AML/ID requirements for Legatees/Beneficiaries

Trusts Discussion
1

I am interested to know what other firms do with regards to identifying legatees/beneficiaries of an estate.

As a matter of course, we undertake bankruptcy searches, before any payments are made, but we do not undertake AML searches, as we are paying these individuals, rather than accepting funds from them.

Do other practitioners ask for identification of these individuals and do you undertake AML searches against them as well?

Many thanks.

Martyn Dixon
Harold Bell Infields & Co

1 Like
2

We ask for ID but that is only to verify their identity. We do not undertake ML searches, only bankruptcy searches.

Gemma Van Duke
Bishopsgate Law

3

We also ask for ID to verify their identity only and we do bankruptcy searches. We do not do any money laundering searches.

Emma Davies
Masefield Solicitors LLP

4

Those who say they ask for ID, Iā€™d be interested to know what ID they ask for. When we ask for ID we inspect a copy passport and a copy of a recent utility bill (not more than three months old).

But beneficiaries might well be living many miles away ā€“ indeed many thousands of miles away. Do you ask for notarised copies of these things?

Julian Cohen
Simons Rodkin

5

For beneficiaries living abroad, we always ask for notarised copies of their ID.

Nigel Griffiths
Co-op Legal Services

6

For UK resident beneficiaries, we ask for certified copy ID but for foreign domicile, we ask for notarised ID.

Gemma Van Duke
Bishopsgate Law