Access Legal from Shoosmiths has helped develop a new service for solicitors administering the estates of people who've died.

Available from 25 October, Landmark Information Group's financial assets search enables solicitors – on behalf of their clients – to:

Step 1– perform a will search using the Certainty National Will Search services.

A survey commissioned by Certainty found that 67% of people did not know where their parents' wills are located.

Further research revealed that 98% of solicitors held wills where the testator had died, but the family hadn't had the opportunity to administer the will because the family couldn't find it. If the will isn't located, the assets may not be distributed properly.

Step 2 – undertake a search with financial institutions and organisations relevant to the estate to identify any lost or forgotten assets.

This includes pensions advice providers and the Department for Work and Pensions, and uses Landmark's relationship with more than 200 financial institutions to enable delivery of a full report identifying potentially unknown financial assets.

Step 3 – conduct a detailed share search of 15m UK shareholder records to check whether the deceased holds any shares.

The search covers over 80% of UK quoted companies and is powered by Asset Checker.

The cost of this search is £135 plus VAT, and can only be carried out by a solicitor registered with Landmark. 
 
Access Legal from Shoosmiths helped to develop the service by sharing our extensive knowledge of probate and estate administration with Landmark, and was the first law firm in the country to carry out a financial asset search.
 
In light of the £15bn worth of assets currently unclaimed in the UK, executors need to protect themselves against the consequences of failing to identify all financial assets.

HM Revenue and Customs has also introduced a penalty regime that fines executors personally if full enquiries are not made at the time of completing inheritance tax accounts.

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