Mystery cheques

Helpmeoutofthismess

Hi, my father sadly passed away recently and I am trying to sort out his affairs. The bank printed off several years worth of bank statements to go through and I see he was writing fairly substantial cheques every month up till 2013.

I wondered is there any way I can find out who the cheques were made out to in case it was to an account I have not found yet? Maybe the cheques were written for some sort of service provided but it seems very out of character!

H x

Yorkshireman99

Helpmeoutofthismess wrote: »

Hi, my father sadly passed away recently and I am trying to sort out his affairs. The bank printed off several years worth of bank statements to go through and I see he was writing fairly substantial cheques every month up till 2013.

I wondered is there any way I can find out who the cheques were made out to in case it was to an account I have not found yet? Maybe the cheques were written for some sort of service provided but it seems very out of character!

H x

The only way is to ask the banks for the cancelled cheques. However it is unlikely to affect probate.

RADDERS

You should be able to get copies of the cheques as they are usually microfiched when paid by the bank.

getmore4less

If they were gifts they will need further research.

Helpmeoutofthismess

getmore4less wrote: »

If they were gifts they will need further research.

It's only a small estate, no property, just a sticks and shares ISA. Are gifts only an issue for IHT?

Margot123

When you say 'fairly substantial', what percentage of his bank balance, at the time, would it represent? He may have paid into a life insurance policy or similar.
Have you conducted a search of 'lost/dormant' bank/building society accounts? The cheques may also have been paid into a savings account.

getmore4less

Helpmeoutofthismess wrote: »

It's only a small estate, no property, just a sticks and shares ISA. Are gifts only an issue for IHT?

They form part of the estate if less than 7 years old so depends how much there is on how hard you look for gifts.
If no where near the nil rate band and transfers/gifts from that far back are not going to take it over the prudent thing to do is not waist too much time accounting for every £ going out of accounts.

Helpmeoutofthismess

Margot123 wrote: »

When you say 'fairly substantial', what percentage of his bank balance, at the time, would it represent? He may have paid into a life insurance policy or similar.
Have you conducted a search of 'lost/dormant' bank/building society accounts? The cheques may also have been paid into a savings account.[/QUOTE

I guess my idea of fairly substantial is probably lower than most people's, it was around £300 a month. The payments were made nearly every month through 2012 and 2013, I will need to see if the bank are able to print of any further back. my dad seemed to do all of his business with one bank but it's a good idea to try the lost account search, I will definitely try that.

H x

Gingernutty

Are the chequebook stubs not available?

Yorkshireman99

getmore4less wrote: »

If they were gifts they will need further research.

Unless the estate value is into IHT territory and there is evidence there are gifts then there is no poiint.

Keep_pedalling

getmore4less wrote: »

They form part of the estate if less than 7 years old so depends how much there is on how hard you look for gifts.
If no where near the nil rate band and transfers/gifts from that far back are not going to take it over the prudent thing to do is not waist too much time accounting for every £ going out of accounts.

Unless the OPs father made any other such gifts in this period most if not all these payments would be covered by his annual £3000 allowance. If for example the payments started in Jan 12 and finished in Den 13 the whole lot would be covered by the 11-12, 12-13, and 13-14 allowances, so could be ignored for probate purposes.