Proof of identity for a will

CSandL

Hi all,

We sadly lost my MIL at the end of October, OH is the only child and his dad is about 150 miles away. FIL is doing really well and we are trying to support him by phone etc. wherever possible.

MIL left a will, leaving a donation to her church and a few pieces of jewellery to people and the rest to FIL. OH is an executor.

FIL has rung tonight to say his bank has said that OH needs to go into our bank and prove his identity so that our bank can tell FIL's bank who OH is.

I'm sure that I haven't understood him correctly here. How will our bank (who have never spoken to us personally) prove who we are and why would they anyway?

Our bank is Halifax and FIL is with HSBC if this matters?

Could anyone very kindly explain what we need to do? It's really hard for OH to get into a bank in person because the branch is only open when we are at work. On the other hand, we don't want to let FIL down if it's important,

Any advice very gratefully received.

Thank you

Mojisola

I would expect to be asked for the standard things - passport, driving licence with photo, utiility bill showing address, etc.

If you don't want to risk wasting time taken off work, get FiL to ask his bank to put in writing what your OH needs to do and why.

Savvy_Sue

I know that I was able to go into any branch of my late father's banks and start 'sorting' the accounts: copy of the death certificate, copy of my passport, account could be closed pending probate or transferred to my mother's name if it was a joint account.

Maybe your OH needs to go into a branch of your FIL's bank rather than your own bank?

But proving identity is usually a simple matter of showing some photographic ID with an address: driving licence is good if you have a photo licence; utility bill plus passport does the trick otherwise. If you have no photo ID life gets interesting.

RAS

I had to take documents into the nearest branch of my mother's bank. it was easiest to go to the one near work and they did the checks.

Newly_retired

You'll need two forms of ID, one with photo for ID and one for your address. Passport/phtodriving licence + bank statement/utility bill/DWP benefit letter will normally do. Branch of FIL's bank, not yours.

Pee

It is anti money laundering checks, just as you will need to open a bank account and a local branch should be able to take copies and send them through.

Nixer

My partner's father died recently and he (as executor) just sent copies of the death certificate to the assorted banks etc. He says he didn't have to prove his identity at any point and at no point did he visit any bank. I think you may need to prove who you are if you have to apply for probate and go and do the swearing but that didn't apply in this case.

CSandL

Well this is what I don't understand really - there's no probate or anything, the accounts are joint so FIL already has all the money.

RAS

CSandL wrote: »

Well this is what I don't understand really - there's no probate or anything, the accounts are joint so FIL already has all the money.

In which case there is no estate which your OH can use to pay the donation to the church.

CSandL

Exactly, so FIL is just going to donate it himself

floss2

But if your OH has to prove who he is, maybe that means that your FiL has some plan to deal with the bequests & funds already in process?