Do I need to apply for Probate?

Shushannah

I have just dealt with my son's estate. He had no will and about £3500 in the bank. I was given to understand from the bank that probate wasn't required.

roxy28

madbadrob wrote: »

Unfortunately for you as there is no will you cannot legally touch that money until administration has been applied for and accepted. Dying intestate means different rules to a will and the bank should be made aware of this.

Rob

No unfortunate about it, its not my money and never will be.

Well if they are the rules thats it then lots of form filling

roxy28

Shushannah wrote: »

I have just dealt with my son's estate. He had no will and about £3500 in the bank. I was given to understand from the bank that probate wasn't required.

Was the money given with out probate or is it still pending.

roxy28

CaptainAmerica wrote: »

I have just rang the HSBC bereavement team and they have confirmed their threshold as 20k, so no probate required for the 12k in granddads account.

Madbadrob seems to differ if there is no will.

madbadrob

Probate doesnt exist when there is no will it is administration. With a will this gives legal authority to the executor to act on behalf of the deceased's last wishes and therefore the banks can see that the person has this authority. Where no will exists there is a strict set of rules of who can legally inherit the money from the deceased and before the banks can legally give this money to that person they have to have the authority which can only be gotten by applying for and being given the letters of administration.

If the bank was to give the money lets say to a son who then spent it all but the wife of the deceased was still alive she could legally sue the bank for the money they have given to the wrong person hence the banks will need to be informed that there is no will.

With a will I do believe that the bank require a death cert and a sight of the will to prove that the person they are dealing with has legal authority

Rob

madbadrob

http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/what-to-do-if-there-is-no-will

Shushannah

roxy28 wrote: »

Was the money given with out probate or is it still pending.

It was just given out, with a coroners interim death certificate.

getmore4less

If you check the forms that institutions use, not all require the grant to release funds they will do it on a disclaimer under certain amounts.

I do wish people would at least attempt to check their facts.

eg Santander will release up to 25k see section 2.c. + the other bits
(if the link works)
http://www.santander.co.uk/csgs/StaticBS?ssbinary=true&blobkey=id&SSURIsscontext=Satellite+Server&blobcol=urldata&blobheadervalue1=application%2Fpdf&blobwhere=1314014497154&SSURIsession=false&blobheadervalue2=inline%3Bfilename%3D717%5C1014%5C310114_MISC1168_SEP13_HF_V1.pdf&SSURIapptype=BlobServer&blobtable=MungoBlobs&SSURIcontainer=Default&blobheadername1=content-type&blobheadername2=Content-Disposition#satellitefragment&maxage=3600

madbadrob

I do check my facts thats the point. I work within the industry and know the pitfalls etc. The fact is the law states that any estate over 5k and under 15k and where no will survives requires a grant of administration to administer any intestate estate should financial institutions ask for such. Over 15k then letters must be obtained as a matter of fact.

Probate office will then tell you that you can miss off this if the banks dont want it. Personally the government should settle this one way or another.

Just to reiterate my point http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/for-the-public/common-legal-issues/probate/

getmore4less

madbadrob wrote: »

I do check my facts thats the point. I work within the industry and know the pitfalls etc. The fact is the law states that any estate over 5k and under 15k and where no will survives requires a grant of administration to administer any intestate estate should financial institutions ask for such. Over 15k then letters must be obtained as a matter of fact.

Probate office will then tell you that you can miss off this if the banks dont want it. Personally the government should settle this one way or another.

Just to reiterate my point http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/for-the-public/common-legal-issues/probate/

Link has no reference to £15k.

Other previous link was to a NI reference the rules are not the same there for various parts of administering estates.

The £5k limit set in the acts is per asset not per estate(a lot of places get that wrong).

Approx 50% of estates never get a grant.

The reality is that no one can be forced to apply for a grant, even the executors named in a will, if no one applies it does not happen.

separately...
Transferring assets to beneficiaries even those assets over £5k can happen as many places will allow this with a indemnity if no grant is being obtained.