There is a simple problem with drawing clear lines around financial advice: clients’ lives rarely respect them.
A marriage, divorce, inheritance, retirement or death in the family can all change a client’s financial position. But they can just as easily raise questions about wills, ownership, protection, beneficiaries and how wealth should pass from one generation to the next.
For the client, these are not separate conversations. They are part of the same life event, and that creates an important opportunity for advisers.
As client needs become more connected, advice firms have the chance to shape their proposition around the reality of clients’ lives, rather than the traditional boundaries between financial and legal services.
That does not mean advisers need to become legal experts. Far from it. But there is growing value in recognising when specialist support may be needed and making it easier for clients to take the next step.
Richard Cook, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Blackfinch Group, says: “Clients don’t experience financial and legal planning as separate parts of their lives. A single event can create several needs at once. That gives advisers an opportunity to think about how their proposition can evolve around the client, while keeping the trusted adviser relationship at the centre.”
Take something as common as a client wanting to pass wealth to their children. The conversation may begin with investments or Inheritance Tax. Before long, it can move into questions about wills, trusts, ownership, family relationships and whether existing plans still reflect what the client actually wants.
The same happens at retirement. A client may begin by asking about income. But retirement can also trigger wider questions about later life, family, estate planning and what happens to accumulated wealth in the years ahead.
From the client’s point of view, none of this feels particularly unusual. They are not thinking that this is a financial issue and that is a legal one. They are thinking: what does this mean for my family and how can my adviser help?
Advisers are often closest to these conversations. They understand the client’s finances, family circumstances, goals and concerns. Importantly, they can be among the first to spot when one issue is beginning to create another.
A broader proposition can help advisers respond to those moments rather than simply recognise them. With the right support around them, they can help clients move from an important conversation to meaningful action.
That can strengthen the adviser’s role beyond managing a financial plan. It can position them as a trusted point of connection when other needs emerge and create opportunities to build relationships with more members of the family over time.
The Adviser Remains at the Centre
This is where the right partnerships become increasingly important.
Advice firms do not need to build every capability in-house. Instead, they can think carefully about the services and expertise that sit around the adviser-client relationship.
At Blackfinch Group, we see that as an important part of adviser partnership.
Investment solutions remain central to what we do, but advisers are also dealing with more complex family circumstances and an increasing expectation that different parts of the planning journey should work together. Providers have a role to play in helping make that possible.
The right services, technology and specialist support can help advice firms respond when a client’s needs extend beyond traditional financial planning, without asking the adviser to step outside their own expertise. That thinking sits behind Lawdable by Blackfinch.
Lawdable is designed to give advisers a practical route into legal planning when it becomes relevant to a client. The platform can support the construction of a range of legal documents, including wills and trusts, property ownership, inheritance, gifting and separation agreements. More specific documents available through the service include Deeds of Trust, Cohabitation Agreements, and Separation Agreements.
The service uses a trained artificial intelligence paralegal to gather key information in a structured way and support the creation of legal documents. Legal professionals then review those documents for quality, accuracy and consistency.
The technology is designed to make the process easier to start and easier to follow, while keeping the appropriate legal expertise in place.
For advisers, that means there is a more joined-up next step when a legal planning need emerges. Rather than simply suggesting that a client finds a solicitor, they can help connect them with appropriate support and remain part of the wider planning conversation.
Lawdable can help firms extend the support they offer around important life events and bring financial and legal planning closer together, without blurring the professional responsibilities involved.
Advice Is Changing Because Clients Are Changing
The boundaries around financial advice may be clear from a professional or regulatory point of view, but clients’ lives are not.
Life events will continue to bring financial, legal and family considerations together. Wealth will continue to move between generations. And clients will continue to look for help making sense of what those changes mean for them.
For advisers, the opportunity is to build a proposition that better reflects the lives of the people they already serve.
That means being able to recognise when another need has emerged, having a practical route to the right expertise and making the overall experience feel more connected.
Lawdable can form part of that approach, giving advisers another way to support clients when financial and legal planning begin to overlap.
Firms that do this well can become relevant across more stages of a client’s life. They can support families through important decisions and create greater continuity as wealth moves from one generation to the next.
As client needs continue to evolve, that ability to connect different parts of the planning journey could become an increasingly important source of value for advice firms. Not by trying to do everything themselves, but by helping clients access the right support at the right time.