Most customers who want professional advice about equity release discuss it with their family, but just 7% go on to involve their children in meetings with financial advisers, says HUB Financial Solutions.

The financial advisor says 71% of customers who came to the firm for advice said they had discussed the possibility of equity release with their children.

But just 7% went on to involve their children in meetings with finance professionals as they went through the planning process in greater detail. It adds that 93% of customers did not involve anybody else in the final financial planning process.

HUB Financial Solutions managing director Simon Gray says: “Lifetime mortgages can be an important way of enjoying a more comfortable retirement by unlocking wealth tied up in bricks and mortar, or passing living inheritances to children while still alive.

“However, it is important that people considering taking out a lifetime mortgage should be as transparent as possible with their children about their reasoning and intentions in order to avoid misunderstandings later in life.

“Involving children in the planning process can re-assure them that their parents are making a suitable financial decision to meet their needs and aims. It also gives children the chance to intervene if they are in a position to help financially and would like to do so if asked.

“It could even open up more tailored equity release solutions like servicing the interest on the loan. Doing so would allow children who have income to service all or part of the interest on their parents’ lifetime mortgage, leaving more equity in the property to maximise the inheritance left behind.”