Sareen: Very opaque process
A “hybrid” probate law firm set up by a former banker and backed by Aviva is aiming to use lessons from fintech in its bid to automate and streamline the process.
Rish Sareen, founder and chief executive of alternative business structure Trustestate, said he believed fintech was “much further ahead than the legal tech world”.
He is majority owner of Trustestate, which has attracted investment from Aviva, angel investors and the Founders Factory, which helped develop the startup.
He declined to comment on whether Aviva would be sending work to the firm.
Mr Sareen worked for JP Morgan and AIG before becoming a vice-president of money management app Plum. He experienced the probate process for himself when a member of his family died.
“It felt like a very opaque process. It was hard to develop an understanding of what needed to be done. It was a very stressful time, when the family was dealing with grief. There was a lack of empathy and support, and we did not feel in control of the process.
“I tried to educate myself and speak to as many people as I could in the industry, trying to get as many different perspectives as possible.”
Mr Sareen said he realised that his encounter with the probate process “was not just my experience”.
At the same time, he said the artificial intelligence (AI) landscape was “shifting quite drastically” and a lot of AI applications could be brought to the legal sector.
It was not just about generative AI – there was plenty of scope for automation in the probate process, which Trustestate believes can reduce routine administrative tasks by up to 80% through its online platform.
“I feel that fintech is much further ahead than the legal tech world. There is lots of learning and there are lots of applications we can benefit from.”
Mr Sareen said he took his ideas to the Founders Factory, a venture capital studio for startups, in 2023, and then worked with a law firm partner until Trustestate could go live as an ABS on its own in April this year. He said Trustestate had already worked with “hundreds of families”.
The other director of the law firm is solicitor Laura Moran, who is also the head of legal practice. Mr Sareen is the head of finance and administration.
The firm has an office in London but most of its staff, a mixture of full-time and part-time, work remotely and its client base is across the country. All members of staff have either worked on probate cases before or experienced the process first-hand.
Mr Sareen said fees were not charged as a percentage of the value of the estate, as done by traditional law firms. Instead, clients pay a fixed fee based on the complexity of the estate, which the firm claims can save people over £3,000 in fees on a typical estate compared with traditional law firms.
“The estate could be large, but relatively simple. Clients have a strong preference for fixed fees and complexity-based pricing.”
Mr Sareen added that Trustestate aimed to “reduce stress caused by the current probate system and put families back in control when they need it most”.
Olly Betts, fintech sector director at the Founders Factory, said: “We are about to experience the biggest intergenerational wealth transfer in history. But whilst many other aspects of our financial lives have been improved through digitisation, estate management remains analogue, opaque and confusing – just the opposite to what people need when they are grieving.”
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