Not sure what to do.

evergreen

My mother-in-law (who was a widow) has recently passed away. My husband who is an only child and I both had lasting power of attorney, as his mum had dementia. There is no will. My poor husband is himself very ill and has terminal cancer and isn't well enough to do whatever is necessary. I have always dealt with his mums finances but I know power of attorney stops now she has passed away. Can anyone advise me what I need to do. I will inform bank and pension people she has passed but what else should I do? I would appreciate any guidance. Thank you.

Yorkshireman99

Do you know roughly what her estate is worth and is there a property involved?

evergreen

No property. A few thousand pounds, not much.

Yorkshireman99

Unless her bank are one that require probate then just use the Tell us once service. The Stickies on this thread will tell you more. From what you say there are unlikely to be any debts

nom_de_plume

Hopefully the bank will release any funds on sight of the death certificate.

Keep_pedalling

Do you have POA for your husband?

evergreen

No I haven't got POA for my husband. We set them up for his mum ages ago. Do I need to get one?

Keep_pedalling

evergreen wrote: »

No I haven't got POA for my husband. We set them up for his mum ages ago. Do I need to get one?

It would allow you to act for him, so may have made this a lot easier, but a LPA takes 8 weeks minimun to put in place, which is why we set ours up a good few years ago even though we had no immediate need to do so.

I would ring up the bereavement department of his aunts bank for advice on how to proceed. If nessasary an ordinary POA could be put into place to allow you to act for your husband on this specific issue.

Eviesmummy

Contact the bank and explain that you are dealing with the estate. I have dealt with all the financial aspects of my Husbands great aunts estate, and had no issues that I'm not actually named as an executor or a beneficiary. All banks have limits on how much they will pay out without probate, Barclays is £50,000 the post office is £10,000 etc, it sounds as if you will be below the limit. In that case all I've needed to do is inform them of the death, usually it's better over the phone because that gives an immediate reference number and things move more quickly, and then they post out information and forms for you to fill in and send back - along with a copy of the death certificate, letter of indemnity, copies of your ID and details of the account that you would like the money paid into. I had difficulties tracing aunts accounts as she'd been in care for a long time prior to her death, but once I found them the rest has been relatively quick and easy.