Inheritance planning is crucial to ensure smooth transfer of assets of a deceased member on time, allaying the worries of family members.
As they say ‘necessity is the mother of invention’, the need to ensure fool proof inheritance planning has led to the emergence of firms specialising in inheritance — that too digitally.
One such firm is Legacynext which is a platform and service combined, and has roped in companies such as L&T Technologies, Ultrahuman and global tech companies.
This digital platform enables users to create a digital will in a short span of time (5 to 10 minutes) so that inheritance can be passed on to the loved ones in a seamless and cost-effective and fast manner.
In an interview with MintGenie, Founder and chief executive officer of Legacynext Darsh Golechha, says the family construct in India is quite unique and therefore, each one of them needs a platform to store and secure their will.
“Family members deserve the mental peace and security that their loved ones will be taken care of in case they are not around,” he says.
Edited Excerpts:
How did you come with the idea of starting Legacynext, and what were the key goals you planned to achieve?
We started this during the second wave of pandemic. Some people didn’t have access to documents which are required to transfer the assets of their family members they lost to the deadly coronavirus.
So, we quickly built an online platform and were approached by 1,800 people in the next 24 hours. There was an array of questions about our services, and about the process of getting money in their bank accounts.
With their feedback, we could improve our platform further.
What are the kinds of services your inheritance planning platform offer, and how many users have you managed to bring into your fold?
Any Indian or Indian family can buy a subscription and plan their inheritance.
Our services include arranging death certificate, financial assets and liabilities transfer/claims such as insurance claims, PPF (public provident fund), EPF (Employees provident fund), Vehicle, utility connections transfers, ITR (income tax return) filing, will probate/ succession certificate, closing govt identity proofs, among other services.
The platform currently covers around 4,50,000 individuals under its subscription model.
There is a lack of awareness about the steps that are needed to ensure seamless and smooth financial inheritance. What are your observations on this?
There is reportedly nearly ₹1.25 lakh crore worth of unclaimed money — a problem that had increased during the pandemic.
And it takes anywhere between 4 to 12 years for this money to reach the bank accounts of legal heirs. The problem has been around for some time.
What worsens the situation is that there are different kinds of rules in different states and the Centre and historically — it has never been easy to ensure the transfer, not even for the ones who can afford this.
Can you shed some light on the significance of technology in your platform and how secure your systems are?
Our entire system is tech-enabled. We give unique solutions based on profile. The data gets tokenised. And identification of user happens through email secure access code or finger print. And moreover, every family member has a unique key.
Why is inheritance planning, according to you, important in India?
We believe that inheritance plan is like opening a bank account. It is going to pick up fast in India with average income age of investors declining, and inheritance happening starting to happen at a younger age.
Can you explain the entire process of inheritance planning at this online platform?
First of all, one can create an online ‘Will’ on this platform. And then, there is an option of up-dation of ‘Will’ four times a year.
There is a data-sharing access given to family. For example, you can specify which data can be shared and to which family member and importantly, at what time.
And then there is a guaranteed transfer assistance of assets across all eight categories such as death certificate, fixed deposits (FDs), mutual funds, loans, gold, vehicle and closing of Govt ID proofs.
