If you arrange mortgages or sell houses, you already have conversations that touch estate planning several times a month. A couple buying together who are not married. A seller dealing with a parent's estate. A client who mentions, almost in passing, that their mother is becoming forgetful and nobody has power of attorney. You are not being asked to advise on any of that, and you should not, but you are often the first person who hears it.
This article explains how a referral partnership with us works in practice, what we ask of a partner and what we do not. It is written for professionals, so it is deliberately unglamorous about the boundaries. If you would rather skip straight to a conversation, our partners page has a short enquiry form.
The Client Triggers You Are Already Hearing
You do not need to spot an estate planning problem. You only need to recognise a moment when someone might welcome a conversation with a specialist. These are the ones that come up most often in mortgage and property work.
- An unmarried couple buying a home together, often their first, with no Wills in place.
- A second marriage or a blended family, where a client mentions children from a previous relationship.
- A probate sale instruction, where the executors are dealing with a property and a process at the same time.
- A later-life lending, equity release or downsizing conversation, where the client is already thinking about what happens next.
- A client who mentions a parent or partner losing capacity, and no lasting power of attorney in place.
- A client who says outright that they have never got round to making a Will, or that theirs is twenty years old.
- A remortgage or transfer of equity where the client asks how the property is owned and what happens if one of them dies.
None of those requires you to know the answer. The useful response is simply: 'That's worth a proper conversation with someone who does this. Would you like me to put you in touch?'
Why Those Moments Matter
It helps to know why these conversations are worth having, so we have set out a few points from official guidance rather than asking you to take our word for it.
- Unmarried partners are not provided for by the default rules. GOV.UK's guidance on who inherits when someone dies without a will sets out an order of entitlement built around spouses, civil partners and blood relatives; an unmarried partner is not in it.
- Stepchildren are not automatically included either. GOV.UK's checker for who inherits when someone dies without a will states that the relevant category of children includes legally adopted children and their descendants, but does not include stepchildren and their descendants.
- Ownership structure changes what happens on a death. GOV.UK's probate guidance states that land or property owned as 'joint tenants' with others 'automatically passes to the surviving owners', which is often not what a client in a blended family assumes.
- An attorney cannot act until an LPA is registered. GOV.UK states that you must register an LPA or your attorney will not be able to make decisions for you, and its guides give registration timescales measured in weeks, not days, which is why leaving it until a sale is underway causes problems.
The sources are GOV.UK's pages on who inherits if someone dies without a will, applying for probate and lasting powers of attorney. They are worth a bookmark, because clients ask these questions and a link is a better answer than a guess.
What a Consent-Led Introduction Looks Like
We only work on the basis of introductions the client has agreed to. That is partly a matter of good manners and partly a matter of data protection. GOV.UK's summary of the data protection rules explains that in the UK data protection is governed by the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018, and that anyone responsible for using personal data must make sure it is 'used fairly, lawfully and transparently', 'used for specified, explicit purposes' and 'used in a way that is adequate, relevant and limited to only what is necessary'.
In practice that translates into a short and unremarkable process.
- You mention that estate planning is a separate specialism and ask whether the client would like an introduction.
- You tell them who we are and what we would contact them about, so the purpose is clear before anything is shared.
- They agree. If they do not, nothing happens and nothing is passed on.
- You pass us only what is needed to make contact, typically a name and one contact detail, not a file.
- You keep a record of that agreement, in whatever form your own compliance process uses.
- We contact the client, explain who we are and what we do, and take it from there.
Each firm remains responsible for meeting its own obligations, including its own data protection and regulatory requirements, and for its own record keeping. We are not in a position to advise you on your compliance framework and we will not pretend otherwise. If you need guidance on that, the Information Commissioner's Office is the place to start.
Where the Boundaries Sit
This is the part of the arrangement we would rather over-explain than leave vague.
- A partner does not give estate planning advice. You are making an introduction, not forming a view on whether a client needs a Will, a trust or a lasting power of attorney.
- A partner does not draft, complete or witness documents for us, and does not answer technical questions on our behalf.
- A partner does not need to know a client's estate planning details, and we will not share them. We can confirm that we have made contact with a referred client, subject to that client's consent, while respecting their confidentiality.
- AIB Estate Planning provides professional will writing and estate planning services. We do not provide regulated financial advice or reserved legal services, and nothing in a partnership should be presented to a client as if we did.
- We do not hold ourselves out as a regulated financial adviser or as a solicitors' practice, and we would ask partners not to describe us as either in any material or conversation with a client.
- Where a client's circumstances need input we cannot give, for example on tax or on investments, we say so and point them to the right kind of professional.
Those boundaries clarify who is responsible for what, but they do not by themselves determine whether an arrangement meets either firm's regulatory or compliance obligations. Each firm remains responsible for its own approvals, duties and remit.
Complementary, Not Competing
Estate planning does not overlap with what a broker or an agent sells. We are not going to advise a client on a mortgage product, and we are not going to have a view on their asking price. What we do is the piece that tends to be left undone: what happens to the property and the rest of the estate if the client dies or loses capacity.
For a partner, the value is straightforward. A client who asked a difficult question got a useful answer and a route to someone who could help, and they got it from you. For the client, one conversation at the right moment can reduce the risk of expense and delay later. That is the whole proposition, and we would rather describe it modestly than overstate it.
What We Will and Will Not Promise
We would be doing the wrong thing if we published assurances in an article that we could not stand behind in a specific arrangement, so here is the honest version.
- We will discuss any commercial arrangement openly and put the terms in writing before anything begins. We do not publish blanket commission or remuneration promises, because the right arrangement depends on the partner, the nature of the introductions and each firm's own regulatory position.
- We will not promise a conversion rate, a volume of business or an outcome for any individual client. Whether a client proceeds is their decision.
- We will not ask a partner to make claims about our services that we would not make ourselves.
- We will tell a partner if we think an arrangement is not a good fit, rather than sign something that will not work in practice.
- We will keep communication clear at each stage, and confirm contact has been made where the client has agreed to that.
How the Process Runs
- You get in touch through our partners page or by phone, and tell us about your business and the kind of clients you work with.
- We talk through whether a referral partnership makes sense for both sides, and agree in writing how introductions will work.
- You refer a client who has asked about estate planning, with their agreement.
- We contact the client, explain who we are, and take them through an initial consultation.
- If they choose to proceed, we handle the process from that consultation through to completed documents.
- We confirm to you that contact has been made, subject to the client's consent, and keep you informed at the level the client has agreed to.
Who This Suits
We work with mortgage brokers, estate agents, financial advisers, funeral directors, care homes, solicitors and accountants. What the good partnerships have in common is not size. It is that the partner's clients are already asking the questions, and the partner wants somewhere sensible to send them rather than a vague suggestion to 'see someone about a Will'.
We are based in Blackpool and work with clients across England and Wales. If you think your client conversations point this way, the partners page has a short form, or call AIB Estate Planning on 0800 048 7320 and ask for a conversation about partnering.
This article is general information for professional introducers and is not legal, financial, regulatory or compliance advice, either for you or for your clients. Any partnership is subject to a written agreement between the firms involved, and each firm remains responsible for its own regulatory and data protection obligations.
Think your clients would benefit from a clear route to estate planning support?
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