In estate administration, “time” is the most dangerous overhead. Most firms charge a fixed fee or a percentage of the estate, meaning every hour spent chasing administrative details eats directly into your profit margin.
Shareholdings are often the biggest “time thief” in the process.
The “£50 Holding” Problem Imagine an estate with a portfolio of 20 different shareholdings. One of them is a £50 holding in BT Group.
- The Manual Way: Your paralegal spends 20 minutes finding the certificate, 15 minutes drafting a letter to Equiniti, and 10 minutes logging the response.
- The Cost: If your fee earner rate is £150/hour, you have just spent £112.50 of billable time to administer a £50asset.
The “On Hold” Economy Registrar phone lines are designed for retail customers, not professionals. There is no “fast lane” for solicitors calling Equiniti or Computershare. Waiting 40 minutes on hold to ask a simple question (“Is this certificate valid?”) is a massive inefficiency.
The “Reply Delay” Registrars can take 2-4 weeks to reply to postal enquiries. If you miss the “Small Estates” threshold or fail to ask about unclaimed dividends in the first letter, you have to write again. This drags the probate timeline out by months, frustrating beneficiaries.
Stop Chasing, Start Automating Divica Pro eliminates the chase.
- Instant Triage: We tell you immediately if a company is dissolved (worthless) or active.
- Direct Routing: We give you the specific professional email addresses and “Bereavement Team” postal addresses, bypassing the general queue.
- One-Click Letters: Generate all 20 enquiries in under 2 minutes.