LifeSearch, the UK protection advice specialist, just plugged a fully digital trust tool into its self-serve life insurance flow, letting customers buy a policy online and place it in trust in one sitting.
The company has chased this for years because it wants 80% of its life policies written in trust, a figure that would meaningfully change how payouts reach families.
The tech sits on top of Trust Genie and Yavia’s systems, stitched directly into LifeSearch’s quote and purchase journey.
For customers, it means the payout lands with the intended beneficiaries without a long paper trail or a sizeable tax drag. For an industry that’s tiptoed around digitising trusts, this is a big behavioural shift.
Since 1998, LifeSearch have protected over 950,000 UK families and businesses. Over 2m individuals. “We work with insurers big and small to match you, your needs and budget to the best life cover for you,” Debbie Kennedy, LifeSearch’s CEO noted.
The gap they’re targeting is obvious. A Swiss Re study in 2023 found only 18% of new UK life policies were written in trust even though 40% of under-45s live together unmarried.
That mismatch leaves many partners exposed under intestacy rules, which, honestly, still catch people out.
LifeSearch now bakes trust creation into the buying process rather than leaving it as an afterthought. The new app – built on Yavia’s engagement platform and powered by Trust Genie’s trust engine – offers educational content, a communications hub, and a full digital trust workflow at no extra cost.
No paperwork, no second run-through of personal details, no awkward follow-ups.
Trust Genie already works across LifeSearch’s advised business, using AI to steer customers, produce plain-English summaries and scrap double entry across multiple policies.
Debbie Kennedy, LifeSearch’s CEO
Trustees get pulled into the journey with digital signing, support prompts, and automatic submission of completed trusts packaged in the right legal format. Trust Genie’s completion rate sits north of 90%, and LifeSearch wants that same performance for self-serve buyers.
Putting a policy into trust keeps payouts away from delays and unnecessary tax exposure, and it tidies up claims handling. According to Beinsure analysts, this is the kind of intervention the Consumer Duty regime pushes for because it strips out foreseeable harm.
Debbie Kennedy, LifeSearch’s CEO, said the company’s mission hasn’t shifted: protect customers properly and persistently. She argued that helping every customer – advised or not – move their policy into trust ensures the right people receive the right money at the right moment.
By both educating and supporting all of our customers to put their life insurance into trust, we can help ensure the right money reaches the right people at the right time, avoiding unnecessary delays and tax exposure.
Debbie Kennedy, LifeSearch’s CEO
She also framed the launch as a sign of LifeSearch’s willingness to invest in tech that matters, not just tech that looks clever.
“This market-first digital solution for online self-serve journeys shows our commitment to innovation and investment in our customers. By partnering with Trust Genie and Yavia, we’re combining technological excellence with genuine customer care. Being first to market with this solution demonstrates our technology credentials and our determination to drive meaningful change across the protection industry,” Debbie Kennedy said.
Trust Genie’s chief commercial officer, Neil Glover, said the platform now lands acceptance from every major insurer and consistently delivers high completion rates.
He described a trust as the starting point in a longer chain of interactions between customer, adviser, insurer and trustees, and said the product synchronises logic, dynamic forms and bounded AI to keep the journey safe and compliant. He also tipped his hat to insurers’ trust and legal teams for helping refine the process.
We built Genie to do exactly that, synchronising logic, dynamic forms and bounded AI to create a safe, compliant and personalised journey.
Neil Glover, Trust Genie’s chief commercial officer
“We’re grateful to the insurers, particularly their trust and legal teams, for the time and expertise they shared, and to LifeSearch for insights in helping us shape such a strong customer experience.”
Yavia founder Joanne Cole added that the firm already powers digital engagement for advisers across the UK and that extending the same infrastructure to LifeSearch and Trust Genie creates an intuitive trust experience.
She said the combined setup builds a more informed customer who recognises the value of protecting their payout through the trust process.
