Why TD is providing its estate clients with after-loss care

There is a callousness in what the inheritance system expects estate executors to do. In a state of emotional distress following the loss of a loved one, these individuals are tasked with a host of legal and administrative jobs, including the disposal of assets, the planning of funerals, and the execution of last wishes. Much of that work can involve highly consequential decisions, which may come with tax and estate implications that someone experiencing the volatile emotions of grief may be ill-equipped to manage.

That’s why TD recently announced the integration of an app called Empathy into their estate planning services. The application provides support on both the emotional and administrative burdens that come after losing a loved one, arranging contact with therapists and grief counsellors, as well as funeral planners, tax professionals, and estate experts. Tahia Haniff, AVP of Estate Services at TD Bank Group, explains that this investment was made to help his bank deliver the increasingly ‘holistic’ service that modern clients have come to expect.

“Customer expectations continue to evolve in terms of the support that they require. And when they're coming to a financial institution and looking to lean in on that support, they typically are looking for things to be as holistic as possible,” Haniff says. “And when you're looking at a 360 view of what customers need and require, and through the differences that what service is today versus what it typically has been historically, there's an expectation to be able to deliver more and to show up at these moments of truth.”

Haniff has heard plenty of stories showing just how difficult the work of executors is. He’s seen people coping with the loss of a loved one working for a year or more to dispose of their assets, managing all their legal documents, playing referee between family members fighting over a will, and learning about all the eccentricities of the estate process as they do so. He’s seen how emotion and money collide to create family tension and grief, something he believes that supports like the Empathy program can help clients avoid.

The goal of Empathy, Haniff explains, is to help alleviate some of the burdens associated with loss. Some of that involves access to emotional supports and professionals capable to talking to clients about grief via the app. Haniff stresses that while the access to those emotional services is delivered via a tech platform, clients are talking and connecting with real people who can provide qualified support. At an emotionally vulnerable time, they can access the kind of one-on-one support that has been shown to offer great help.

“The grieving process can be unpredictable. The administrative responsibilities that typically follow a loss, it's on top of the grief that people are feeling. It leaves the families and the person responsible for the estate typically overwhelmed,” Haniff says. your mental state often affects how well you understand and apply the financial guidance that you're given so this is why we have leaned heavily into this partnership with with the application as a valuable tool it really allows our executors and customers to the ability so that they can get the emotional support they need to be in a better position to understand the guidance they're being given, and also to embed compassion through the estate settlement process.”

At the same time, the Empathy platform will allow TD’s estate services another avenue of delivering key information and advice to executors and those grieving a lost loved one. That includes questions around planning, probate, benefits, and insurance claims. It can provide clients with a personalized step-by-step plan that shows them what they need to worry about, and what they don’t need to worry about.

This additional service, Haniff notes, falls into the expectation the wealth management industry has set for itself by offering holistic service. That term is incredibly wide, and forces advisors and firms to think of ways they can better support clients beyond just the dollars and cents of investment planning. In the middle of the largest single wealth transfer in Canadian history, which will largely be experienced through the loss of loved ones, Haniff sees an opportunity for the industry to live up to the expectations it is now setting.

“This is a moment in client’s lives that requires compassion,” Haniff says. “Hopefully others can show that deep appreciation and know that this it's not just about dispersing assets and liquidating and managing through probate and the mechanical elements that are required. there's a human component here that needs to be met.”