Cheques in name of deceased

ericonabike

I am acting as executor for my late mother-in-law's estate. Probate has been applied for but not yet received. I have now received a cheque from Severn Trent for a refund of water charges, but it is made out in MIL's name. Will I be able to pay this into my account once probate is received? Or do I need to have it made out to me?

LutonGirl

Sorry to hear of your loss. When my Dad died my Sister and I had to open an Executor Account to deal with just such things. I bank with FD and they don't offer this service, but my Sis banks with Barclays and they do. Enquire at your bank and see if they can offer you an Executor Account.

dzug1

You may be able to persuade Severn Trent to make it payable to you personally - either now or after probate.

Tuesday_Tenor

Agree with LG.

It's not a good idea to be using your personal account for the estate business. It's not illegal to do so, assuming you have excellent records that will allow you to produce the estate accounts of assets received, debts paid and how the estate is distributed. However, it will be MUCH clearer and easier for you if you keep the funds separate from your own.

Also, although this may not apply to you: If YOUR personal accounts need to be checked for any reason in the next few years (benefits, paying for care home) then you need to be clear about inputs to the account that are NOT your personal income, although on a bank statement they look as though they are.

Mixing your personal money and estate money is just messy and unnecessary. Better to keep separate in an executor's account.

When my sister and I were joint executors (and the only 2 beneficiaries) we found that refunds came is a variety of names, some to 'estate of XXX', some in OUR personal names. While 99% of all funding went through the Executors Account, we also kept a spreadsheet record of the other 1% of 'bits': payments made by each of us (probate fee, utility bills etc) and payments received by each of us (cash sale of furniture, utility refunds etc). We called it 'Petty Cash', for want to a better word. At the end, I'd slightly gained in the Petty Cash records and my sister was slightly out of pocket so the final distribution was adjusted accordingly.

SevenOfNine

Refunds all came in the name of my Mother, as we requested from everyone at the time (she was NoK & Estate Administrator).

All income & expenditure was passed through her personal bank a/c (refunds to DWP etc & income from energy, mobile, insurance, rent overpayment). Nothing came as a lone cheque, everything had accompanying letters specifying payment or debt.

I set up a spreadsheet cross referencing with the paperwork so it was crystal clear what went in/out of the Estate.

If you are rubbish at that sort of thing then I'd definitely open an Executor's account as advised on here. Not having done this before I had no knowledge of that banking facility, next time perhaps..............

ericonabike

Thanks for all the replies. I have a dedicated account, albeit in my name, that I am using for MIL's affairs, and have set up a spreadsheet showing all incomings and outgoings. The beneficiaries are wife + our children and so I suspect the prospect of legal action is slim. Even without probate the bank had agreed to close the account and has paid the proceeds into my account. the only other income now is the refunds from utilities etc. Appreciate the point re executors account, but it seems rather a hassle to set one up just to accept a couple or three cheques from utility companies. As it seems we'd be unable to pay the cheques made out to MIL unto my account, with or without probate, I'll try to get them to make them out in my name.