What to do when a partner/spouse dies.

John_Pierpoint

http://www.taxationweb.co.uk/tax-art...-services.html

Someone phone this number and access "the bereavement advisor" & report back?

The bereavement helpline is accessed via the general HMRC taxes number 0845 300 0627 (the Textphone number for those with impaired speech or hearing is 0845 302 1408). Callers will be able to select option buttons to speak to a bereavement tax adviser from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Mondays to Fridays, and from 8a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays.

bossymoo

Hi I lost my husband last year, and the morning after, he got a letter awarding dla (terminal cancer). Don't know what possessed me to call the number on the letter, guess I just wanted to tell them not to bother! But the guy was really helpful, they have this "notify us once" scheme now. He cancelled the DLA and ESA, and took me through a claim for bereavement benefits. I got the one off allowance, and widowed parents allowance since we have preschool children. He then gave me the number to notify tax credits too.

It's a really tough time, and I wasn't sure our critical illness plan would pay out, but t did. Never assume. He also had a JIB pension as was originally a sparkie, before we met, but as it was under £15k they just wanted a copy of the death cert and sent me a cheque, even though I wasn't named.

Life assurance wanted probate, but the lady who did my will said, just call and tell them nobody else wants it, and will they take a statutory declaration instead (just a witnessed letter to say you swear you have the right to it, a solicitor can do this)? I did call and they said not to bother with either, just a copy of the will and death cert would be fine.

It was all a lot simpler than I was expecting it to be.

Hope that is of some use to someone,
X

Mojisola

bossymoo wrote: »

they have this "notify us once" scheme now.

We've just used this after my mother's death. It even covers things like library membership so it takes care of a lot of the notification phone calls.

It's too early for us to say it's worked perfectly but I'll do an update later on.

hyersal

Thank you for all your help. We are now getting somewhere with all the admin stuff related to my friends husbands death and wouldnt have got this far without the help provided here.

Mod looking into pension claim (even if its a small one off payment every little helps), mortgage company very understanding and benefits are a work in progress.

One thing thats worrying her is that after his death he was paid (a month in arrears) and it went into their joint bank account. Is she able to keep this?

John_Pierpoint

Strictly speaking the last month's wages belong to the estate.

hyersal wrote: »

Hello, I am looking for a bit of help. A good friends husband died last week (suicide). She has 2 young school age children. She has asked me to help her try and understand the financial implications. He had no will, they have a joint mortgage (up to date but not with a high street lender), he was self employed and she is part time self employed but will not be working in the immediate future. He has some small debts in his name - I understand they are for items such as courses related to his work qualifications. Any savings will be eaten up by the funeral.

She is aware that his life cover will not pay out in this circumstance.

Her immediate concerns are will she have to go to probate and what does this actually mean?

Is she liable for his debts?

If she is unable to pay the next instalment of the mortgage (very likely with no income) is she best to contact the company up front?

Anywhere you can point me to that might help with the many questions she hasn't yet thought of?

I am trying my best to help her with the more mundane side of things and I am fully aware that while these things need addressing asap each step towards doing this will make her feel like she is erasing him.

Any help would be appreciated as neither of us have had to face anything like this before.

Presumably the net value of the estate is below 325K (Where the tax man could become the first in line beneficiary for £400 in every £1,000 over that limit) and below 250k (Where the widow starts having to share things (which are not jointly owned) with the children.)
[The house might be in husband's name, in both names jointly owned or in both names but owned as "tenants in common" (Where each partner owns their own "half".)]

If it is a case of "the widow gets all the estate, after the payment of debts and funeral expenses", it is not all that important, but it might be interesting to have the figures accurately for some future situation. A currently unknown unknown.

hyersal

I am pretty sure the value of the estate is minimal - after taking into account a loan secured on their house I would guess total equity at about £10k on a good day and if there were any savings they were negligable and have been eaten up by the funeral.

Another question that has come up is about tax returns. My friends husband had been self employed for about a year and a half and his first tax return for the year ending this april would be due this coming january or before. Does my friend still need to complete this on his behalf? Its becoming a worry due to how little money she has at the moment and january is not that far away.

John_Pierpoint

A self employed husband will have at least one self assessment outstanding.
Probably a whole year for 11/12 and a tiny amount for 12/13 as the last day of the fiscal year is 5th April.
What was his trade? There is a special scheme for those in the building game.

My experience is that computerised HMRC system will turn into a terror organisation automatically issuing threats when the first 6 monthly deadline for payments is missed (January & July).

However in response to a barrage of criticism HMRC has created a "bereavement" procedure.

The "saving tax" part of this forum can talk the bereaved wife through the procedures if required.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3949345

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3740257

mandyc

I notice that your friend's husband was in the army. I recommend she contacts SSAFA (Soldiers Sailors & Airmen Family Association).

They should be able to offer financial help in respect of the funeral as long as she doesn't pay the bill first. They can also help with benefits advice, one off payments and even annuities if necessary.


It does not matter how short his army service was, she will be entitled to their help. Their website is ssafa.org.uk and I urge you to contact them as soon as possible. They will also be able to help in sorting out the army pension.

hyersal

Thanks for everyones helps so far. Have had hit and miss success in trying to sort things out.

Tax credits have been a nightmare, they are making my friend set up a new claim so all previous payments have stopped and 3 weeks in we are still waiting for the paperwork to set up the new claim - apparently even though they sent the paperwork out for posting on the 3rd it joins a large pile and can take alot longer before its actually posted!

She has been told she cant file a claim for bereavement benefits until tax credits are set up - has anyone else had experience of this? She is basically living on £65 a week income from her part time job and thats to feed a family of 3 and pay mortgage bills etc - unfortunatly it doesnt go as far as she needs and she is about to start incurring late payment fees etc and miss direct debits which is going to make things alot worse financially.

On the plus side we have found the life cover and reading the terms it is worth trying to claim so we are doing this at the moment - wont cover the full mortgage but would give her a little breathing room.

One thing is that we have been asked for the administrator details on a pension claim form. I wasnt with my friend in the days immediatly after her husbands death and while she thinks people mentioned administrators etc she cannot remember what was said. She still has an interim death certificate (could be upto a month before she gets a final one due to delays in the corroners office) and there is no will. How does she find out about the administrator side of things, should she know who it is or does that come after the final death certificate?

sarymclary

Hello Hyersal,

I hope your friend is coping OK.

Re. the Tax Credits people, I can categorically say they are a complete waste of space as far as I'm concerned! I had a similar problem with them, where they completely stopped all my benefit payments from the April my husband died until the October, and it wasn't until I'd managed to find out the Chief Exec's office number (kindly given to me by a supervisor I eventually got to speak to, after weeks and weeks of calling them in tears). I also sent an email to the Complaints Dept. I got the money credited into my account the following Monday morning, and a call from the Complaints Manager at 7.45am on the Monday to tell me. I suggest you look here for details on how to put in a complaint, and do it soon, so that they pull their finger out. Your friend could also ask her local Job Centre for a hardship payment in the meantime, to give her some extra money, but they don't tend to hand out more than a £100 or so at a time.
Details of making a complaint here:
http://www.findlaw.co.uk/law/tax/tax_credits/9312.html

The Tax Credits people are trained to 'fire-fight' calls, and at all costs try to keep you from speaking to a supervisor. My advice is to stand your ground, and firmly and politely insist that you speak to a more senior member of staff, take full names of every person you speak to (they can be at different call centres too I believe), make a note of the date/time of every call made to them, and I found calling outside of the peak times meant I didn't have to hold for quite so long. It cost me money just calling them though!
Try one of the alternative numbers, rather than the 0845 numbers to see if that gets better results (cheaper if calling from a mobile with call credit too) try this site for various numbers: http://www.saynoto0870.com/companysearch.php

If she is going to default on payments, call all the companies concerned to explain the situation to them, and ask them to suspend the interest applied, and even try to get a payment holiday of 3 months to allow time for your friend's financial situation to be resolved. I would also put all of that in writing to each creditor, keeping copies for myself, so that acts to show that she has tried to deal with the situation head-on from the start. When grieving, this is actually the last thing you need to be worrying about, but getting a bad credit file shouldn't be the price she has to pay. If she can get a hardship payment, and get the creditors to wait, it might offer her the breathing space she needs. The Tax Credits helpline should be able to give her an idea of the payments that will eventually be paid to her, so she will be able to work out how much money is going to be due to her when it does get paid. Going onto the entitledto website would also give her a calculation, based on her current situation. At least that way she can advise her creditors that she is going to have a certain income in the near future, it's just that she's waiting on it being sorted out by HMRC. I had to live on credit cards for a long time, constantly pushing the snowball of debt in front of me, and wasn't nearly as clued up back then. I'm still carrying that debt accrued now.

Re. the pension people. The Administrator, is usually the person who is dealing with the deceased person's estate, so in this case, your friend. It could, in other circumstances, be a solicitor, so it's a title I think they use to describe the role.

I imagine the pensions people want to know who their point of contact is, and who the beneficiary of any pension will be. As the Death Certificate is only an interim one for now, they may not begin the processing of any claim until the final version is issued, but it's worthwhile asking the question of them.

Check this document here, which gives lots of information about what to do when a person dies : http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/dwp1027.pdf
On page 33 is mention of the Pension Tracing service, another link here: http://www.thepensionservice.gov.uk/ in case she suspects there might be further pensions from her husband's working career.

I had a pension paid to me out of the blue, from a company that had somehow been made aware of my husband's death (not by me), and I've no idea how they found out, but I received a one-off payment, several months after his death of about £300, for a company pension he'd once contributed to.

I'm glad there's a glimmer of hope for the life cover. Fingers crossed it comes good.