Brother deceased, no will, how to get his money out

londonTiger

Hi My brother receantly passed away and left a very modest amount of money in his current account. (£900).

It was not a joint account, he is married with children.

He has no will and based on some basic google research I have gathered that having a power of attorney makes this very easy, but getting a power of attorney drafted can cost a sizable chunk of money.

first question, is there a very cheap way of getting my brothers money out to his widow and children?

Like as in free.

Secondly, my brother was a cab driver and paid a desposit for the card payment machine. I have access to his email and have a copy of the deposit receipt. I have also dropped off the payment machine to them and they have signed a delivery note.

However after promising to pay into his widows account immediately in a few days they have got back to me saying that they need to see power of attorney, saying that's the law of the land.

I say this is baloney, in any case what would be the best way to extract money?

colsten

POA is no longer in force when a person has passed away. All inheritance arrangements made by the deceased or their legal representative before the date of death, will apply, unless they are illegal.

mgdavid

you need to post this on the Deaths, funerals and probate board, where you will learn all about it.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=217

londonTiger

mgdavid wrote: »

you need to post this on the Deaths, funerals and probate board, where you will learn all about it.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=217

thanks, i did skim the board before posting but did not find a relevna forum, unless that is a subforum that is hard to find. Can you report my OP so it gets spotted by mods I cant report my own post.

jonesMUFCforever

The wife needs to contact the bank - making a bereavement interview - take the death certificate and ID with her - tell the bank there is no will.
The bank should then pay out immediately (although some will send the documentation to a specialist department) - this will cost her nothing.

There is no need to get a grant of representation in this case if the account only holds £900.

londonTiger

thanks, the cab company are being !!!!!!. they're the party that put the idea of power of attorney - as they demanded it. I took their word that such a thing exists (over a deceased persons estate) and assumed they knew what they were talking about. But if colsten is correct there is no such thing as power of attorney for a dead person. Indeed all the google searches results suggested POA is for a live person who is unable to make decisions for themselves.

There are administrator/executor of estate of a deceased person.

Thrugelmir

londonTiger wrote: »

thanks, the cab company are being !!!!!!.

Hopefully that's not your attitude towards them. :eek:

xylophone

https://www.gov.uk/inherits-someone-dies-without-will

Dird

Perhaps they'll be more willing to refund the amount to your brother's bank account? Then you could take it out with the other £900

Goldiegirl

The Cab company are talking baloney, as, you rightly say POA, relates to a living person, not a dead one.

However, you won't get anywhere with them if you get angry with them and call them names - both sides need to work together to resolve this.

I'd suggest a visit to their offices, to explain that POA relates to a living person, and ceases when a person dies. Take the death certificate with you, to confirm the death, and ask nicely if they will be willing to release the money to the widow. In fact, I think it'd probably be best if the widow does all this, rather than you.

However, at the end of the day, they can still insist on a grant of representation - if this is the case, the best thing to do is to approach the local probate office, to ask for advice how this can be done without a will. This can be done without using a solicitor, so doesn't have to cost the earth.

getmore4less

Goldiegirl wrote: »

However, at the end of the day, they can still insist on a grant of representation - if this is the case, the best thing to do is to approach the local probate office, to ask for advice how this can be done without a will. This can be done without using a solicitor, so doesn't have to cost the earth.

Depends on the size of the estate, a grant for a small estate(<£5k) is free, £10 to do the oath at solicitors, free at the court

IF larger estate then the fee is £215.