Executor and Inheritance Insurance

“Dirty Rotten Scoundrels”

We all remember the 1988 film, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels starring Michael Caine, or if you are a film buff (or of a certain age), the original 1964 version called Bedtime Story starring the debonair David Niven. Both films were comedies and told the story of con men using false identities to swindle unsuspecting victims out of money. The films are fiction of course, but 30 years on, has identity fraud become more prevalent?

In the first half of 2017 there were 89,000 reported cases of identity fraud. In 2021, CIFAS, the fraud prevention service, reported cases having increased to 226,000 in the UK.  Should we fear identity fraud when administering an estate and can anything be done to completely protect administrators and executors, if the worst case happened?

Kate Thorp, DUAL Asset’s Executor & Inheritance Protection Manager, sees cases on a weekly basis where family trees contain beneficiaries from all over the world. In a recent case she saw families residing in the Ukraine, Nigeria, Indonesia and Poland. Sometimes these estates can present challenges for genealogists, who often have to use incomplete records, occasionally as a result of war or conflict. Genealogists can also find themselves researching in a country that has strict privacy laws, making searching official records difficult and sometimes impossible. Quite often, family information alone has to be relied upon to trace family members, which can be imperfect.

If the personal representative makes a mistake and distributes to the wrong beneficiaries, or miss out a beneficiary altogether, it could be very difficult to retrieve the erroneous payment, especially from countries outside the UK and Europe. It might not be cost-effective to even try. This is where both missing beneficiary insurance and identity fraud cover can assist by protecting the personal representative and the beneficiaries. DUAL Asset’s comprehensive UK insurance policy provides precautionary cover for both missing beneficiaries worldwide and also cover for identity fraud committed by UK nationals.

Where there is a UK estate or UK held assets and there are beneficiaries outside the UK, DUAL Asset can also consider bespoke identity fraud cover and have in the last few months provided policies where beneficiaries were resident in Africa and the Middle East. “All cases were similar”, says Kate Thorp. “The solicitor, despite their best efforts, could not categorically say the person claiming to be the entitled beneficiary was actually the right person. The solicitor in each case was not comfortable to make a distribution on this basis. In one case, identity documents had been received, but dates of birth differed on a driving licence and a passport. Different variations of names were shown on the documents and the beneficiary was using an intermediary to communicate with the solicitor. There was an added concern that matters could be lost in translation. DUAL Asset were able to assist in all cases and provide identity fraud cover, just in case the worst case did happen.”

How does an underwriter go about underwriting such a risk? ”Well, it’s important to go back to how the beneficiary was traced,” says Kate Thorp. “Did they come forward of their own accord and what knowledge did they have of the Deceased? Have they been able to confirm certain facts? Then there is also the correspondence. It is useful for the underwriters to view this. We also talk to the solicitor on a non-reliance basis. What is their view of the situation?”

We should not think of everyone as a “dirty rotten scoundrel”, but personal representatives should always be on their guard. If they have any concerns about the beneficiaries they are about to send money to, then DUAL Asset are happy to talk to them about ways of safeguarding themselves and the estate.

Authored by:

Kate Thorp Manager-Executor & Inheritance Protection DUAL Asset [email protected] T: +44 (0)207 337 8775  M: +44 (0)7519 129136

This article has been provided by Dual Corporate Risks Limited (“Dual”), a Howden Group Holdings company, and the opinions and views stated in this article are those of Dual and not Howden Insurance Brokers Limited. Howden Insurance Brokers Limited shall not (i) owe or accept any duty, responsibility or liability to you or any other person; and (ii) be liable in respect of any loss, damage or expense caused by your or any other party’s reliance on this article.