Abbey National "Action Saver", where to begin?

muddlemand

Clearing out old cupboards, I found a passbook for an Abbey National Action Saver, most recent entry 23 years ago! This account was taken out by my parents-in-law for my eldest son when he was born. I knew (and had forgotten) about some saver they had opened for him, but I don't think I ever knew which bank or account it was. I have no idea how the passbook ended up in my house rather than theirs.

I cannot get in touch with them - they are now my EX parents-in-law, we haven't spoken for nearly twenty years, and I know at least one of them has dementia. A further complication is that my eldest is no longer alive. I'm next of kin but it was my ex that took the role of executor for probate.

I am on speaking terms with my ex but I'd rather do as much as I can before asking him. One of the reasons we are no longer married is his habitual lying about money, including "vanished" savings accounts that turned up when he wanted to spend from them (as well as the predictable credit card debt etc)! Also I can imagine him deciding it's too much hassle to look into this.

1. I am next of kin but my name isn't on the account, only my son's and my ex-husband's parents. As next of kin can I, legally, be told anything? If not I suppose I'll have to get my ex to deal with it.

2. Do I just go to Santander and ask them to find out? It's possible my in-laws closed the account at some time, though this was never said and it's also possible they forgot they'd opened it.

3. Better to contact the branch (the Santander branch is still at the same address) or use the online contact form from my own Santander current account? I haven't had good experiences with Santander answering questions in general, and this is more complicated than your average question. I'd rather avoid phoning (usually frustrating and always so time-consuming!) but I'll phone if the "whole world" tells me it's likely to be the best/simplest way (by whole world, I mean you Moneysavers of course!). This is why I'm posting here before trying Santander, their communication has been unreliable in my experience.

4. The balance in the passbook is £350 - in 1995. I expect it stopped gaining interest before long, but I think the £350 is still effectively my son's, in other words part of his estate? Am I right about this? (Assuming the account wasn't closed.)

I have searched on this forum and the whole internet, but apart from PPI can't find anything about Abbey National accounts.

EarthBoy

Being next of kin doesn't in itself give you any rights. If your ex-husband was the executor then he has the legal authority to act for your son's estate, and you don't have any authority, unfortunately.

Depending on the legal status of the account, the money will either belong to your former parents in law, in which case they can claim it, or to your son's estate, in which case it's for your ex-husband to deal with.

Reaper

Here is a write up from somebody with a passbook for exactly the same account as you. It sounds straightforward to get the money back:
https://www.lovemoney.com/news/18327/how-i-traced-my-old-abbey-savings-account

Howvever who owns it is a bit trickier. What building societies used to do (I don't know if they still do) is show <GRANDPARENT'S NAME> RE <SON's NAME>
Normally that meant it was still still their money, taxed as their money, and they were free to keep it or gift it to the son if they wished but with no obligation to go through with it if they changed their mind. In which case only they can retrieve it.

If however it was set up in trust then it is the son's money and only your ex can access it as executor.

bowlhead99

The bottom line is that the account, if it still exists, beneficially belongs to the estate of your son and not to you or your ex or your parents-in-law.

You mention that your ex took the role of 'executor' for probate. However if there was no will and the assets were being distributed under the rules of intestacy, they were not the 'executor' of the will but the 'administrator' of the estate. And if the son didn't have property such as a house that needed a sales contract to dispose of it - just personal posessions such as a car or a box of toys or low value bank accounts, and didn't have debts in excess of their assets, the person dealing with the estate as administrator would not have needed to spend time and money applying for Letters of Administration to allow themselves to formally represent their son's estate when collecting in their assets.

So for example if your son died as a child and without a will, it's quite likely that your Ex didn't actually spend time and money applying to court for letters of administration, and simply handled the affairs of the estate producing copies of death certificate and proof of ID when required. Whereas if your son was an adult with more complexity in their life, it was perhaps more formal and the court has officially granted power to your ex as executor or administrator.

Assuming your ex is not the official executor/administrator of the estate, because they didn't apply for a grant of representation and just dealt with it informally as parent, there is nothing to stop you, as parent, providing suitable ID and death certficate and collecting in the money for the estate, so that you can deal with it under the rules of intestacy (if there was no surviving spouse, civil partner or child of your son then the £350 should ultimately be split between you and his other parent).

Santander have a dedicated bereavement team and easier to go to them rather than to the branch https://www.santander.co.uk/uk/what-to-do-when-someone-dies No point using an online contact form for your own personal account because tracing and collecting the assets of a dead person is nothing to do with your own personal account.

The wrinkle is - as others pointed out - that the grandparents were trustees of the account (notwithstanding your adult son could now have demanded they give him the contents or add him as a signatory to the account had he still been around) and having identified that the account still exists with a non-zero balance, depending on their policies the bank may say that unfortunately they will only deal with the named account holders, who are not dead, and are not you. But you don't know until you ask, and small amounts of money tend to fly around banks without as much scrutiny as large ones, and you are only (initially) trying to confirm the account exists rather than take its contents.

The bereavement specialists in banks are usually pretty sensitive and helpful (including tracing old accounts which have moved banks or branches or brand names) so just go ahead and call them on their dedicated number and provide all the relevant ID and see where it gets you. It might identify that the account was emptied and closed years ago, or it might identify that they will deal only with the grandparents or the parent who had Probate / LoA.

But if they will tell you the account still exists even if they won't deal with you, then you can tell your ex that you want half of whatever's in it and take them to small claims court if they don't properly collect in and distribute the rest of the estate.

To check if your ex formally got a grant of representation as executor or as administrators you can search at https://www.gov.uk/search-will-probate as if there was a will, only the executors should deal with collecting in and distributing the estate. If your son was a child when he passed, there won't be a will and if no major assets, no need for anyone to have got the court to grant them powers of representation to go collecting in his assets.

If it eventually comes down to the bank not releasing funds to anyone other than the trustee of the account or named executor you would have to go through your Ex of course to get them or their relatives to release the proceeds back to the estate (and to you, if you are one of the joint beneficiaries of the estate).

Alexland

bowlhead99 wrote: »

Assuming your ex is not the official executor/administrator of the estate, because they didn't apply for a grant of representation and just dealt with it informally as parent, there is nothing to stop you, as parent, providing suitable ID and death certficate and collecting in the money for the estate, so that you can deal with it under the rules of intestacy (if there was no surviving spouse, civil partner or child of your son then the £350 should ultimately be split between you and his other parent).

I would certainly try this first - I wouldn't mention anything about having split with your partner as it may make things more complicated. Although if the money is still there and they allow you access then I guess you should share it.

Alex.

jimjames

I'd also bear in mind that although the passbook still exists it's possible that the account was closed some time ago especially if your ex may have been receiving paperwork about it

aj23_2

I'd have thought you'd need power of attorney.

badger09

aj23 wrote: »

I'd have thought you'd need power of attorney.

?

Who would require power of attorney, and for whom?:cool:

Brynsam

Post it to your ex and let him deal with it.

Dox

It must have brought back some incredibly painful memories. Quietly disposing of the passbook might be the least upsetting option for you, instead of getting deeply into something where the money isn't going to help your eldest son - and doesn't belong to you.

muddlemand

deleted post , sorry