how do banks handle funeral expenses

pinkdalek

You would find if you take in ID, copy of death certificate and the invoice (eg funeral bill) then you will be able to pay for the costs of the funeral expenses. However generally this is all you'd be able to pay for initially. Speaking from personal experience here.

You would have to register the accounts, maybe open an executors account if the deceased was to receive monies (eg cheques from share dividends) these would have to go through such an account.

Interest is calculated upto date of death and gross interest registration is cancelled. You also pay tax on any ISA interest too earned in the current financial year (never understand why seems a bit mean).

Depending on amounts of estate you may need probate, obtainable via your solicitor or if you want you can do it yourself.

Best advice is to speak to your bank, every one will operate differently, some may process in branch, others may require to send the details away for processing.

jonesMUFCforever

oldagetraveller wrote: »

You're right, fortunately and to their credit, HSBC paid within two or three days.
The crafty sods still keep the deceased's money in the respective accounts until Grant of Probate! A good little earner for them, they know it's there for at least two or three months. Could amount to tens of thousands of pounds or more. In my f i l's case it's around £60k.:mad:

Until you have a Grant of Probate its not yours to disperse - so the quicker you get the grant the quicker you will have access to the cash.

cottager

My experience when my mum died goes back about 12 years. I was joint executor of her will with my brother (he subsequently gave up this right as, working abroad at the time, it wasn't practical for him to be an executor; he had to leave again within a day or two of the funeral), but we asked Mum's solicitor to deal with the estate, probate etc -- he'd drawn up the will and had been holding it, and he'd also acted for me and OH in the past. We knew this would mean his fees to pay but that was our choice. I've realised since joining MSE that dealing with probate myself would probably have been relatively simple, but there we are. It was only a modest estate to deal with, and as she'd left a will it was quite straightforward.

I'd had a bank mandate to operate Mum's bank account for a few weeks prior to her death, when the fact that her signature was becoming too "shaky" to be recognisable was worrying her, but of course this ceased on her death.

On taking Mum's death certificate to her bank, the account was closed immediately and I had no further dealings with them (not for her at least, though it's my bank too) -- they dealt with the solicitor from then on.

I quickly paid quite a few things personally, some being small amounts to the sort of people who I felt it wouldn't have been fair to ask to wait, like settling her local milk bill and papers. There were a couple of newspaper announcements and one or two other things, but I think the largest sum I settled was for having a basic alarm installed at Mum's as the insurance company wouldn't continue cover on a vacant property without one, and I didn't want them hanging on for payment either. The property went on the market a bit later.

I'm far from being "made of money", but fortunately could manage what I took it upon myself to pay, but realise many people wouldn't be able to. I kept a very precise itemised record of everything I spent and all the receipts, and gave it all to the solicitor a little way down the line. Later, as a co-beneficiary, my brother had to formally approve what I'd spent so I could be reimbursed from the estate.

Any other bills (including utilities) I passed to the solicitor as he'd asked, and he took care of them, putting them off I think till everything was finalised and he distributed the estate -- this included the funeral bill. It was a fair length of time (extending to months, as a property sale was involved) before the funeral bill was paid, and I was getting a bit twitchy about it, but the solicitor assured me this was pretty common practice -- I did ring the funeral directors once or twice though, to make sure they were still OK with it.

Probate came through, then her property was sold a bit later, and when all monies were in (including funds from her bank and a couple of small savings accounts, which must have come in much earlier), final bills were asked for from the utilities, there was the estate agent's bill and so on + the funeral, and the solicitor settled all of these and distributed the residue between me and my brother with a statement which listed everything.

oldagetraveller

"Why would the account stop accruing interest if the account holder is deceased?"
Who said the accounts would stop earning interest? Have you seen HSBC's interest rates lately? They "fleeced" my F.i.L. with their paltry rates on his accounts. His generation trusts banks to do things in the best interest of their customers. They also tend to stay with the same bank for life. He had Premier Account this and Premier Account that only because he had most of his savings tied into them and in spite of being told by family they were "ripping him off" would not open better paying savings accounts elsewhere. The nett interest he earned in the last tax year, on tens of thousands was £23!
My point was that the bank have £60k+ of a dead persons money to earn interest for themselves over a two to three month period until Grant of Probate, or longer period, while they pay the account 1% or whatever.

"Until you have a Grant of Probate its not yours to disperse - so the quicker you get the grant the quicker you will have access to the cash."
It's not the bank's either! Nor is it mine even after Grant of Probate, it's the deceased's estate's.

Fiddlestick

oldagetraveller wrote: »

The crafty sods still keep the deceased's money in the respective accounts until Grant of Probate! A good little earner for them, they know it's there for at least two or three months. Could amount to tens of thousands of pounds or more. In my f i l's case it's around £60k.:mad:

In fairness, what else do you expect them to do in the circumstances?

It's not your money, nor is it the executor's.

Legally the banks cannot do anything with the money until probate.

lowflyer

cottager wrote: »

My experience when my mum died goes back about 12 years. I was joint executor of her will with my brother (he subsequently gave up this right as, working abroad at the time, it wasn't practical for him to be an executor; he had to leave again within a day or two of the funeral), but we asked Mum's solicitor to deal with the estate, probate etc -- he'd drawn up the will and had been holding it, and he'd also acted for me and OH in the past. We knew this would mean his fees to pay but that was our choice. I've realised since joining MSE that dealing with probate myself would probably have been relatively simple, but there we are. It was only a modest estate to deal with, and as she'd left a will it was quite straightforward.

I'd had a bank mandate to operate Mum's bank account for a few weeks prior to her death, when the fact that her signature was becoming too "shaky" to be recognisable was worrying her, but of course this ceased on her death.

On taking Mum's death certificate to her bank, the account was closed immediately and I had no further dealings with them (not for her at least, though it's my bank too) -- they dealt with the solicitor from then on.

I quickly paid quite a few things personally, some being small amounts to the sort of people who I felt it wouldn't have been fair to ask to wait, like settling her local milk bill and papers. There were a couple of newspaper announcements and one or two other things, but I think the largest sum I settled was for having a basic alarm installed at Mum's as the insurance company wouldn't continue cover on a vacant property without one, and I didn't want them hanging on for payment either. The property went on the market a bit later.

I'm far from being "made of money", but fortunately could manage what I took it upon myself to pay, but realise many people wouldn't be able to. I kept a very precise itemised record of everything I spent and all the receipts, and gave it all to the solicitor a little way down the line. Later, as a co-beneficiary, my brother had to formally approve what I'd spent so I could be reimbursed from the estate.

Any other bills (including utilities) I passed to the solicitor as he'd asked, and he took care of them, putting them off I think till everything was finalised and he distributed the estate -- this included the funeral bill. It was a fair length of time (extending to months, as a property sale was involved) before the funeral bill was paid, and I was getting a bit twitchy about it, but the solicitor assured me this was pretty common practice -- I did ring the funeral directors once or twice though, to make sure they were still OK with it.

Probate came through, then her property was sold a bit later, and when all monies were in (including funds from her bank and a couple of small savings accounts, which must have come in much earlier), final bills were asked for from the utilities, there was the estate agent's bill and so on + the funeral, and the solicitor settled all of these and distributed the residue between me and my brother with a statement which listed everything.

Cottager,
Your account was very helpful.
Thank You