Twenty-six letters and a schedule on paper
A private client paralegal opens a new estate administration. The deceased had three bank accounts, two pensions, a life policy, some shares, premium bonds, a car and several utility accounts. Each needs a letter with the death certificate, a request for a date-of-death valuation and instructions on what happens next.
The letters go out. The replies trickle back over weeks, by post and email, to whoever's name was on the letter. Some institutions ask for different forms. Some never reply. The paralegal keeps a table in Word with ticks and dates, and chasing depends on remembering to look at it.
Why estate admin drags
Each institution has its own bereavement process, forms and turnaround, and the fee earner has no control over their speed. What the firm can control is knowing, at every moment, who has replied, who has not and what is still needed. That is exactly what a paper or Word schedule is bad at.
Values arrive gradually and in different formats, and they have to be pulled together for the estate accounts and any tax forms. Retyping them from letters into a spreadsheet is slow and error-prone.
| Asset type | What usually holds things up |
|---|---|
| Bank and building society accounts | Different forms, identity requirements for representatives |
| Pensions | Several schemes, some only found through old paperwork |
| Shares | Registrar forms, holdings split across companies |
| Life policies | Beneficiary details, claim forms |
| Utilities and subscriptions | Small accounts forgotten until a bill arrives |
What slow chasing costs
Families and executors ring asking what is happening. Estate administrations take longer than they need to, which delays distribution and ties up fee earner time on status questions. Where the fee is fixed, extra weeks of admin eat into it; where it is hourly, clients may question the time spent.
Errors in transcribing values create extra work at the accounts stage, when everything needs to add up.
How we build estate asset tracking
- Estate schedule: for each administration, a schedule lists every asset and liability, the institution, the account reference and the status. It is built from a checklist form completed at the first meeting, and can be added to at any time.
- Letters from templates: notification letters are drafted for each institution from your templates, with the correct references and enclosures listed, for the fee earner to approve and send.
- Tracking replies: incoming replies (scanned post and email) are matched to the right schedule line by reference and institution name, and filed to the matter.
- Values captured: the date-of-death value, interest and any forms requested are read from each reply and proposed for the schedule, for the paralegal to confirm.
- Chasers: lines with no reply after the interval your firm sets are listed for chasing, with the chaser letter drafted.
- Executor updates: a plain progress summary (letters sent, replies received, outstanding) can be sent to the personal representatives with the fee earner's approval.
The schedule organises the administration. Decisions about the estate, and any tax or legal questions, are for the fee earner and the personal representatives.
What the estate file looks like afterwards
Anyone on the team can see the state of every estate at a glance: what is outstanding, from whom and for how long. Chasing becomes a weekly list instead of a search through paper. Values flow into the schedule rather than being retyped, which makes the estate accounts easier to prepare.
Executors get regular, clear updates, and ring less often as a result.
Is this your private client team?
- Estate asset schedules are kept in Word or on paper.
- Chasing unanswered letters depends on someone remembering.
- Replies arrive by post to different people and get filed slowly.
- Values are retyped from letters into a spreadsheet.
- Executors frequently ring for updates.