My grandma died today

Dan-Dan

will they treat us as executors though with no death certificate yet (that is days away because granndma was in hospital less than 24 hours so coroner has to sign it off)

being POA when i call them wont mean anything once we say she has passed on ?

also that means once the estate is settled whenever that may be , if we are still in the house ,we would need to close her accounts at that time instead of now ?

Dan-Dan

another thing that worrys me is that we took £200 out of her account today , which we have been doing after we sorted all her finances out a few months ago , as we want to try to get as much towards the funeral as possible and we now have about £1000 of our money and £600 of grandmas to out towards its (saved over time in an ISA in her name)

should i just make that the last deduction out of her account and give new account details to the utitlites asap ? so that there is minimal movemnet on her account until we get a death certificate to the bank...?

RAS

Please put the funeral money back in her account. The bank will pay this directly to the funeral director in receipt of an invoice from them.

Please do also go onto the main forum here as there are a number of low cost but perfectly decent funerals (the biggest saving is using your own cars instead of limos and a basic coffin.

troubleinparadise

Firstly, I'm sorry to hear of the sad loss of your Grandma - a kindly release perhaps, but a shock nonetheless.

If the bank account is closed (which it will be by the bank on being informed of the death of Grandma) no utility payments will be made. The bank account will not become overdrawn by activity after her death. The executor will have to settle the utility accounts and claim back those receipted payments after Probate has been granted. Some companies will wait till after probate - it is worth asking.

The POA also ceases, the bank card is invalid.

Your circumstances are slightly muddled by actually sharing the house, as utility bills being incurred are no longer from the (shared) use of the house but only by yourselves; but at the same time you are ensuring the protection of the asset for the co-beneficiary. Take the meter readings for clarity of who owes what.

The question of "who pays?" - it's the executor(s) - (only the funeral bills can be paid from the account of the deceased) - and then claimed back later from the estate. So it is as vital to keep receipts etc and act transparently as it was for when you were POA.

I hadn't realised in advance of becoming an executor that this was the case, but I was fortunate that there was a life assurance policy that paid out on death which funded those bills until I could claim back later after probate. And that also includes IHT if there isn't much in the way of cash accounts held by the deceased. Which in itself is a burden that I don't think is always considered when appointing executors.

Hopefully the responses on this thread have helped to clarify some of your questions, if not allayed all your worries. I'm sure you are exhausted at the end of a miserable day. Take care of yourselves.

Dan-Dan

RAS wrote: »

Please put the funeral money back in her account. The bank will pay this directly to the funeral director in receipt of an invoice from them.

Please do also go onto the main forum here as there are a number of low cost but perfectly decent funerals (the biggest saving is using your own cars instead of limos and a basic coffin.

Hi RAS


The funerla is already booked with the same firm who did our grandad and my mum , its going to be between £3000/3500
They are open about the fact we dont have the money and will work something out with us at a later date,they know the house is the only assett and are willing to wait for the estate to be settled to be paid

Dan-Dan

if barclays close the account after seeing the death certificate , how will any residual pension be paid in (even though we know it will be claimed aback again)

will it just bounce back to payer ?

i am clear now that we need a standard basic account that can pay all the household expenses , set up and active ready for when we call the utlity companys , but i am still confused about house insurance

can we take this in our own name effective march 11th ?

troubleinparadise

Dan-Dan wrote: »

if barclays close the account after seeing the death certificate , how will any residual pension be paid in (even though we know it will be claimed aback again)

will it just bounce back to payer ?

i am clear now that we need a standard basic account that can pay all the household expenses , set up and active ready for when we call the utlity companys , but i am still confused about house insurance

can we take this in our own name effective march 11th ?

When you go to register the death, they now have a system that informs DWP along with others, which should automatically sort out what happens with pension etc. DWP may send you a form to fill in if there are payments due or money to be repaid. I was sent a cheque payable to me to cover the small amount owing. If there is an overpayment, they will request it back again.

As you have no death certificate until that time, you cannot officially inform the bank about that; but do not use the account in the meantime. You are joint executors, and you have to act legally and above board (as much as for the trust with your co-executor) who might query where cash has gone if there have been withdrawals - that's why it is so vital to keep all receipts. Maybe have a notebook where you keep track of bills and payments etc - your heads will be all over the place just now.

The house insurers need to be told of the death, as again the policy is nullified by the death of the named policy holder. However, it is my understanding that the cost of the new policy (in your executor's name) can be claimed from the estate (in due course) until the house is sold or transferred into the names of the beneficiary/ies.

getmore4less

Here is what I would do.

Transfer ALL utilities and council tax ASAP it will make things simpler long term.

Use readings from DOD or now it makes little difference.

As you intend living there this is perfectly all right as long as the executors agree(which you do and executors don't need probate to agree this).

This shuts down the estate in/outs for the house an unnecessary complications to deal with this through the estate.

Change the house insurance to your names you have the benificial interest in the place as executors and benifitiaries so can do this.

You then do the normal stuff(which will be come clear over time).

Once you have settled the basics you can look at selling or buying out the brother(do you want to stay living there?).


Just keep the brother in the loop but looks like he is onside anyway.

Dan-Dan

thank you so much for that post , we dont wnat to live here as now its a house with no history for us , and its time to move on and set our first family home up together.

My bro is really good , he and i are on the same paget etc , but your advice (as is everone elses) has been abslutley invaluable , i know e have all been through grief , i know theres worse grief than a grandma (even tho she was my surrogat mum as she died when i was little) but it still means so much that people wnat to help and advise , it really does

i have had a couple of wines , so me and hubby are just going to have a bit of a cry now and we will both reread this thread in full tomorrow with a clear head

thank you all , its appreciated

Wife and Dan-Dan x

Sneezy

Dan-Dan wrote: »

It doesnt seem to matter that she `lived a long life` and other such nice things , when it happens , it seems just as painful as if it was a younger healthier person

This is exactly true - my grandad died two weeks ago, he was 91 too and it was a complete shock when he was rushed in.

The only thing I would suggest is getting a few copies of the death certificate (this will make it easier when you have to send off for things.

There is also a fund for funeral payments (link here)