Congratulations to Kings Court Trust for winning ‘Probate Provider of the Year – large firms’ category at the second prestigious British Wills and Probate Awards on 17th October 2019 at the esteemed Belfry Resort and Hotel.
With the increased number of submissions in categories for the awards this year, the judging panel were spoilt for choice as they fervently went through the entries to find three outstanding finalists, namely Co-op Legal Services, Hugh James Solicitors and of course Kings Court Trust. Eventually, the judge’s decision was final, and Kings Court Trust was crowned as the cream of the crop in this category.
The judges commented on the winner saying:
“An excellent submission clearly demonstrating exceptionally high standards of service and support to their clients and partners. Clear focus on improving efficiencies through the use of their bespoke software to deal with complex probate matters.”
Congratulations on winning ‘Probate Provider of the Year – large firms’ category award, tell us about your team and the services you provide.
Thanks, we’re delighted to have won ‘Probate Provider of the Year – Large Firms’. It’s a real testament to our excellent team who provide an outstanding service to the families who entrust us to take care of their estate administration.
Since being founded in 2002, we have assisted on over 35,000 estates by taking care of the entire estate administration process or offering our specialist services on complex estate administration cases. We are proud of our unrivalled estate administration knowledge, our legal and tax teams, and being able to advise on any situation while providing our exceptional estate administration service.
Our full estate administration service is our most comprehensive solution where we’ll take care of all the tasks associated with handling a person’s affairs after they’ve died. This includes dealing with all their assets (such as property, shares and personal possessions), paying debts, paying any Inheritance Tax and Income Tax and transferring the inheritance to the beneficiaries of the estate.
From speaking to those dealing with a bereavement, we also identified that some families like to take on different responsibilities during the estate administration process. Therefore, we’ve now expanded our range of estate solutions to offer families more choice. Whether the family want to retain control of the probate application process or hand the entire process over to a professional, we have different solutions to support loved ones at a difficult time.
How has your firm developed and progressed within the last 12 months?
We consistently look to introduce improvements to our service for our business partners and our families. We have developed bespoke technology to enable our teams to more effectively and efficiently manage estates to conclusion. We also provide access to visibility of cases to our families and partners. Since the start of the year, we have been mapping out our processes to identify improvements to the customer journey in order to maintain communication and close cases as quickly as possible.
We have restructured our Business Development Department to provide an improved level of support for our business partners. Earlier this year, we recruited a Chief Revenue Officer to improve revenue growth, customer service delivery and relationship management. I also joined the business as Chief Executive Officer with a vision to grow the business substantially.
All these changes have led to improved efficiencies and cost savings. Most notably, by analysing the process maps, our new Executive Team have identified areas to improve processes and reduce the length of time taken to complete estate administration by three months.
What is the biggest challenge you face in the probate industry, and how do you overcome it?
We often find that Executors and Administrators simply do not understand the complexity of the tasks involved to finalise an estate. We partly believe this misconception stems from the fact that probate is synonymous for dealing with the affairs of someone who has died. The reality is, probate is just one small component of administering the estate overall. We believe that we demonstrate our ability to deliver high standards of service and support to clients by offering the full Kings Court Trust estate administration service which is much more than just obtaining Grant of Probate for our families.
When we engage with bereaved families, we offer our full estate administration service because we understand just how stressful this process is. From completing the complex Inheritance Tax forms to setting up Trusts in a Will; we complete the wide range of services for a fixed price provided at the outset. We are proud to say we’re one of the few UK providers who obtain the Grant of Probate (in England, Wales and Northern Ireland) in our name. This means the legal and financial liability of completing the administration process falls on us – not the Executor. By providing a market-leading, holistic estate administration service, our families can rest assured the Executors are not legally or financially liable, the estate is completed to the end by experts and the family can focus on life’s important moments.
The other significant challenge we have had over the last 6 months, which is still ongoing irrespective of what HMCTS says, is the failing of the Probate Registries to maintain service delivery on the production of grants to the industry. This has affected us considerably as a business and more importantly has affected our families and partners. We went from a 2 week service standard to well in excess of 12 weeks. We still have cases at the Registries dated back to February. It has been difficult to bring any traction to HMCTS because we are in such a fragmented market place and our volume is just not enough to bring any sway. We have tried to bring other parties in the industry together to make a concerted effort to get some improvements sooner but we have unfortunately been unsuccessful in this.
Why is the British Wills and Probate Awards event, which recognises excellence and highlights achievement in the industry, so important to you?
The British Wills and Probate Awards is important to us as we believe those doing exceptional work within the industry should be celebrated. By acknowledging those going above and beyond to provide an excellent service, it challenges others to go the extra mile and builds a reputation of the industry that we can all be proud of.
The event not only recognises probate providers like ourselves but also celebrates the excellence of some of our business partners. We were pleased to watch Portcullis Legals win Will Writing Firm of the Year in the South as they’re offering a first-class service to their clients.
The awards are also a great opportunity to network and reconnect with other industry professionals. It’s not very often you get that many people from the sector in the same place at the same time!
