Closing a deceased relative's Post Office account

xylophone

Sorry if I wasn't clear, I meant the bill for the funeral and solicitor.

You have stated that your husband's aunt's estate was very small - too small indeed to pay for a funeral.

In these circumstances, (although he may have chosen to do it),
it seems (see below) your husband did not have to pay for it?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5180077

And why was a solicitor required for a tiny estate?

TonyMMM

Banks will generally pay the funeral director straight from the account if you pass the bill to them.

What's the solicitor for ?

Eviesmummy

xylophone wrote: »

You have stated that your husband's aunt's estate was very small - too small indeed to pay for a funeral.

In these circumstances, (although he may have chosen to do it),
it seems (see below) your husband did not have to pay for it?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5180077

And why was a solicitor required for a tiny estate?

We didn't realise that. She died unexpectedly in the middle of the night, I had the nursing home on the phone in the early hours and again 6:30 am panicking, saying they had to move the body asap, they could only keep her for 6 hours and the doctor had been out and certified at 1:30am,so we had to decide on funeral directors asap.
I said that we didn't really know what was happening in terms of a funeral because we didn't think she had money to cover it, and the home manager said not to worry, she'd left a will which contained bank details "for a substantial sum" and that my husband was the only beneficiary of the money. We knew nothing of this, with the shock of her death, and never having to do anything of this nature before, we just gave the name of a local funeral director and they took over from there.
We visited the solicitor to find out about the will, having only a photocopy which just gave an account number and sort code. He then said he would trace the account and take it from there. At this point a) we didn't realise this was something we would be able to do ourselves, and b) on the word of the home assumed there would be enough to cover the cost of the funeral.
Fast forward 6 weeks later after the funeral has taken place and we have received the bill but still no word from the solicitor. Rang him only to find out that Barclays had been unable to trace the account. :eek:
We then visited Barclays ourselves, showed them the will and it turns out that the account number was 2 digits short. Having given them address details for Aunts previous address they managed to trace an old account, which had been closed more than 6 years ago, and as such they had no details other than a record of it once having existed. A lot of phone calls to government departments and waiting for information to be posted out, we eventually found the post office account that her pension was being paid into, although most of it would have gone towards paying for her care.
So we're left waiting for a small sum to be transferred from there to go towards paying for the funeral, and waiting to see if an online search for the old bank account will throw up anything just in case it was closed because it was dormant (having been linked to the old address and been unused for the 10 years she was in care), rather than her closing it herself at some point after the will was drawn up in 2002. I'm not holding my breath that there is any money coming from there though.
What a mess!

18cc

Just to agree with the above - the bank will pay funeral expenses on presentation of the bill irrespective if probate has been yet obtained or not. Same not true with solicitors fees.

xylophone

and the home manager said not to worry, she'd left a will which contained bank details "for a substantial sum"

Then was she paying her own care home fees? Or perhaps she was eligible for continuing care so didn't have to? There must have been an assessment at some stage?

xylophone

https://www.barclays.co.uk/current-accounts/dormant-lost-accounts/

Eviesmummy

xylophone wrote: »

Then was she paying her own care home fees? Or perhaps she was eligible for continuing care so didn't have to? There must have been an assessment at some stage?

No, she wasn't paying her own fees, although it's possible that she was eligible for continuing care in the later few years. She was very private right up to the end, didn't want anyone involved in her business, so her social worker dealt with all of that, it was never discussed with us despite being next of kin. We assumed that she had very little which is why we were surprised that they said that. We've since asked the home manager about that comment and she denied that she ever said it. I suspect it was said solely to get us to arrange for an undertaker to collect the body so that they weren't in breach of their 6 hour rule.

Eviesmummy

xylophone wrote: »

https://www.barclays.co.uk/current-accounts/dormant-lost-accounts/

I've filled in the lost account form that is linked to that page, that is the search that I said I am waiting for, but when we spoke to Barclays they said that because it had been closed for 6 years or more they had no details other than that the account had once existed. Grrr!
It was only through reading things online that I realised that it might be worth trying to trace it in case it had become dormant. Barclays never mentioned that possibility.

xylophone

she was very private right up to the end, didn't want anyone involved in her business, so her social worker dealt with all of that, it was never discussed with us.

The social worker should have access to the financial assessment?

Eviesmummy

xylophone wrote: »

The social worker should have access to the financial assessment?

Thanks, I'd not thought of that, I'll chase that up on Monday.