lasting Power of Attorney

Jonah61

I have Lasting Power of Attorney, this was not registered with the bank at the time. I told the bank of the death and they froze the account, even though I mentioned that I have power of attorney. I have been told that I do not need to go to probate. The person has left a will with me being the main recipient. I am confused so do I need to go to probate or can I continue to manage affairs.If that is the case, how do I deal with the bank? Also can I instruct a solicitor to transfer the deeds of the deceased property?

pmlindyloo

Jonah61 wrote: »

I have Lasting Power of Attorney, this was not registered with the bank at the time. I told the bank of the death and they froze the account, even though I mentioned that I have power of attorney. I have been told that I do not need to go to probate. The person has left a will with me being the main recipient. I am confused so do I need to go to probate or can I continue to manage affairs.If that is the case, how do I deal with the bank? Also can I instruct a solicitor to transfer the deeds of the deceased property?

Lasting Power of Attorney ends when the person dies.

The person who deals with the estate is the executor of the will. Are you the executor?

Have a read of this

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/relationships_e/relationships_death_and_wills_e/what_to_do_after_a_death.htm

and click on all the internal links.

If there is a will and there is property involved then you will probably need probate unless you were joint owners of the property.

Come back if you have any further questions.

BobQ

Just to add.....

It is normal practice to freeze the account of a deceased person when the bank have evidence of a death. It is also illegal to make transactions on an account of a deceased person with or without a POA (which as noted is invalid after death).

If you are not the executor of the will you should not do any "managing affairs" without consulting the executor. If you are the executor you should not worry about things, you can ask a solicitor to help you (eg by dealing with house transfer.)

G6JNS

pmlindyloo wrote: »

Lasting Power of Attorney ends when the person dies.

The person who deals with the estate is the executor of the will. Are you the executor?

Have a read of this

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/relationships_e/relationships_death_and_wills_e/what_to_do_after_a_death.htm

and click on all the internal links.

If there is a will and there is property involved then you will probably need probate unless you were joint owners of the property.

Come back if you have any further questions.

The POA lapses upon death. If there is a property involved then probate is necessary because of the value of the estate. Are you the executor? Unless you are the executor you have no right to administer the estate. The executor can instruct a solicitor but the transfer should be quite straightforward once probate has been obtained.

Savvy_Sue

BobQ wrote: »

It is normal practice to freeze the account of a deceased person when the bank have evidence of a death. It is also illegal to make transactions on an account of a deceased person with or without a POA (which as noted is invalid after death).

Unless it's a joint account. If it's a joint account, then it normally passes to the survivor.

I know it's not always an ideal solution and has some potentially major disadvantages, but when Dad died Mum set up joint accounts with two of my siblings. One of those accounts is still being used to pay utility bills etc while we sell the house. My siblings don't regard the money as 'theirs'.

Crabapple

It all comes down to who is the Executor of the Will. If it's you then you can proceed to organise things, if not, you need to leave it to the person who is.

The bank has properly frozen the account and as the others have said, a POA ends on death so you can't use it.

The bank telling you that you don't need probate - well, that's not in their power to tell you. They may mean that the amount in the bank account is small and below the threshold at which they would require probate to release it.

However if there is a property then probate will almost certainly be needed so that document should also be used to close the bank account in due course.