FT Adviser reports that most professional firms treat the client relationship as finished the moment a client dies, when in practice it often shouldn’t be. The piece argues that families, executors and successor advisers frequently need continued access to records and history long after that point.
Ben Hammond, EAC Network Solutions: For accountancy practices, financial advisers, law firms and similar firms in this size range, this is really a question about how client data is structured, not just how relationships are managed. Many firms build their systems around an active client record that gets archived or closed off once a matter ends, which makes it harder to hand information to executors, family members or a successor professional when it’s needed months or years later. Worth reviewing how your CRM or practice management system handles closed or inactive clients: can the right person get secure access to historical records without reopening a live file, and is that access properly controlled and logged? This isn’t about keeping everything forever. It’s about deciding, in advance, who should be able to reach a former client’s records, under what circumstances, and for how long, rather than working it out under pressure when a family or an executor asks.
Source: FT Adviser
