How did the business start?

Originally, I was an investment manager and, before that, a financial adviser. I was working with lots of people who were going through divorces or expecting an inheritance.

My aim was to help them plan and invest the assets at the end. But what became really clear is that, while they were in line to receive significant assets, the period before receiving it was when they needed cash the most.

The main aim is that you don’t want to have to sell assets in a rush. Estates often include valuable property, investments, or land. If you’re forced to sell at the wrong time, that can be very expensive.

So it’s really about timing. Borrowing rather than selling an asset in a rush is very often significantly cheaper.

What do you actually do?

That means we help people access money from an estate before the estate is fully administered or distributed, or before assets are sold.

The three most common situations are:

First, testamentary expenses. Properties still need to be insured, maintained, cleaned, repaired, and kept in good condition. Solicitors and other professionals also need to be paid. Those costs often arrive long before the estate funds are available, so we help generate liquidity so things don’t grind to a halt.

Second is inheritance tax. In most cases, IHT needs to be paid before grant of probate is obtained. Traditionally, less than 1% of people have been eligible for HMRC’s grant on credit, and the more complex the estate, the more difficult that becomes.

Very often HMRC will require that you have an offer on a property or that the property is already in a sale process. In a softer property market, that can mean selling at a significant loss.

Third is beneficiary advances. There’s an estimated £80 billion tied up in probate in the UK at any time. People often need to access the money they’re due to receive faster than the probate process allows, especially with ongoing cost of living pressures.

Can you share a client success story?

We’ve had loads, so I’ll give two.

What are the most common mistakes or misconceptions?

There’s usually nothing wrong with the will itself. The issue is when there’s a liquidity problem and people start looking to sell assets early or quickly, often at the wrong time.

We’ve seen situations where properties have been accruing interest with HMRC at around 8% for years, because probate has taken so long. The estate becomes stuck, and the costs just keep adding up.

A lot of people come to us and say they wish they’d known about this earlier. What they really need is a bridge between where they are now and when the estate can be distributed.

We’re not focused on credit scores, and we don’t do credit checks on the individual. There are no monthly repayments. We’re looking at the estate, the inheritance position, and the route to repayment.

If there isn’t enough money in the estate to repay us, that’s our loss. It’s a non-recourse loan — it’s against the estate, not the individual. You can read more about what an Inheritance Tax loan is and how it works on our blog.

When should a will writer refer a client?

It starts with asking the right question: are they going to be okay for money before the estate is distributed?

Sometimes the deceased was the main income provider, and even if there are assets, there may not be immediate access to cash. In some cases, there may not even be a will, which adds further complexity around who can inherit under intestacy rules.

As a will writer or executor, you’ll often see issues coming before anyone else. Where is the money going to come from to pay inheritance tax? Are they going to have to sell an asset at a loss?

If those questions are coming up, it’s worth introducing them to someone like us early on. We may or may not be needed, but at least they know the option is there.

What makes you different?

There are two parts to that.

The first is that we’re probate specialists. This is what we do day in, day out. Most lenders want to lend against income with monthly repayments, which doesn’t work in probate. We’re lending against an estate, and we understand that timelines can be long and unpredictable - as our guide on how long probate takes explains in detail.

The second is how we operate.

We’re also very often the most competitive on pricing.

What trends or challenges are affecting probate right now?

Inheritance tax is the big one.

Nil rate bands are frozen, and property prices have increased significantly over the past couple of decades. More and more estates are becoming taxable.

We’re also seeing new types of assets being brought into scope — farms, pensions, businesses — which is increasing complexity.

All of that is creating more delays, more pressure, and more need for liquidity during probate.

What’s one piece of advice you’d give to IPW members?

I had a case recently with a £3 million property. It had been accruing interest with HMRC for two years, and they were being pushed to sell it in a weak market for around £2.45 million — a £650,000 loss to the estate.

They thought that was their only option.

Instead, we paid the inheritance tax for them. They refinanced us with a mortgage after four months, at a relatively low cost, and kept the property. Now they can sell it in their own time at the right value.

The same applies to investments. If you need to generate cash when markets are down, you’re locking in losses.