Do you have a checklist alongside your Will or LPA?

In light of billions of pounds left unclaimed with UK financial institutions, we offer a checklist to help people record their assets before they become too ill to do so.

The checklist is offered to all those who contact us for advice on drawing up a Will, or appointing a Lasting Power of Attorney, to ensure their assets are easily traced and used in line with their bequests.

Details, including national insurance numbers, tax references, savings accounts, pensions, life insurance, share certificates, properties, accountants, independent financial advisers, previous wills, and even utility company details, can be recorded on the checklist which can be copied and given to trusted family members to be filed away securely.

We have also launched a plastic card – similar to a credit or retail loyalty card – that can be kept in a person’s wallet to state where their important legal documents are held, again ensuring that these do not remain undiscovered when the need arises

Creation of the checklist and card scheme follows news that the government is seizing up to £330m from dormant bank and building society accounts – those left untouched for at least 15 years - to tackle homelessness and help disadvantaged young people. Most of the accounts are said to hold around £100 or less.

We are seeing an increasing number of cases where executors, family and friends have a good idea that a deceased’s assets exist but are unable to find share certificates, wills, bank details and life insurance policies which is adding to their trauma at an already difficult time and means many assets are unclaimed.

While seeing the benefits of freezing up funds which would otherwise be unused, it would be far better for families if people did not lose track of their assets in the first place and that they could be used in accordance with their wishes.