Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
The estate administration process causes stress, frustration and mental health problems for the bereaved, according to findings from probate specialists Exizent.
Data released this Mental Health Awareness Week has discovered that 40% of people saw their mental health decline when dealing with the administrative side of bereavement, with women (61%) twice as likely to be impacted as men (38%).
More than a third (36%) said dealing with their loved one’s affairs was harder than they’d expected and overall, 87% found the process stressful – of those, 20% found it extremely stressful.
Furthermore, law firms say they can see the negative impact estate administration has on people with 64% saying their clients become visibly stressed by the process. In 39% of cases, legal professionals say someone in their firm will need to offer emotional support to the client.
More than half (52%) of those who recently dealt with probate said it took longer than they’d expected; perhaps not surprising given one in four cases experience delays, with the process taking more than five months on average and more than a year in one in 11 cases.
Exizent’s research also found that in the vast majority of cases, at least some of the deceased’s assets were not known at the start of the probate process, and in one in 20 (5%) cases, none of them were known, all of which adds to the stress of the process.
Things are exacerbated further by the fact that one-in-seven (15%) estate executors only learned of their assigned role after the person had died, while a third (33%) knew ‘absolutely nothing’ about it before they started. In fact, just 4% of those surveyed said they knew ‘a lot’ about what they were about to face.
Nick Cousins is Founder and CEO of Exizent said “Death is a difficult time for everyone. And sadly, as we have discovered in our report, the processes that come with it can be lengthy, repetitive, and complicated, dragging things out for everyone involved. At an already challenging time, handling estates administration is an added burden for the bereaved, with legal professionals themselves admitting that the probate process is not fit for purpose – 88% think probate is ‘slow and inefficient’ and 52% admit the time it takes is ‘unreasonable.”
“We believe estates administration should be simpler, and that modern technology solutions can make this a reality. When asked what they think would make the probate process easier, both for themselves and their clients, 44% of legal firms said better communication and relationships with financial institutions, 49% said an easier asset discovery process and 41% said better technology, which us why we are creating a platform that brings all these things together. We are also pushing for ‘open finance’ for the deceased to make asset discovery much easier, because – as our research shows – this is a major cause of stress and delay.”
“We want to make it easier for legal services firms and institutions to work together to sort out what is so badly needed to ease the burden on the bereaved.”