3 reassuring ways a financial planner can offer support during a bereavement

Sadly, at some point in your life, you’re likely to have to deal with a bereavement. Whether it’s a parent or your spouse or civil partner, losing a loved one is incredibly difficult and unsettling.

Not only do you have to deal with the emotional side of grief, but there can also be complex administrative tasks to complete.

During this challenging time, having the support of a financial planner can be invaluable. They can help you with the financial side of your bereavement, and provide assistance and guidance to make the entire period a little less daunting.

Read on to discover three ways your financial planner can help and reassure you when you experience a loss.

1. Knowing you and your family personally

Working with a financial planner means forming a personal, trusting relationship. Your planner will know you and your family intimately, and have used this information to design your financial plan.

This personal relationship can be hugely important when one of your loved ones passes away, as it means that they understand you all as individuals. They know how you relate to one another, and the various goals you’ve shared.

As a result, any recommendations your planner makes at this stage will be personalised to you, with your family in mind. They’ll know what you want to achieve with your wealth, and will keep this at the forefront of discussions with you.

It also means they have an insight into your family’s dynamics. This can be hugely valuable when someone passes away, because your planner can be sensitive to everyone’s thoughts, feelings, and needs.

They can also assist in mediating disputes and difficult conversations that may arise when distributing someone’s wealth to their beneficiaries, explaining how this works and why.

In a burdensome time when there are lots of decisions to make and emotions often run high, your planner can help unite you and your family so that you can navigate these complexities together.

2. Helping you to manage the administrative aspects

When somebody dies, there’s often a great deal of administration and paperwork to complete. You may need to:

• Apply for probate
• Carry out the wishes in the will if you are an executor
• Divide the estate between the chosen beneficiaries
• Settle any Inheritance Tax (IHT) that’s due.

This can all be highly complicated, demanding hours of time and effort, and presenting plenty of pitfalls along the way.

Meanwhile, by speaking to your financial planner first, they can break down some of the more convoluted aspects and make them easy to understand. This helps you to avoid making mistakes, while also ensuring that you leave no stone unturned in the duties you need to complete.

When it comes to complex paperwork and tax rules, it can be especially handy to have a professional with you along the way to help you cover everything you need to.

3. Giving you the confidence that you’ll be financially stable

One of the major concerns you may have when losing a loved one, particularly if it’s your spouse or partner, is whether you’ll be financially stable without them.

This can be especially problematic if your spouse or partner was the main financial decision-maker. You might suddenly find yourself having to manage your savings, investments, pensions, and perhaps even a mortgage, which you may not have been accustomed to doing.

It can also be challenging to receive an inheritance from a parent, figuring out the most sensible decisions for what may be a large sum of money.

Whatever the situation, you might be concerned about your future financial stability, and how to make the most of the wealth you now have.

This is where speaking to your financial planner can be so useful. They’ll take you through your options and update your plan so that you can be confident your wealth is suitably organised to allow you to keep living your life.

This can be massively reassuring during the emotional upheaval of a death. While it can’t make the loss of your loved one any better, you’ll at least have the confidence of knowing that you’ll be financially secure for the future.

Get in touch

If you’d like to find out more about how a financial planner can support you and your family, please do get in touch with us at Britannic Place.

Email info@britannicplace.co.uk or call 01905 419890 to speak to an experienced adviser today.

Please note

This blog is for general information only and does not constitute advice. The information is aimed at retail clients only.

The Financial Conduct Authority does not regulate estate planning, tax planning or will writing.