Dying Neatly

One of the sad realities of our role as financial planners and advisers is that periodically we have to deal with the death of a client. We work very closely and get to know our clients extremely well and it is always hard on the team when we get the news of a clients passing. For us, the best way to deal with and honour the memory of that client is to try and make sure that, as far as we possibly can, we help their family and executors in making sure that the ‘administration’ that inevitably sits around a death is carried out as efficiently and professionally as possible. With this very firmly in mind, we have now developed what we hope will be a very handy resource – a document that will allow you to capture and write down what you have, where things can be found, and importantly who to speak to covering all aspects of your personal and financial affairs.

However, very often we will only be dealing with an element of a persons estate and the role of the executor can be an onerous one. Having acted as executor myself for both of my parents and a close friend, I know how difficult and time-consuming it can be to gather all of the information needed. It can often be that there is no central record of where things are. If I take myself as an example, although I think I speak for many, I know where everything is. I know who to speak to, I understand all of the nuances and how it all fits together. But what I don’t think about is how will anyone else have a clue where to go if I wasn’t there – does my wife know where everything is, do my executors. And is it all tidy and easy to understand, or is it a bit of a mess! I know how I would answer that!! And of course (spoiler alert), at some stage I won’t be there!!

With this very firmly in mind, we have now developed what we hope will be a very handy resource – a document that will allow you to capture and write down what you have, where things can be found, and importantly who to speak to covering all aspects of your personal and financial affairs. We have this in a PDF format that we can email, but having spoken to a number of clients about the concept, also have this as a hard-copy document. It also has a handy pocket at the back where you may want to keep important documents such as your Wills and Lasting Powers of Attorney etc.

This is very much your document, for you to use as you see fit and to be kept in a sensible and logical place at home. You may want to ask us to keep a copy on our secure files in our office, but first and foremost it is for you and ultimately your family to be able to access if the need arises.

To be honest, we struggled with the name of this document. But in the end, we decided to simply call it was it is aimed to be – Dying Neatly.

If you would like a copy of this, please get in touch with your adviser and they will send one (or more) out to you.