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The comments from Sesame came after the Leeds-based IFA estate planner reported enquiries had tripled year-on-year since 2007, and higher net-worth clients were taking an interest.

Alan Farmer, trusts and tax specialist for Sesame, said advisers who make a living from estate planning should steel themselves for a drop in business as clients are driven to focus on their immediate finances.

He also claimed falling investment and property values would see concerns about inheritance tax diminish with people's liability for it reducing.

Mr Farmer said: "We have not noticed any increase in inheritance tax enquiries on the back of the recent economic downturn.

"We believe people are more concerned about lifetime financial planning and the impact the turbulent markets are having on their investments in the shorter term.

"Indeed, it may transpire that people have less of an IHT liability than before if the value of their investments and property diminishes."

But he also claimed the market for estate planning advice had grown in the last few years as it attracted political attention and while property prices were still growing rapidly.

He said: "That is why tax planning is a regular fixture within Sesame's training and development programme to help advisers build their technical knowledge and the solutions available for clients."

Julie Darlington, a chartered financial planner for 2plan Wealth Management, last week told Financial Adviser she attributed her company's increased traffic to the credit crunch.

2plan received 30 new cases worth more than £250,000 this year, including its first £1m customers in this field, compared with just 10 cases in 2007.

She said: "If we can fund for inheritance tax we will do so. We will look at utilising both nil-rate bands and then consider other options which may include the utilising allowances, gifting capital, possibly including the use of trusts."