Inheritance Planning: What to Tell Your Family Before It's Too Late

The practical consequence of not talking to your family about your estate is that they discover its complexity at the worst possible moment — when they are grieving, under time pressure, and often in conflict with each other. Solicitors and estate administrators regularly encounter executors who have no idea where accounts are held, which insurance policy was which, whether there was a pension, or what a loved one would have wanted for their care if they lost capacity. This is avoidable, and avoiding it is a gift to the people you care about.

Why most people don't have the conversation

The reasons are familiar: it feels morbid; it requires thinking about death; you worry that talking about money in the family will cause conflict; you believe it is "sorted" when in fact the documents are outdated and the information is inaccessible.

There is also a generational pattern: the generation that built wealth through a property boom, occupational pensions, and ISAs tends to be uncomfortable discussing money with children — even adult children with their own financial responsibilities. The result is children discovering, at bereavement, that they were effectively excluded from information they needed.

The conversation does not need to be dramatic. It is largely an information-sharing exercise: here is where things are, here is who to contact, here is what I would want. Most families find it a relief once done.

What your family needs to know

The will

Your executors need to know where your original will is held. Not a copy — the original, because many probate registries still require the original document. Common locations: a safe at home, a solicitor's office, the Probate Registry (if you have deposited it there), or a bank safe deposit box.

They need to know who the executors are. If you have named someone as executor without telling them, you are creating a situation where the named person is simultaneously processing their bereavement and learning for the first time that they have legal administrative duties.

If you have overseas wills — covering assets in another country — your executors need to know they exist, where they are held, and who the overseas executor or legal contact is.

Financial accounts

A list of your financial accounts is the single most practically useful document you can prepare. This should include:

• Bank and savings accounts (institution, account type, approximate balance, and whether jointly held)
• Investment accounts (platform, account type, approximate value)
• Pension schemes — all of them, including old workplace pensions from previous employers, the state pension, and any private pensions
• ISAs
• Offshore bonds or other investment products
• Any business interests or shareholdings

This list does not need to be continuously updated to the last penny. Its purpose is to tell your executor where to look — which institutions to contact, what documentation to request. It is far more useful than an inheritance that takes 18 months to gather because no one knew where to start.

Life insurance

Life insurance policies must be claimed — they do not automatically pay out. Your family needs to know:

• Which life insurance policies exist
• Who the insurer is and what the policy number is
• Who the beneficiaries are (if the policy is written in trust, the proceeds pass outside the estate and directly to the beneficiaries — this is faster and avoids probate; confirm whether this is the case)
• Whether there are any protection policies through an employer (group life insurance, death in service benefits) that may require separate claims

Pension death benefits

Pension funds typically offer a discretionary death benefit — meaning the trustees of the pension scheme have discretion to decide who receives the funds on your death. This discretion is guided by your Expression of Wishes (sometimes called a Nomination of Beneficiary form). The Expression of Wishes is not legally binding but is taken seriously by trustees.

If your Expression of Wishes has not been updated since your children were born or since a previous relationship, your pension provider may pay death benefits to the wrong person, or to your estate (where they would attract inheritance tax) rather than directly to your intended beneficiaries.

Your family needs to know that pension death benefits are separate from your estate, that there is an Expression of Wishes in place, and who is named. Reviewing and updating it is a simple and high-value task.

The Lasting Power of Attorney

Your family needs to know whether you have a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) in place, who your attorneys are, and where the registered LPA document is held. If you lose capacity — through illness, accident, or cognitive decline — without an LPA in place, your family will need to apply to the Court of Protection for a Deputyship order. This is significantly more expensive and time-consuming.

If you live abroad or hold overseas assets, they should also know about any overseas power of attorney arrangements.

Your care preferences

If you were to lose capacity for a period — a stroke, a period of serious illness — what would you want? This is a conversation your family should not be making by guesswork. The relevant questions:

• Do you have an Advance Decision (also called a Living Will) — a legal document expressing your wishes about specific medical treatments?
• Do you have preferences about where you would want to be cared for if you could no longer live independently?
• Are there medical decisions you would want your attorneys or family to know about in advance?

These preferences can be recorded informally in a letter or document kept with your other estate planning papers. They do not need to be legally formal, but they should be written and accessible.

The "when I'm gone" file

The single most useful practical step is creating a comprehensive "when I'm gone" document or folder. This is not a legal document — it is an information resource for your executor and family. It should contain:

• Original or certified copy of the will (noting where the original is held)
• List of all financial accounts, investments, pensions, and insurance policies
• Contact details for your solicitor, financial adviser, accountant
• Utility accounts and direct debits to be cancelled
• Digital accounts and passwords (kept securely — do not store passwords in an unsecured document, but ensure someone can access them)
• The location of important documents: passport, birth certificate, marriage certificate, property deeds, mortgage documentation
• Funeral preferences (if any) — noting that the will may not be read until after the funeral

Keep this document updated, and tell your executor and at least one trusted family member where it is.

The equal versus fair question

For families with multiple children, the inheritance conversation often involves the question of equality versus fairness. Equal distribution — dividing assets equally between children — feels intuitively fair but is not always so. A child who has received significant financial support during your lifetime, or who has cared for you at personal cost, or who is in a very different financial position, is in a different situation to a sibling who has not.

Explaining your thinking in advance — not as a negotiation, but as transparency about the reasoning — prevents the posthumous resentment that often arises when children feel they are competing with siblings for recognition. The conversation itself, while sometimes uncomfortable, almost always reduces the risk of conflict over the estate.

The international complexity

For internationally mobile families — different family members in different countries, assets across jurisdictions — the estate planning conversation has additional layers:

• Different wills for different countries: explain to your family that you have multiple wills, what each covers, and who the executor in each jurisdiction is
• Assets that pass outside the will (pensions, jointly held property, trust assets): explain these separately
• Timeline expectations: administering a multi-country estate takes longer than a straightforward UK estate; manage expectations about when distributions will be made
• Currency issues: if some beneficiaries live in different currency zones, explain how proceeds will be distributed

The goal is to ensure that when the time comes, your family spends their energy on their grief — not on administrative confusion that could have been prevented with a single afternoon's organisation.

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Estate planning involves legal and tax considerations that vary by jurisdiction. This article provides general guidance and does not constitute legal or financial advice. Always seek professional advice appropriate to your personal circumstances.

How Global Investments can help

We work with internationally mobile families to coordinate estate plans across multiple jurisdictions — ensuring that wills, pension nominations, and trust structures are aligned, and that families have the information they need. Contact us to discuss your estate planning priorities.