Digital estate planning service Zenplans launches

This week sees the launch of Zenplans, a new digital estate planning service, designed to help advisers help their clients securely organise, maintain, store and selectively share all their most important personal and financial information.

The firm writes that as we move away from traditional paper documents towards a more digital society, it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep track of all the various personal and financial information we have.

Zenplans is designed to offer a solution; advisers can help their clients manage their assets, debts and other financial affairs as well as key information about their daily lives; from their utility provider to their social media accounts.

The system also securely stores a clients’ wishes - including details about their will and Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) and how to organise their digital legacy - with the option to selectively share key details with named delegates. These delegates can be granted restricted or full access, either immediately or after a particular time - for example, after death, or if the client becomes incapacitated - ensuring that information is quickly and easily accessible by the right people as and when needed. 

This means that if a client dies and they had a Zenplan in place, their adviser is in a position to support the client’s family, helping them to access key information quickly and easily, and be there for them in their time of need, the firm writes.

Zenplans was created by Stephen Moses, a former management consultant for EY, after he experienced first-hand how difficult it can be to identify and collate all the information needed to administer someone’s estate.  He realised that, not only is there a huge amount of personal and financial information to deal with, but that finding it all and making sure the right people have access to it - both during their lifetime and when they pass away- can be a complete minefield.

Moses says: “We all have so much personal and financial information, that it is hard enough to keep on top of it all ourselves, making it almost impossible for our loved ones to sort out when we pass away. 

“And now everything is online, it can be difficult to know exactly what assets the person had, let alone where they are, making trying to piece it altogether really stressful at what is already an incredibly emotional time for those left behind. 

“I wanted to do something to make it much easier for people to keep on top of all their important information during their lifetime, but also create a way for people to share all that key information securely with those closest to them to make estate administration easy.”

Zenplans also works as a key planning tool for advisers, as the step-by-step guidance helps trigger a client fact-find and identifies any planning gaps, enabling advisers to go ‘beyond finances’ and giving their clients peace of mind that everything has been thought of and planned for, the firm writes.

Stephen concludes: “Zenplans helps identify any gaps in a clients’ planning, giving advisers the opportunity to operate at the forefront of estate planning and make a real difference to their clients’ lives.

“It also helps with engagement and encouraging clients and their families to become more involved with their financial planning. And when clients share their Zenplans with their children, it offers advisers an organic way to connect and build meaningful relationships with those on the cusp of the largest intergenerational wealth transfer in history.”