New research has suggested that people are unaware of wills and probate matters when it comes to their parents' estates.
A study by National Savings and Investments (NS&I) found that 36 per cent of those questioned were clueless as to how their mother and father would divide up their estate and if they had decided to make a will.
In addition, over two-fifths of participants were unaware of where important documents were stored by their parents.
Tim Mack, a spokesperson for NS&I said: "Later life financial planning is an important issue which affects everyone. It might be a sensitive subject, but every member of a family should try and encourage the others to sit down together and talk about this openly."
One-quarter of the people questioned also said that they were banking on being helped in the future by their inheritance.
Darren Hendleman, Head of our Private Client Team commented – Whilst it is right to respect individuals’ confidentiality in these matters, planning for the future should involve the whole family. We would encourage families to look not only at making Wills to establish what would happen when someone dies, but also to take advice about Powers of Attorney, which ensure that appropriate members of a Family are involved in managing your financial matters if you are not capable of doing so.
