Mother in Law has died, transferring money question

One_Five_Four

Apologies if this has already been covered. I had a search but couldn't find it.

My mother-in law died yesterday in hospital after a prolonged illness.

My wife and her sister have had all the necessary powers of attorney for some time and my wife has been dealing with her mum's finances via internet banking for the last 18 months.

Having heard various tales over the years of people struggling to access their relative's bank accounts once the bank have been notified of the death, we wondered if it was permissible to transfer all her money to my wife's account (with her sister kept fully informed of what is happening to every penny) before the bank is notified of the death next week so that there is no need to then go through the bank to access money for the funeral costs, etc.

Please don't think this is some dodgy tax avoidance scheme or indeed us trying to somehow diddle the family. It's purely a straight question to see if we can reduce the amount of bureaucracy and stress (and by gum we've had plenty of the latter) over the coming weeks.

What we don't want to do is anything either illegal or remotely underhand. The sum involved is a little over £11000 if that's relevant.

We're aware that the powers of attorney have ended with her death.

Thanks as always for any help.

unforeseen

Simple answer is no. POA ceased on the death of the MIL, therefore wife has lost the authority to access the accounts.

Banks will pay for the funeral direct for you on production of the invoice.

Linton

Withdrawing the money before telling the bank of the death would be dodgy.

You may find that £11K is a sufficiently small sum for the bank to release the money immediately to the executor without probate anyway. They should be notified of the death asap.

Cheeky_Monkey

Words fail me - what on earth is the mad rush. Your wife's mother only died yesterday for goodness sake and you're already trying to get your hands on her money by deceptive means.

I imagine that as the POA has ceased, it could be considered fraud for your wife to transfer her mother's money into her own bank account whilst withholding the truth from the bank.

You don't need the money now to pay for the funeral because that's a way off and the bank will pay it for you upon receipt of the invoice.

Yorkshireman99

Withdrawing money in this way would be fraudulent. You must tell the back now. Operating the account over the internet will not have been authorised by the bank despite the POA.

Margot123

The Power of Attorney ceased immediately on death of the donor, and you will be committing a criminal offence if you use it willfully to handle the deceased's money or assets. This also applies to any third party privileges anyone may have had.

You have a legal duty to inform MIL's bank of her death and request that they immediately lock the account/s. This must be done without reasonable delay.

Now you have your answers to what I imagine you suspected anyway.

Keep_pedalling

All banks will be willing to pay funeral costs out of the deceased’s account directly to the funeral director.

Most will also release sums of that nature without the need to go through probate, for example Barclays will release amounts up to £30,000.

One_Five_Four

Thanks folks for the help and understanding. It's so difficult to think straight at present.

One_Five_Four

The bank's now been notified and it's all in the process of being sorted.

Thanks again.