Ninety Days of Silence: What Happens to Your Money When You Can't Answer the Phone

There is a question that rarely gets asked in the pleasant rooms where portfolios are reviewed and performance is charted: if you were unreachable tomorrow — genuinely unreachable, in a hospital bed or worse — who could actually sign anything?

For most British investors, the honest answer is nobody. Not the spouse whose name is on the wedding certificate, not the adult child who has been hearing about the portfolio for a decade, and not the adviser who knows the strategy intimately but lacks the legal authority to act on it. What follows is rarely catastrophic, but it is consistently expensive: frozen accounts, missed windows, and a family negotiating with institutions while the market does not pause for the paperwork.

The Authority Gap

The core problem is a mismatch between ownership and control. A marriage does not grant a spouse the right to operate a sole-name brokerage account. An adult child, however capable, has no standing whatsoever without a formal appointment. And the common assumption that "it will all pass to my wife anyway" confuses inheritance with administration — the two are separated by probate, and probate in England and Wales routinely takes three to twelve months.

Three months is an inconvenience for an ISA. For a concentrated position approaching a deadline, a lending covenant, or a private company shareholding, it can be a material loss. The gap between the day a crisis arrives and the day someone can lawfully act is where wealth quietly leaks.

The Instruments That Close It

Closing that gap does not require a family office or an elaborate trust structure. It requires a small set of unglamorous documents, put in place while everything is calm.

Lasting Power of Attorney (Property and Financial Affairs). This is the foundation. Registered with the Office of the Public Guardian, an LPA allows a chosen attorney to manage bank accounts, sell investments, and deal with tax authorities. Crucially, it can be drafted to take effect immediately or only upon loss of capacity — and it must be registered while the donor has mental capacity. An LPA drafted after a diagnosis is often no longer possible; the fallback, a deputyship application to the Court of Protection, takes the better part of a year.

Delegated access at the institutional level. Many private banks and discretionary managers offer third-party authority or joint-name arrangements that operate independently of an LPA. These are faster and narrower — a spouse can place trades but not empty the account — and they cost nothing beyond a conversation with the relationship manager. Few clients ever ask for them.

The letter of wishes. Not legally binding, but enormously practical: a plain-English document telling your deputy what the portfolio is for, which positions are intended to be held, and which liabilities will need servicing. Without it, even a properly appointed attorney is guessing.

A named financial deputy in the household. The most overlooked step. One adult child, or one trusted friend, who knows which advisers to call, where the statements are, and what the accountant's name is. A two-page index of accounts and contacts is worth more than most legal architecture when the phone rings at an inconvenient hour.

The Cost of Getting It Wrong

Consider the arithmetic. A portfolio of £2 million with a concentrated position that must be sold before a tax-year deadline, frozen for nine months pending probate or a deputyship order, can miss a window worth six figures. Add the practical costs — a family unable to cover care fees from a frozen account, an adviser unable to rebalance in a falling market — and the case for preparation stops being sentimental and becomes purely financial.

There is also the dignity question, though it is rarely framed that way. Families who plan report that the crisis, when it comes, is a fortnight of administration. Families who do not describe a year of it.

A Ninety-Day Standard

A useful benchmark for any household of means: from the day a crisis begins, a trusted second person should be able to access cash, instruct the adviser, and settle urgent liabilities within ninety days — ideally within a fortnight. Achieving that standard typically requires the LPA registered, institutional access arranged, the letter of wishes written, and one person briefed.

None of it is difficult. All of it is deferred, because the meeting it requires is the one nobody wants to book. The portfolios that survive the worst day are not the ones with the cleverest strategy; they are the ones with a second chair, already occupied, already briefed.

The best time to arrange it was years ago. The second-best time is before the quarter ends.