Royal London has launched a tool for IFAs to place their clients' existing life insurance policies into trust, ensuring payouts avoid probate and go speedily to their intended beneficiary.
The online service has been created with feedback from IFA firm LifeSearch to overcome the current "cumbersome and confusing" process of setting up trusts.
It is designed to speed up the process by containing a range of the most popular trust forms that advisers would require and allowing e-signatures.
The system tracks the progress of the trust form and when the process is complete a copy will be sent automatically to Royal London.
Popular trusts included on the system are relevant life, business, gift trust - discretionary, split trust - discretionary and split trust for jointly owned survivor to benefit discretionary.
Ian Smart at Royal London said that the ability to write existing life business in trust is unique in the protection market.
“Currently fewer than 7 percent of Royal London life policies are written in trust; I hope our new online trust service will help to change that," he said.
"The system is designed to ensure trust forms are completed and signed in the correct order; and we can track the progress online too.”
Royal London worked with IFA firm LifeSearch in the creation of this new service.
Emma Thomson, life office relationship director at LifeSearch said: “Even after being informed about the benefits, too few clients put their plans into trust because the process is cumbersome and confusing.
"This new online trust process, that uniquely can be utilised pre and post risk, will make a huge difference to intermediaries trying to help more of their clients put their plans into trust, and I hope other insurers will follow suit.”
The online trust service is powered by iPipeline.
Ian Teague, UK managing director at iPipeline said: "Providing advisers with this functionality has removed a potential barrier to the uptake of placing life assurance in trust, something which we believe is industry best practice in most cases.”
