Joint assets/savings

lisyloo

FIL died in April. MIL is in a nursing home, so their marital property is empty (and she will need to start paying fees after I believe a 12-week disregard),

The property is held as joint tenants.
They also have joint savings/current accounts.

Am I correct in thinking I don't need to do anything with these as she automatically gets them via survivorship.

There is a small life insurance policy and I am seeking deputyship to claim this She is his executor and has lost capacity. His will says she gets everything.

There is nothing else of any significance (the usual worn clothing, sheets, cupboard of food).

Yorkshireman99

lisyloo wrote: »

FIL died in April. MIL is in a nursing home, so their marital property is empty (and she will need to start paying fees after I believe a 12-week disregard),

The property is held as joint tenants.
They also have joint savings/current accounts.

Am I correct in thinking I don't need to do anything with these as she automatically gets them via survivorship.

There is a small life insurance policy and I am seeking deputyship to claim this She is his executor and has lost capacity. His will says she gets everything.

There is nothing else of any significance (the usual worn clothing, sheets, cupboard of food).

Is there a will? Have you checked that the house is full insured? Who is the executor? Either probate, if there is a will, or Letters of Administration will probably be needed. Are there any bank accounts? Have the banks been notified of the death? Please read the !!!8220;stickies!!!8221; athe start of the forum.

Dox

The property passes to her automatically as she and her late husband were joint tenants.

Most joint bank accounts are held on the same principle.

You need to let the banks know what is going on and provide a copy of the death certificate. Doing so may also ease your path into deputyship in terms of dealing with the in future. They may also ask for a copy of the will, confirming she gets everything as you have said in your post.

You need to complete form DJB https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/deceased-joint-proprietor-djp and send this to the Land Registry with a copy of the death certificate.

Dox

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

Is there a will? Have you checked that the house is full insured? Who is the executor? Either probate, if there is a will, or Letters of Administration will probably be needed. Are there any bank accounts? Have the banks been notified of the death? Please read the !!!8220;stickies!!!8221; athe start of the forum.

OP has said there's a will and that the wife is the executor - also that there are bank/savings accounts.

Yorkshireman99

I missed that. Does the OP mean POA? Why would it be needed to claim the policy?

lisyloo

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

I missed that. Does the OP mean POA? Why would it be needed to claim the policy?

MIL is executor of the will. She has lost mental capacity (dimensia).
She is therefore not capable of agreeing to POA, so its now too late for that and no the life insurance company will not just handover the money (quite right).
In this situation you have to apply to the court of protection for deputyship (family have agreed I should do this).
It;s expensive and takes time but is meant to protect her.

The life insurance is small at £1866. Thats an odd amount so I;m thinking it might have been for funeral costs when they took it out 20 years ago (would now be insufficient but thas all that makes any sense).
The life insurance will not just pay out to anyone so we need deputyship from the court of protection.
That would be a pain if it were just for that but we need it to sell the flat anyway.

I don;t believe probate is require as joint property passes automatically outside the will and I thought banks accounts were the same, so there is actually very little in his estate. I just wanted to check, so thanks for that.

lisyloo

You need to let the banks know what is going on and provide a copy of the death certificate.

Can anyone talk me throughout what happens here I.e. will they need MIL to do anything? My concern is that bills still need to be paid (mainly care fees, ground rent, service charge) and they are mainly automatic I.e. DD.
MIL cannot do anything and I mean stand up, get in a car, hold a pen etc. and is not capable of understanding or managing banking anyway, so I don;t want to get in a position where accounts are frozen. Deputyship May take 6 months and I havent even applied yet (waiting for the GPS evidence).

All the money (there isnt massive amount) is being used correctly I.e. it uncontentious that she has to pay care fees, service charges, contents insurance and ground rent as shes liable for all these bills.

You need to complete form DJB https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/deceased-joint-proprietor-djp and send this to the Land Registry with a copy of the death certificate.

Is this strictly necessary if flat is being sold soon (only held up by the deputyship application). His name will come off when it;s sold, or will it make things (selling) more difficult.

da_rule

Form DJP isn!!!8217;t necessary, you can just provide a copy of the death certificate to the buyer and they will submit it along with the completed transfer deed when they register their purchase.

It does however help to protect from fraud by keeping the Land Registry updated.

buildersdaughter

There are better qualified people on here to talk you through the formal steps - and you might like to consider looking on gov.uk and Age UK for advice.
But for now, I would informally let the nursing home and the maintenance company know the situation. Ask for some leeway whilst you deal with this - they are used to it. Definitely let the flat insurers know, as you may otherwise be violating some terms. When i did this, they were very helpful.The banks' bereavement department can be helpful as well.
Good luck - it is heartbreaking to have to do this.

lisyloo

As far as I can see they will just take his name off and not stop any DD!!!8217;s so any automatic payments set up (standing orders/direct debits) should be fine as should state pension going in. So pretty much everything carries on as normal.

Yorkshireman99

lisyloo wrote: »

As far as I can see they will just take his name off and not stop any DD!!!8217;s so any automatic payments set up (standing orders/direct debits) should be fine as should state pension going in. So pretty much everything carries on as normal.

Droadly speaking yes but banks vary on the way they do it some being more pedantic than others. The OPneeds to checkwhat special terms the insurers impose assuming the house in unoccupied such as regular checks heating being on low during cold weather.