LOA/Probate/Grant of admininstration

noonesperfect

My OH's relative passed away without leaving a will. He had no assets other than cash in the bank. (less than £10K)
As my OH is possibly his only living blood relative (there is his half sibling whom we have been unable to track down), it has fallen to him to deal with everything.
Once the funeral has been paid for, and any debts to DWP etc paid there will still be in excess of the £5000 exclusion limit so we think he will have to apply for Grant of Administration but we are not sure ??


Also I am given to understand he may be able to *offset reasonable expenses such as fuel or phone calls. If the figure I saw quoted of 45p per mile fuel allowance is correct then there would be a lot to claim back as his relative lived almost 300 miles away. (i.e.£135)
He hoped to be "refunded" fuel costs, but this is a lot higher.

Yorkshireman99

noonesperfect wrote: »

My OH's relative passed away without leaving a will. He had no assets other than cash in the bank. (less than £10K)
As my OH is possibly his only living blood relative (there is his half sibling whom we have been unable to track down), it has fallen to him to deal with everything.
Once the funeral has been paid for, and any debts to DWP etc paid there will still be in excess of the £5000 exclusion limit so we think he will have to apply for Grant of Administration but we are not sure ??


Also I am given to understand he may be able to *offset reasonable expenses such as fuel or phone calls. If the figure I saw quoted of 45p per mile fuel allowance is correct then there would be a lot to claim back as his relative lived almost 300 miles away. (i.e.£135)
He hoped to be "refunded" fuel costs, but this is a lot higher.

The need fo probate depends as much as anything if the bank requires it to release the money. 45p per mile is the HMR&C rate for casual mileage claims. To claim it you would need to justify the visits. To administer an intestate estate you need to make reasonable efforts to track down any living beneficiaries under the intestacy rules.

noonesperfect

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

The need fo probate depends as much as anything if the bank requires it to release the money. 45p per mile is the HMR&C rate for casual mileage claims. To claim it you would need to justify the visits. To administer an intestate estate you need to make reasonable efforts to track down any living beneficiaries under the intestacy rules.

Thanks Yorkshireman. He has only needed to go there and back once - to the hospital in which his relative died and to the care home the relative lived in and collect any belongings etc. He had also hoped to register the death down there, but ultimately had to do it up here in Yorkshire as he could not get an appointment that day.


We have tried electoral rolls but without success. Both in the area his sibling was last known and other counties besides. So have drawn a blank and don't know how else to search...

Yorkshireman99

noonesperfect wrote: »

Thanks Yorkshireman. He has only needed to go there and back once - to the hospital in which his relative died and to the care home the relative lived in and collect any belongings etc. He had also hoped to register the death down there, but ultimately had to do it up here in Yorkshire as he could not get an appointment that day.


We have tried electoral rolls but without success. Both in the area his sibling was last known and other counties besides. So have drawn a blank and don't know how else to search...

May need to use a tracing agency but this will cost. Have you checked the registers to see if the sibling has died?

chesky

If you know the half sibling's name, you could try advertising in a local paper or website.

noonesperfect

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

May need to use a tracing agency but this will cost. Have you checked the registers to see if the sibling has died?

Registers? Do you mean we could ring our local registry office and they could tell us? We don't know which county otherwise.


The subject of siblings came up when he was registering the relative's death...and the fact he didn't know whether said half sibling was alive/dead or incarcerated came up, but it wasn't pursued by the registrar at the time. (incidentally, the sibling might be in a mental institution )

Yorkshireman99

noonesperfect wrote: »

Registers? Do you mean we could ring our local registry office and they could tell us? We don't know which county otherwise.


The subject of siblings came up when he was registering the relative's death...and the fact he didn't know whether said half sibling was alive/dead or incarcerated came up, but it wasn't pursued by the registrar at the time. (incidentally, the sibling might be in a mental institution )

All births, marriages and deaths in England and Walws are held by the General Register Office. You can search the indices and then apply for, at a fee, for a copy of the certificate. If you are administering an intestae estate you need to make sure that you have indentified all the descendents that might be entitled to a share of the estate. Not an easy task but you need to make reasonable enquiries.

noonesperfect

General Register Office it is then.