As Mark Nabell and Scott Winslow work to expand their young financial firm, they recognized an opportunity and have jumped on it.

Because of changes in tax laws – especially estate tax laws – and in underwriting processes, the life insurance industry has changed substantially, they said.

“Financial advisors, multi-line insurance agencies and employee benefit firms are not writing [life insurance policies] as often, due to the lengthy processes, stricter underwriting and the changes in tax laws which affect the higher-premium cases and create added complexities,” Winslow said in an email.

As a result, the partners in Nabell Winslow recently launched Partners Square LLC, a life insurance brokerage and consulting firm designed to streamline the insurance application and underwriting process.

Thanks to its alliance with The Life Insurance Center, a back office service, Partners Square has access to a database and technology that can accomplish in a fraction of the time what insurance agents and other financial firms have found an agonizingly long process, according to Winslow.

“Through technology and our experience we are able to mitigate those issues in assisting them,” he said, adding that working with Partners Square makes things much easier on the agent and boosts “forgotten lines” of business, among other benefits.

Nabell Winslow itself is a client of Partners Square as are a growing number of investment firms, independent insurance firms, small banks and employee benefits firms.

The two partners, who are equal owners of the new venture, have hired John Willse, an insurance professional with more than 30 years’ experience, to spearhead the firm. Nabell Winslow operations manager Patty Johnson is working with him.

Creating the new entity was a logical move for Nabell and Winslow, who formed their own firm in 2013 after leaving First Citizens Bank’s Private Wealth Management Advisory Services. As financial advisers, they wanted to include insurance as an element in the options they could offer clients.