Insurance as an Estate Planning Solution for UHNIs: A Strategic Lever for Legacy

At Entrust, we work closely with Ultra High-Net-Worth Individuals (UHNIs) who have spent decades building diversified portfolios, family businesses, and global assets. For this segment, managing wealth isn’t just about performance or preservation—it’s about planning for continuity, control, and legacy. In that context, insurance for UHNIs often plays a surprising but vital role.

While it’s commonly seen as a basic risk management tool, for this segment, insurance can be a highly strategic instrument in estate planning for UHNIs—quietly unlocking liquidity, balance, and efficiency in intergenerational wealth transfer.

Why Insurance Matters to UHNIs 

UHNIs face estate planning challenges that go well beyond the average: concentrated holdings in illiquid assets, cross-border family structures, philanthropic obligations, and the complexity of fair succession. For them, insurance can serve several unique purposes: 

• Create instant liquidity without disturbing long-term or illiquid investments

• Equalise inheritance across beneficiaries with varied interests or roles in the family business succession planning process

• Offset future estate taxes or global liabilities

• Facilitate cross-jurisdictional wealth transfer with minimal friction

• Enable structured, purpose-led legacy planning for UHNIs

Where Insurance Becomes Strategic 

1. Liquidity for Global Succession
   For many UHNIs, a significant portion of wealth is tied up in family businesses, real estate, or alternative assets—assets that can’t easily be liquidated. Life insurance provides a ready pool of liquidity for heirs to manage obligations such as taxes, loans, or shareholder buyouts—without touching core legacy assets. 
2. Balancing Inheritances with Precision
   When family members have unequal involvement in business or philanthropic ventures, insurance helps provide equivalent value without having to split or sell core assets. It enables harmony by separating emotion from economics. 
3. Offsetting Tax Exposure in Multiple Jurisdictions
   While India currently does not levy an estate tax, UHNIs often hold residency or assets in countries that do. UHNI estate tax planning requires smart liquidity mechanisms—like insurance—to ensure taxes are covered without compromising long-term holdings. It also reduces the administrative burden on executors and trustees. 
4. Supporting Global Family Governance
   For families with members across geographies, insurance can provide a common financial anchor. The payout can be directed to a family trust, used to fund a private foundation, or earmarked for future generations—offering clarity and control across time and space. 
5. Enhancing Philanthropic Vision
   Certain insurance structures can help UHNIs amplify their philanthropic ambitions—by creating an enduring corpus or allowing tax-efficient gifting to causes they care about. Used wisely, it can institutionalise values across generations and support meaningful legacy planning for UHNIs.

What Matters: Structure, Not Just Policy 

At this level of wealth, how insurance is structured is more important than what policy is bought. At Entrust, we help clients navigate:

• Ownership structures (individual, trust, holding company)

• Jurisdictional rules for cross-border payouts

• The integration of policies within the broader estate planning India framework

• Staggered vs lump sum payouts based on family dynamics

• Confidentiality and control mechanisms

We don’t look at insurance in isolation—but as a puzzle piece in a much larger picture of life insurance estate planning in India, family governance, and long-term stewardship.

A Quiet but Powerful Lever 

Insurance may not be the most glamorous instrument in a UHNI’s toolkit, but it is often the one that quietly makes everything else work better. It protects intention, creates optionality, and removes unnecessary friction when it matters most—during a generational transition.

At Entrust, we treat insurance not as a product, but as a solution—one that is deeply personal, discreet, and aligned with your long-term vision for your family’s wealth and well-being.
If you’re thinking about legacy, let’s talk.

Reach out to the Entrust team to explore how insurance can serve your family’s unique estate planning needs.