Good Parent Portfolio

When you're arranging protection for your clients, setting up a trust can help make sure that the payout from their plan ends up in the right hands, at the right time. It also means it doesn’t get added to their estate and so wouldn’t usually be subject to inheritance tax.

Questions for you

• How do you protect your client's life cover from probate delay and from paying too much tax?
• How would you make sure your client's cover is managed for their children?
• Would you like to provide flexibility if one parent, or both, died?
• Would you like the opportunity to sell to the client's trustees?

Getting started

Writing your client's protection plan in trust can put the right money, in the right hands, at the right time. A trust could make sure that if one parent died, the other would have access to the money, but if both died, the money could be held for the children until they're older.

Payments could be made from the trust to the guardian, or to the children directly, to cover the children's living and education costs. If the children are different ages, different amounts could be paid from the trust at different times to suit their individual needs. It would also be possible to invest the trust fund for the benefit of the children.

Even if your client has a will, it could take months or even years to get a grant of probate, which could delay payment of a life cover claim. If a plan is written in trust, the trustees can claim straight away without the need for probate.

Questions for you to ask your client

• Could you be sure that your children's funds would be managed effectively if you died?
• Did you know that if you put your plan in trust, it could pay out to the people you leave behind more quickly?
• Did you know that putting your plan in trust could also mean inheritance tax savings?

Supporting you with the sale

We've got you all the tools you need to put protection plans in trust, like our trust chooser and approach letters.

Glossary of terms

Useful downloads

Re-approach letter for existing clients (PDF)

Request to become a trustee letter (PDF)

Go to the trust toolkit to find out more.

When you consider that the average age for our life cover claims was 60, putting it off until later could be a mistake.¹

¹ Royal London’s UK intermediary protection business claims paid (1 January to 31 December 2022).

Questions for you

• What would happen to your client’s life cover if it paid out?
• Does your client have an effective will in place?
• Does your client understand what happens to the life cover if it’s subject to the rules of intestacy?
• What are the intestacy rules?

Getting started

Having the conversation about protection and putting plans in trust will also make it easier for you to talk about wills.

You could ask your clients:

• Who'll get your property after your death?
• Who would look after your children if you died?
• How will your children's upbringing be paid for?

There are other things to think about too, like whether the property should be held in trust for the children until they become adults. And whether the guardians should also be the trustees of the children’s fund.

You can ask your client if they’d want to minimise any inheritance tax bill. Inheritance tax can be charged if the assets come to more than £325,000². They can reduce this with a well drafted will.

If your client doesn’t have a will, do they understand the rules of intestacy? Without a will, their property might not go to the person they want it to when they die.

Unmarried couples will have no automatic rights to the other’s property on death. Even if your clients are married, without a will, the surviving spouse may get less than they expect.

The flowcharts in the sales aids below will help you talk to your client about their will.

² Gov.uk, Inheritance tax, (tax year 2023/24)

Questions for you to ask your client

• Do you have an up-to-date will in place?
• Do you know who your property would go to after your death?
• Do you know who your life cover would go to if it paid out?
• Use our rules of intestacy flowcharts to show your client some of the problems caused by dying without a will.

Supporting you with the sale

These sales aids show who would benefit if your clients die without leaving a will.

The rules of intestacy - England and Wales (PDF)

The rules of intestacy - Northern Ireland (PDF)

The rules of intestacy - Scotland (PDF)

Most parents would prefer not to think about what would happen to their children if they both died, but unfortunately, it's something they should consider. So one of the most important steps your clients can take in making plans for their children is to appoint a guardian.

Questions for you

• What would happen to the children if both parents died?
• Do you understand how guardians are appointed?
• What would happen if one parent died, but the couple weren't married?

Getting started

We've put together some background information to remind you of the key issues surrounding guardianship.

Discussing this with your clients will help them think about who they'd want to act as guardian for their children.

Who can appoint a guardian?

Any one parent with ‘parental responsibility', or both parents together with ‘parental responsibility'.

Who has parental responsibility if the couple aren't married?

Many think that if one parent dies, the surviving parent automatically has legal parental responsibility. But while this is true for mums, it's not always the case for dads. Look at our parental responsibility flowcharts for details about these rules.

How does my client appoint a guardian?

A common way is to put the appointment in a will. The benefit of this is that additional financial arrangements can be included in the same document. Where there are 2 parents, they can appoint a guardian to look after their children if they both died. The Children Act 1989 sets out various ways that guardians can be appointed (the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 contains similar information).

Questions for you to ask your client

• Who would look after your children if anything happened to you?
• Would these people be well enough to look after the children until they're 18?
• Would they be financially able to take on such a responsibility?
• Use our parental responsibility flowcharts with couples who aren't married.

Supporting you with the sale

The sales aids explain guardianship in more detail:

Parental responsibility flowchart – England and Wales (PDF)

Parental responsibility flowchart – Northern Ireland (PDF)

Parental responsibility flowchart – Scotland (PDF)

Without the right protection plans in place, all the other plans that your clients have could come crumbling down. Protection should play a key part in every client's financial planning.

Questions for you

• How would your client’s family cope financially if they became ill or died?
• Even if the mortgage is covered, what about money for bills, clothing and everyday expenses?
• What would happen to the children if both parents died?
• Could they carry on living the lifestyle they had with their parents?
• Would they be able to afford school, college, university?

Getting started

Whether you’re recommending protection to your clients for the first time, or reviewing and updating their plans, they need your advice to get the protection that’s right for them and their budget.

You can point out that in the same way that life cover is important in case one of the couple dies, it’s also key if they were both to die. Covering more than the mortgage is a good idea if they’d like their children to keep the same lifestyle they already have.

With Royal London you can choose from:

• Life Cover
• Critical Illness Cover
• Life or Critical Illness Cover
  Income Protection
• Waiver of Premium (Sickness)

Questions for you to ask your clients

• Do you have life cover in case you die?
• Do you have critical illness cover in case you become seriously ill?
• What about if you had an accident or illness that wasn’t critical, do you have income protection?
• Do you have enough money to pay off loans and maintain your lifestyle if anything happened to you?

Supporting you with the sale

Our marketing studio site gives you a suite of sales aids that you can brand as your own, giving you marketing material to help build your protection business. And they are a great way to start the protection conversation.