Samantha’s investment risk profile, and which provided income to her in the most tax-efficient way. Importantly, although the investment portfolio was far more diversified than previously, this was held on two platforms for ease of administration.
This enabled Samantha to retire earlier than she had anticipated.
We made sure, with our legal partners, that Samantha put in place an updated Will, Lasting Powers of Attorney and Trust planning, allowing for a simple transfer of capital through the generations.
Samantha now enjoys her retirement and relies on Foresight to look after her investments and other financial affairs.
