THE EPFL PROCESS


STEPS

5 steps are all an estate planning adviser needs to guide their client's family through whatever unexpected event impacts them.

FIRST STEP

Uncover the Need with WITY EP

WITY EP is an online engagement tool to be completed by your clients to identify then prioritise their concerns about their family, health and estate. WITY EP stands for: What’s Important To You - Estate Planning.

The survey only takes your client a few minutes to complete with easy to answer questions and instructions. Clients can complete the survey themselves or with you, their adviser, online or in printed form.

WITYEP opens with basic questions such as:

  • Do you have documents like Wills and Powers of Attorney in place?
  • Do you know where these documents are?
  • Is there a marriage or divorce on the horizon?
  • Do you have any pressing health concerns?

The questions then get a little deeper and the client is asked to prioritise each issue and identify how well they have dealt with that issue to date. This “Gap Analysis” becomes the basis for a prioritised report produced later on.

Questions are split into 7 categories:

  • Information and Coping
  • Close Family
  • Protecting the estate/inheritance
  • Tax and Super
  • Complex Families and Disputes
  • Threats, Business and Investment Structures
  • Acting on my Behalf

The questions include:

  • Are assets, information and documents properly recorded?
  • Are guardians nominated for young children?
  • Will my partner have a home for life but the kids still inherit the house?
  • Is my children’s inheritance protected if my spouse remarries?
  • Is my grandchildren’s inheritance protected if my child dies and their partner remarries?
  • Does your Will reflect your blended family and wish to provide unequal provision to some beneficiaries?
  • Is your children’s inheritance protected from the risk of divorce?
  • Is there a plan in place for your business and your family if something goes wrong?

Once WITYEP is completed the EPFL system can instantly generate a polished Estate Priorities Report which is a prioritised summary of the client’s estate planning issues.

You can use this report as a guide to the estate planning conversation with the client.

Once reviewed this report can be manually or automatically updated with agreed plan of action for each issue.

At this point your client should be ready to engage with the Estate Planning for Life service.

SECOND STEP

Facilitate Legal Documents through the Estate Planning Record

With key information from WITY EP and the Information That Matters report, it’s aim is not to provide legal advice or tell the solicitor how to do their job, but to provide a solid background on your client and explain some of the options that have already been discussed.
The Estate Planning Record highlights the areas the solicitor needs to know to provide quality advice.
This includes the red flag issues to help them create the Will, but also an outline of how assets are owned to make sure that they actually end up in the Estate.
This is crucial if your client has an interest in trusts or companies, but it’s just as important for Mum’s and Dad’s as many assets are owned jointly.
The Estate Planning Record provides the opportunity to create or solidify a relationship with your local solicitors.

THIRD STEP

Capture your client's world via the Information that Matters

A register of information that family and professionals need to assist with estate matters. Depending on your client circumstances, this could contain:

FOURTH STEP

Assist when Tragedy Strikes with the Crisis Management Plan

An automated, yet highly customisable report providing an action plan for the family to follow during a crisis answering the following key questions:

  • What do I need to know?
  • Who do I call?
  • What do I ask them?
  • What’s important?
  • What can wait?

FIFTH STEP

Review your Plan

Every plan requires regular review. The changes in your client base on an annual basis will astound you so be sure to ask about:

  • Family members and the people around them (redo the family tree)
  • For older clients - their capacity and whether they’d like their children brought in as a back-up plan
  • For younger clients – as their children become adults do you want to relax any restrictions in relation to them receiving an inheritance
  • Changes in investments, pensions and super funds (even if it’s just a rollover or a change in name)
  • Changes in bank accounts, and how bills are paid

Anecdotal evidence from our users suggests that the ITM is updated annually, and the legal documents are updated every 3-5 years.

 

READY TO OFFER WORLD CLASS ESTATE PLANNING?

If you are interested in the Estate Planning For Life service, and the peace of mind it can bring your clients, please contact us so that you can talk to an EPFL expert.

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