Professional and industry update
A Will records important decisions. Putting those decisions into effect also depends on practical arrangements that can receive less attention.
Can the executors find the original document? Do they know which pensions, accounts and policies exist? Will there be accessible money to meet the estate’s liabilities? And, before any of that, can the client find a realistic opportunity to speak to somebody about planning?
Three developments covered this week bring those questions together.
The Council for Licensed Conveyancers has highlighted the risks surrounding estate funding. A financial organiser has launched alongside research about families struggling to locate important information. A family-focused consultation service provides an example of practitioners adapting their approach around the people they want to reach.
For our industry, these developments raise a useful question: how much attention do we give to whether the arrangements we help clients make will work in practice?
Regulatory risk assessment
Estate funding and the importance of professional boundaries
In coverage published on 16 October, Today’s Wills & Probate reported the Council for Licensed Conveyancers’ warnings in its Risk Agenda 2026.
The regulator anticipates that the pension Inheritance Tax reforms could increase financial pressure on estates, particularly where substantial wealth is tied up in property or other assets.
That may lead to greater demand for short-term estate funding and advances to beneficiaries. The CLC identifies associated risks involving regulatory permissions, conflicts of interest and practitioners moving beyond their authority into financial services.
This is a regulatory assessment of emerging risks. It does not establish that borrowing will be necessary or suitable for every affected estate. The reporting and link to the CLC’s Risk Agenda provide the background.
The underlying pension reform has already been covered in earlier editions of this briefing. For deaths on or after 6 April 2027, most unused pension funds and pension death benefits will be included when calculating the value of an estate for Inheritance Tax.
HMRC confirms that personal representatives will be responsible for reporting and paying the relevant tax. Its policy information on unused pension funds and death benefits sets out the measure and its exclusions.
The development this week
The new development this week is the attention being given to the practical funding pressures that may follow.
The Elephant Legal view
My professional interpretation
It is possible to leave a valuable estate without leaving a straightforward way to meet its immediate costs.
A house may account for a large proportion of somebody’s wealth. Other assets may take time to value, access or sell. The eventual inheritance and the money available during administration can therefore look quite different.
For practitioners, this makes liquidity a sensible part of the wider planning conversation.
That does not mean every Will appointment needs to become a detailed exercise in estate finance. It does mean recognising when the client’s arrangements raise questions that need another professional’s attention.
Useful questions include:
- Where is the estate’s value concentrated?
- Are substantial pension funds or business interests involved?
- Is there likely to be accessible cash?
- Has the client considered how tax and administration costs might be met?
- Would specialist probate, tax or financial advice help clarify the position?
Identifying a potential difficulty should lead to an assessment of the available options.
HMRC’s guidance on paying Inheritance Tax explains that a payment is usually required before probate can be obtained. It also identifies payment routes, including payments from the deceased’s bank, savings or investment accounts, and links to instalment arrangements where these are available.
The pension framework also includes arrangements for tax attributable to pension benefits to be paid directly from a scheme in specified circumstances. HMRC’s Technical Note 2 explains the developing process. Further supporting guidance is expected before implementation.
The appropriate response will depend on the estate and the people involved.
For me, the professional boundary is important. Recognising that a client may need specialist help is part of good practice. It does not automatically give us the competence or regulatory permission to recommend or arrange a financial product.
Understand the scope of the service
The CLC’s requirements apply to the practices it regulates. Across the wider estate-planning industry, the useful lesson is to understand our own permissions, explain our role clearly and take care over the referrals we make.
Commercially commissioned research
Finding the Will is part of the planning
A separate development concerns something more familiar: knowing where everything is.
On 19 October, Today’s Wills & Probate reported on Capsafa, a free financial organiser launched in September. The service brings together records relating to accounts, pensions, insurance, property and important documents.
Research commissioned by the company found that one in six Will-holders believed their family probably or definitely would not know where to find their original Will if they died the following day.
It also reported that 26% of UK adults said they or someone in their family had become aware of a relative’s bank account, pension or insurance policy only after that person’s death.
These are commercially commissioned findings reported by the trade press. They should be presented with that qualification, rather than treated as official national statistics.
The report on Capsafa and its research explains the service and the findings.
Practical client support
The conversation after signing
For practitioners, the useful question is what happens after the client signs.
We may have checked the instructions, prepared the document carefully and explained the signing requirements. We should also consider whether the client understands what to do with the completed document and what their executors will need to know.
There are two separate questions:
- Is the original document stored appropriately?
- Do the right people know where it is and how to retrieve it?
A client can answer the first confidently while having given very little thought to the second.
The same applies to financial information. Somebody may manage their affairs perfectly well while they are alive, yet leave another person with very little indication of where to begin.
A simple information record could identify:
- the location of the original Will and any codicils;
- where LPAs and related records are kept;
- pension and insurance providers;
- banks, savings and investment providers;
- relevant property records;
- professional contacts; and
- the date the information was last checked.
Keep the record secure
The record should be kept securely. Passwords, PINs and other security credentials should not be included in an ordinary document-location sheet.
I would also encourage practitioners to distinguish between recording where information can be found and recording every detail of somebody’s finances. A manageable record that gets updated may be more useful than an ambitious document the client never completes.
This is an area where a small addition to the service could make a considerable practical difference.
Technology and continuity
What role should digital organisers play?
The launch also illustrates a commercial opportunity around helping people organise the information that sits alongside their legal documents.
My view is that practitioners should assess these services by asking practical questions.
Can the client keep the information current? Can an authorised person obtain it when needed? Can records be exported? What happens if the provider closes or the client stops using the service?
Accessibility matters too. Some clients will be comfortable maintaining an online record. Others will be more likely to use a clearly organised paper folder.
Before recommending a particular platform, we should understand how it handles information, access and continuity. Its convenience during the client’s lifetime is only one part of that assessment.
The professional aim
The professional aim is straightforward: help the client leave an intelligible record that the appropriate people can actually use.
A service-delivery example
Making estate planning fit around family life
A third report offers a different perspective on accessibility.
Coverage published on 13 October highlighted Play & Plan, an initiative run by estate-planning consultant Megan Dugdale through W&P Legal.
The service offers free initial consultations in soft-play settings, with children’s play sessions covered by the firm. Parents can discuss matters including Wills, guardianship and LPAs while attending with their children.
Although covered this week, the initiative began in November 2025. Dugdale reports that it has supported almost 50 parents with Wills and other legal documents.
That is an individual provider’s account of its service, rather than evidence of a wider market trend. It nevertheless offers a useful example of adapting delivery around family circumstances.
The Play & Plan report explains how the sessions operate.
For practitioners and referrers
What this means for our industry
We spend a considerable amount of time explaining why people should make a Will. We should also consider what makes it difficult for them to act.
For a parent with young children, the obstacle may be finding childcare, coordinating two working diaries or having enough uninterrupted time to begin the conversation.
More information about the importance of planning may have limited effect if the practical obstacle remains.
The lesson from Play & Plan is to think carefully about the people a service is intended to reach.
That could mean appointments around working hours, workplace sessions, community partnerships or an introductory conversation in a familiar setting.
There is also an important distinction between making the first conversation accessible and taking detailed instructions appropriately.
A public event may be a useful place to explain guardianship or discuss the purpose of an LPA. A confidential conversation about family relationships, capacity, financial arrangements or competing interests may need a separate appointment.
Accessibility and careful practice
Accessibility and careful professional practice need to be considered together.
For me, this is a useful challenge to the assumption that clients must always adapt themselves around the way our industry has traditionally worked.
Status check
What has not changed?
This week’s developments concern professional risk, practical organisation and service delivery. No new development identified in this review requires a change to the routine preparation of Wills or LPAs.
LPA registration
The Office of the Public Guardian continues to advise that LPA applications take approximately eight to ten weeks to process and register, including the statutory four-week waiting period.
Its current service status is dated 6 October 2026.
Wills law reform
The Law Commission’s recommendations for a modern Wills Act remain with the government for consideration. The recommendations have not replaced the existing signing and witnessing requirements.
Probate applications
The probate application fee remains £526 for estates valued above £5,000.
Guidance and pricing
No further material consumer-guidance update or market-wide pricing change was identified this week.
My view this week
The practical work surrounding a legal document
The common thread is the practical work surrounding a legal document.
An executor may need to understand what exists, find the relevant records and obtain appropriate help with the estate’s liabilities. A parent may need an appointment that fits around childcare before they can begin planning at all.
Those considerations deserve a place in the way our industry designs and explains its services.
We do not need to take responsibility for every aspect of a client’s affairs. We do need to recognise where a gap could leave them, or the people acting for them, with an avoidable difficulty.
That might lead to a specialist referral, clearer storage instructions, a simple information record or a more accessible way to start the conversation.
The quality of estate planning is reflected in the documents we prepare and in how well we help people put those arrangements into practice.
Further reading
Principal sources
Official publications and guidance are listed alongside the trade reporting used for the market and service-delivery items. The Capsafa findings are commercially commissioned, and the Play & Plan figures are the provider’s own account.