What Smee & Ford does

Smee & Ford is a UK-focused legacy intelligence company serving the charity sector, operating under parent MiExact Ltd since the unit's February 2024 separation from Wilmington plc. The company processes over 5,000 wills per week on average, examining each to identify charitable bequests and notifying beneficiary charities within weeks of probate being granted. Its core product is a set of subscription-based legacy notification services (Named, Trusts, and Discretionary), augmented by the Legacy Analysis Portal — a Tableau Cloud-based dashboard platform that lets charities view individual legacy details, monitor market share, and benchmark peer performance. Add-on modules include Verify (a mortality verification tool built on Mortascreen's 14M+ deceased-person database, priced £1,000-£1,500/year by charity size), Legacy Navigator for ongoing market share tracking, and bespoke Legacy Data Insights covering causal-area benchmarking, geo-mapping, bedfellow/co-beneficiary analysis, and income forecasting.

Smee & Ford monetises primarily through annual subscription contracts tiered by charity legacy income, with direct B2B sales and event-driven distribution through its three annual sector events (Legacy Giving Awards, Legacy Strategy Summit, Excellence in Legacy Administration Conference). Two core customer segments are legacy administrators, who require timely incoming-legacy visibility, and legacy fundraisers, who use analytics to build investment cases and benchmark performance; both segments span UK charities of all sizes, causes, and locations. The company complements its commercial offering with the annual Legacy Giving Report and other publications that cement its position as the central data authority on UK charitable estates.

The business is deeply embedded in the UK charity-sector ecosystem through strategic partnerships with the Institute of Legacy Management (ILM), Remember A Charity, and Legacy Futures, alongside event partnerships with legal, creative, and will-writing firms. Its competitive position rests on a 180-year-plus operating history, the most comprehensive UK charitable bequest dataset (current digital form dating to 2012), and category-defining brand recognition in legacy notifications. Geographic scope is England and Wales, with Scotland explicitly excluded by regulatory restriction, and there is no disclosed AI/ML capability beyond standard data analytics tooling.

Name

Smee & Ford

Legal name

MiExact Ltd

Website

https://smeeandford.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1840

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Smee & Ford is a UK legacy data and notification services company that processes 5,000+ wills weekly, providing bequest notifications, Tableau Cloud analytics dashboards, and mortality verification to thousands of UK charities of all sizes and causes.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Legacy notification and data services for charities

NAICS

Trusts, Estates, and Agency Accounts (52592)

akta.pro primary industry

Estate & Legacy Planning Advisory (FSAEAAAG)

Keywords

• Legacy notification services
• Charity data insights
• Will analysis services
• Mortality verification
• Legacy fundraising analytics

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Legacy Notification Services: Subscription-based service providing UK charities with notifications when they are named in wills and grants of probate. Services include Named Service (with will copies), Trusts Service, and Discretionary Service. Free access to Legacy Analysis Portal included.
2. Verify Service: Annual subscription service for mortality verification. Tiered pricing based on charity size and legacy income level.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

Smee & Ford provides UK charities with legacy notification services that alert them when named in wills and grants of probate, alongside data insights and analytics on the UK legacy market. Notification subscriptions are delivered as Named, Trusts and Discretionary tiers, supported by a free Tableau Cloud-hosted Legacy Analysis Portal with peer benchmarking dashboards, mortality verification through Verify (powered by Mortascreen), bespoke Legacy Data Insights analytics, and a Legacy Navigator market share tracker.

Product overview

Smee & Ford is a legacy intelligence company that provides a comprehensive suite of products and services for UK charities to understand and grow their legacy income. The core offering consists of the Legacy Notification Services (Named, Trusts, and Discretionary services) that alert charities when they are named in wills, and the Legacy Analysis Portal which provides real-time data access and peer comparison dashboards. Additional analytical capabilities are available through Legacy Data Insights for bespoke forecasting and benchmarking. Verify powered by Mortascreen offers mortality verification for beneficiary management. The Legacy Navigator provides market share tracking. The company also hosts three major annual events (Legacy Giving Awards, Legacy Strategy Summit, Excellence in Legacy Administration Conference) and publishes the Legacy Giving Report and Legacy Trends Report annually.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Legacy Navigator: A solution for charities to track their charity's market share and understand what's working, enabling evidence-based decisions for long-term growth.
• Legacy Analysis Portal
• Verify powered by Mortascreen
• Legacy Data Insights
• Legacy Notification Services

Products and services

• Legacy Notification Services Subscription service providing UK charities with timely information on charitable bequests in wills and grants of probate. Includes Named Service (with copies of wills for England and Wales), Trusts Service and Discretionary Service, with notifications issued to charity clients within weeks of probate being granted.
• Legacy Navigator Market share tracking solution that enables charities to track their market share in legacy giving, understand what is working, and make evidence-based decisions to unlock long-term growth in legacy income.
• Legacy Analysis Portal Web-based Tableau Cloud portal providing charity clients with real-time legacy data, notification files and interactive peer-comparison dashboards, including market share reports, to view and locate documents relating to recent cases and benchmark performance against peer charities.
• Verify powered by Mortascreen Mortality verification tool powered by Mortascreen, providing instant access to a database of over 14 million deceased individuals to help charities determine whether legacy beneficiaries have passed away, assess conditional gift status, and time estate communications appropriately. Sold on annual subscription, tiered by charity size from £1,000 to £1,500 per year.
• Legacy Data Insights Bespoke data analytics service enabling UK charities to forecast future legacy income, inform marketing strategies, support investment bids, benchmark against causal areas, geo-map opportunities, identify co-beneficiaries and compare performance against peer charities.

Quantifiable outcome

• Smee & Ford identified 36,992 charitable estates in 2022 out of 231,582 estates processed, with total charitable estate values reaching £21.3bn - the highest on record.
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers15 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Feature3 records

Partnerships

13 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Institute of Legacy Management (ILM)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerILM is a membership organization for legacy professionals offering training, events, and good practice guidance. Smee & Ford are corporate partners and work together on events including the Legacy Giving Awards. ILM CEO Matthew Lagden welcomed the investment announcement in February 2024, noting the essential role Smee & Ford plays in advising charities when legacies have been left to them.
• Remember A CharitycoreGTM or Marketing PartnerRemember A Charity is a campaign encouraging people across the UK to leave gifts in their Wills. Smee & Ford are Charity Champions supporting the annual Remember A Charity Week. The partnership promotes legacy giving across the sector.
• Legacy FuturescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership announced in 2023 combining Smee & Ford's extensive wills and probate data with Legacy Futures' market insight and forecasting capabilities. Jointly produced the Legacy Giving Report 2025.
• Tableau CloudcoreTechnology or IntegrationSmee & Ford uses Tableau Cloud as their data visualization platform. The Legacy Analysis Portal is accessed through Tableau Cloud, providing interactive dashboards for charities to explore and interpret legacy data.
• Mortascreen (for Verify)coreTechnology or IntegrationVerify powered by Mortascreen provides access to a database of over 14 million deceased individuals for mortality verification, enabling charities to determine appropriate timing for legacy communications.
• MiExact LtdcoreOthersSmee & Ford is part of MiExact Ltd. MiExact owns the Smee & Ford brand and provides operational infrastructure. In February 2024, new shareholders were secured to back the management team as an independent business.
• Shakespeare MartineauminorGTM or Marketing PartnerLegal partner for the Legacy Giving Awards 2023, co-sponsoring the Legacy Administration Team of the Year category.
• Foot AnsteyminorGTM or Marketing PartnerBest Legal Partner at Legacy Giving Awards 2026. Event partner providing legal expertise to the legacy sector.
• Raw LondonminorGTM or Marketing PartnerBest Creative Partner at Legacy Giving Awards 2026. Event partner providing creative services to the legacy sector.
• Octopus LegacyminorGTM or Marketing PartnerBest Will Writing Partner and Outstanding Partner to the Legacy Sector at Legacy Giving Awards 2026. Partnership promoting free Will writing services.
• Probate.AuctionminorGTM or Marketing PartnerEvent partner for Legacy Giving Awards, providing probate-related services to the legacy sector.
• InheritectminorGTM or Marketing PartnerEvent partner for Legacy Giving Awards, providing inheritance-related services to the legacy sector.
• Just ClearminorGTM or Marketing PartnerEvent partner for Legacy Giving Awards, providing estate clearance services.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• Inheritect: UK inheritance-related services provider and event partner at Legacy Giving Awards. Operates in the broader inheritance/legacy ecosystem that overlaps with Smee & Ford's charity beneficiary base.

Others

• Remember A Charity: UK sector campaign encouraging people to leave gifts in their wills. Smee & Ford is a Remember A Charity Champion and supports Remember A Charity Week, making them ecosystem partners rather than direct competitors, but both target legacy-giving growth across the same charity base.
• Just Clear: UK estate clearance services provider and event partner at the Legacy Giving Awards. Touches the post-probate workflow that Smee & Ford's charity clients ultimately oversee, making it an adjacent ecosystem participant.
• Cancer Research UK (in-house legacy team): While primarily a customer of Smee & Ford, large UK charities like Cancer Research UK, BHF, and Macmillan operate significant in-house legacy intelligence functions and could in theory internalize or build competing services — representing a potential build-vs-buy threat.
• Bequeathed: Free online Will service (Will For Good) associated with RSPB and supported by Smee & Ford. Operates adjacently in the will-writing/charitable-bequest funnel that feeds legacy data into Smee & Ford's notification pipeline.

Broad incumbents

• Institute of Legacy Management (ILM): UK membership body for legacy professionals providing training, events, and good-practice guidance. Smee & Ford is a formal corporate partner of ILM, but ILM operates as a broader sector membership organization serving the same charity legacy ecosystem.

Regional players

• Probate.Auction: UK probate services provider and event partner at the Legacy Giving Awards. Operates adjacently in the wills and probate value chain serving UK charities, though with a focus on probate-related services rather than legacy data analytics.

Direct peers

• Octopus Legacy: UK will-writing and legacy service provider that partners with charities to offer free or discounted will-writing as a legacy-lead-generation tool. Awarded 'Best Will Writing Partner' and 'Outstanding Partner to the Legacy Sector' at Legacy Giving Awards 2026 and serves the same charity customers.
• Legacy Futures: UK legacy market insight and forecasting specialist that partnered with Smee & Ford in 2023 to jointly produce the Legacy Giving Report. Shares the same customer base of UK charities and offers complementary market-intelligence products, making it the closest comparability match.
• Legacy Link: UK legacy notification service for charities, providing similar will-searching and notification functionality. Competes for the same charity customers that Smee & Ford serves with its Named, Trusts, and Discretionary notification services.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/wilmington-charities

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Smee & Ford