Just a word of warning....

maxmycardagain

Biggles wrote: »

They will hand it over - but only to the executor (not the deceased's husband). Has the executor asked for it? You keep avoiding these questions about the will and the executor.

The 85 year old husband is the executor as far as i know

colsten

maxmycardagain wrote: »

The 85 year old husband is the executor as far as i know

So is he or isn't he? And if he is, does he know what the rights and the duties of an executor are? If not, this may help: http://www.ageuk.org.uk/Documents/EN-GB/Information-guides/AgeUKIL8_How_to_be_an_executor_inf.pdf?dtrk=true

maxmycardagain

Doesnt matter if he had been Atilla the Hun, Thor or Godzilla, Santander aint paying out

maxmycardagain

Santander (the branch) have no idea what to do under the new regs as of april, except that the will and probate wasnt being accepted due the the new goalposts, i mean regs..... as the widower actually went into the bank i think he must be the executer/trustee whatever

colsten

maxmycardagain wrote: »

Santander (the branch) have no idea what to do under the new regs as of april, except that the will and probate wasnt being accepted due the the new goalposts, i mean regs..... as the widower actually went into the bank i think he must be the executer/trustee whatever

Going into a bank doesn't make anyone an executor of a will. A trustee isn't the same as an executor.

maxmycardagain wrote: »

Doesnt matter if he had been Atilla the Hun, Thor or Godzilla, Santander aint paying out

I did try to help but if this response is the best you can do, there's probably nothing anyone can do to help you. I'll leave you to it then.

masonic

maxmycardagain wrote: »

(I bet they dont tell ISA investors how hard it might be to get the money back when they are signing them up)

I'd imagine many elderly customers would be insulted if they went in to open an ISA and the conversation was manoeuvred around to what happens when they die.

bowlhead99

maxmycardagain wrote: »

as the widower actually went into the bank i think he must be the executer/trustee whatever

It still sounds like you don't know the full facts, and yet you've made 10 posts disparaging Santander. SHAME ON YOU MAXMYCARDAGAIN

Everyone else on the thread is patiently attempting to explain to you why banks are well within their rights to go through a variety of internal procedures to establish where the cash should be paid after someone has died and the dead person's assets are not insignificant. If they did not have procedures to deal with that sort of situation, nobody would trust them with their money.

The thread has not put me off saving with Santander. It's just a slightly sad tale of a family who have paid a decent chunk of cash for a solicitor to obtain probate for them, when if someone in the family had the spare time and been trusted by the rest of the family, they could have probably worked out how to save most of the £2000 or 15x£200 or whatever actual number was spent on solicitor fees.

If Santander now have the documentation required, I expect the heir will get control of the assets soon.

maxmycardagain

If Santander are so right why would they hand over a £20K ISA on the production of a will alone, but cos its £25K they wont?...and havent

over to you

maxmycardagain

The widower is 85 !!!!!!, is Santander holding out till he falls off HIS perch?

bowlhead99

maxmycardagain wrote: »

If Santander are so right why would they hand over a £20K ISA on the production of a will alone, but cos its £25K they wont?...and havent

over to you

If the ISA contained 50 pence, there is little risk to them in handing it over after a cursory review of some basic documentation. If the ISA contained a million pounds, you would hope they take pretty serious steps to verify exactly who was responsible for it or entitled to it.

So, at some point between those extremes, they will stop asking for basic documentation and have ask for more serious documentary evidence. What should that point be? £25,000 is a sum of money which is greater than the median net household income in this country. In other words, if you could somehow line up all households in a row, in order of their household income and go knocking on the doors asking how much money they bring in, you would have knocked on more than half the doors in the country before you got to the first one which has over £25,000 coming in every year.

It seems reasonable to me that you would want to take more care with that sum of money than you would if the sum of money was just £1.

As others have mentioned, it is actually quite straightforward to obtain the probate / letters of administration documentation. That process is set by law and not by Santander. Santander have simply picked a £ figure above which they want to see the 'proper' grant of representation documentation rather than a photocopy of a document which claims to be the will.

Over to you?