Letters of Administration - when required

Spivved1987

My brother died very recently. He was intestate, but was childless and single. My sister and I are the surviving next of kin. He did not own property, and all his assets will probably total £25,000 maximum, including about £10,500 in Premium Bonds.

I am totally unable to find a definitive answer as to whether I need to get a Grant of Administration. All sites, even the Government's, use terms like 'may need', 'could be required' etc. Is there no guide as to thresholds?

Am I best advised to shell out the £200 required just to be on the safe side? I administered my mother's estate about twenty years ago; similar circumstances in that there was no will but finances were very straightforward, cash assets a bit smaller c£8,000 after insurance policies paid out. In that case there seemed to be no requirement for Letters, and everything went smoothly.

I am an accountant and quite capable of doing the administration and calculations, but I would like some definitive rules to follow!

Mojisola

As the premium bond holding is over £5000, you'll need to get a Grant of Administration before they will hand over the money.

g6jns_2

Spivved1987 wrote: »

My brother died very recently. He was intestate, but was childless and single. My sister and I are the surviving next of kin. He did not own property, and all his assets will probably total £25,000 maximum, including about £10,500 in Premium Bonds.

I am totally unable to find a definitive answer as to whether I need to get a Grant of Administration. All sites, even the Government's, use terms like 'may need', 'could be required' etc. Is there no guide as to thresholds?

Am I best advised to shell out the £200 required just to be on the safe side? I administered my mother's estate about twenty years ago; similar circumstances in that there was no will but finances were very straightforward, cash assets a bit smaller c£8,000 after insurance policies paid out. In that case there seemed to be no requirement for Letters, and everything went smoothly.

I am an accountant and quite capable of doing the administration and calculations, but I would like some definitive rules to follow!

|You will need need to get probate using LOA. National Savings will not release their funds without for amount that large. Also the bank are unlikely to release funds without it.

Spivved1987

Trouble is, NS&I Guidance - I've got it in front of me ! - says if the holding is over £5,000, you 'MAY' need etc etc. Which was the whole point of my original posting.

I'll try and speak to somebody at NS&I tomorrow.

My brother's bank (verbal interview) said 'Hmm, probably be able to release that without probate....' Note the 'probably' !

Absurd.

getmore4less

What you do is make enquiries on all the assets and how you go about liquidation/ transfer/cashing in.

get the forms they need filling in

if any require the grant then that's the time to get it.

g6jns_2

Spivved1987 wrote: »

Trouble is, NS&I Guidance - I've got it in front of me ! - says if the holding is over £5,000, you 'MAY' need etc etc. Which was the whole point of my original posting.

I'll try and speak to somebody at NS&I tomorrow.

My brother's bank (verbal interview) said 'Hmm, probably be able to release that without probate....' Note the 'probably' !

Absurd.

My personal experience with them is that they have turned pedantry into an art form. To repay my late mother's premium bond holding of £5 they insisted on an original copies of probate and the death certificate. For £5,000 they will probably want the application signed in blood!

Spivved1987

Well, as it turned out NS&I paid the amount without Probate. I suppose this was because the default intestacy rules took care of everything.