The most important planning conversations are rarely confined to a single product, portfolio or tax issue. More often, they reflect something much broader: whether a family is protected, whether wealth will pass as intended, and whether the right legal planning is in place to support those outcomes.
A discussion about retirement, gifting or inheritance quickly raises legal questions around wills, trusts, ownership structures, or how family wealth should be protected and passed on. Advisers will often be the first to recognise these issues, but they may not always have a clear or consistent route to help clients act on them, particularly where specialist legal input is required.
Some may see that as a challenge, and understandably so, but I believe the most successful advice firms will increasingly view it as an opportunity. It is a chance to get closer to the families and individuals they work with, broaden the support they can offer, and help clients move from important conversations to meaningful action.
This is how I see the adviser role evolving. Advisers traditionally understand the numbers, but more frequently they are being asked to understand the wider context of the client’s situation. Clients are turning to advisers for support with important life decisions, and the ability to offer more across the full lifecycle of the planning journey can only strengthen that relationship further.
This creates a clear value opportunity, the closer advisers are to the families and individuals they support, the better placed they are to see where wider help may be needed and to guide clients towards the right next step. Advisers do not need to have every answer themselves, and they should not be expected to provide legal advice, but their role in helping clients connect the different parts of their planning is becoming increasingly important.
Our recent adviser research shows this shift is already under way. We surveyed advisers on how they support clients with wills, marital agreements and wider estate-planning needs. Many are already close to these conversations, but the route to action is often fragmented. For wills, 38% refer clients to a local solicitor, 28% use a specialist legal provider and 16% discuss the issue without formally referring. For marital agreements, 27% do not currently address these needs at all.
Legal and estate-planning needs are becoming harder to separate from wider wealth planning. This is an inevitable part of the great wealth transfer that we are seeing play out; the wider needs of families and their estates are all linked and it is extremely important that the planning process incorporates the needs and requirements of the various generations in each case.
Advisers do not need to become legal experts, and they should not be expected to provide legal advice. But they do play an important role in recognising when specialist support may be needed.
The research also points to what advisers need from a more modern route. More than 80% said a digital legal platform would be attractive if documents were validated by regulated lawyers, with 78% citing regulated lawyer oversight and 71% highlighting strong client pricing. That suggests advisers are not looking for technology for its own sake. They want confidence, clarity and a process that helps clients act.
This is where the evolution of the adviser role can be strengthened by the right technology and services. Used well, artificial intelligence-based tools can make processes more efficient, help firms support clients they may not previously have been able to advise, and open up services that were harder to deliver at scale.
Looking ahead, I believe the best advice firms will use technology that is more established, intuitive and naturally embedded in the way they work. But we should be clear about what technology can and cannot do.
It can improve processes, reduce friction and make it easier for clients to engage with important areas of planning, but it does not replace the confidence clients take from a trusted adviser relationship. The human element will remain central.
Those advice firms that can adapt to this new way of working, while keeping the human relationship at the centre of their offering, have a significant opportunity to grow their business and increase their reach. As client needs continue to evolve, the firms that thrive will be those that embrace technology in the right way.
Richard Cook is founder and CEO of Blackfinch Group
