Funds withdrawal of sole bank account when someone dies

Dotty15

Hi, I need some help. Is it possible when someone dies that their spouse can take out all their money from their spouses sole bank account by just producing a death certificate and their ID without Grant of Probate Letters of Administration or producing a Will to show they are Executor. Lloyds Bank allow this if the funds are under £50,000. Is this right, that means beneficiaries could lose out if the spouse is not honest. Is that really correct?

Yorkshireman99

Dotty15 wrote: »

Hi, I need some help. Is it possible when someone dies that their spouse can take out all their money from their spouses sole bank account by just producing a death certificate and their ID without Grant of Probate Letters of Administration or producing a Will to show they are Executor. Lloyds Bank allow this if the funds are under £50,000. Is this right, that means beneficiaries could lose out if the spouse is not honest. Is that really correct?

Sadly it is correct. However they wiil have to sign an indemnity. The bank will refund the money to the estate if it can show the withdrawal wrong.not all banks will do this and have different policies as to the amount.

Linton

In my non-spousal experience with NatWest to get the money you had to prove you were the executor by providing a copy of the will. These days banks seem to only require probate for very large sums of money, eg > £30K. Different banks have different rules.
If the account was in joint names all the money would pass to the surviving spouse and would not form part of the distributable estate.

Dotty15

I think that is wrong because in this case the husband hid her Will took the money and the other accounts were jointly held except this one, did not administer the estate and the beneficiaries did not get what she had left. Solicitors are not governed to register the Wills she had property and money abroad too, however, he tried to take the money abroad and the bank were not having it they said he needed letters of administration or Grant of Probate and that was a joint account they held the money is frozen now that is how it should be. Protect the money from people whether spouse or not taking what's not theirs.

SevenOfNine

Earlier this year we also easily did a non-spousal withdrawal from Lloyds. When FiL died my husband was able to withdraw all the funds & close his account, ONLY on production of the death certificate & his own ID. They practically insisted it be transferred straight into an a/c in my husband's name (joint one with me) reluctant to even let us open an executor's a/c saying it would take a few weeks & would be faster this way!

TBH we were vaguely surprised that Lloyds limit to do so is so high, but he did have to sign an indemnity for the bank's protection.

They did not request sight of the Will, didn't even ask if he was executor or if there were any others (there were), & we did not volunteer any information. Not sure if it was helpful or irrelevant that we also banked with Lloyds?

3 years ago Santander did exactly the same (£18k), but in cheque form, & 7 years I was obliged to obtain letters of administration (no will) for my aunt's estate because Barclays 'limit' was £25K at that time, & she had £26K. Each financial organisation can set it's own 'limit'.

I'm wondering if it's possible for you to go to Lloyds with proof that this money should not have been released? Someone else here may have more knowledge of whether that might be worth a visit to Lloyds.

Flugelhorn

SevenOfNine wrote: »

I'm wondering if it's possible for you to go to Lloyds with proof that this money should not have been released? Someone else here may have more knowledge of whether that might be worth a visit to Lloyds.

I suppose it will depend on whether the OP has access to the will?

Dotty15

We do not have the Will which he would have been executor to and he has since passed away. A will search didn't bring positive results and alot of money stolen from her estate in general. I think where fraud is concerned banks should take this just as seriously as they so money laundering, she had 3 children, 2 grandchildren and 4 great grands he was her children's step father and he took all and did not carry out the instructions in her Will and hid probably burnt it. WILLS SHOULD BE COMPULSORY TO REGISTER AND NO ONE ABLE TO TAKE MONEY OUT OF ACCOUNTS WITHOUT GRANT OR LETTERS. We are too relaxed in the UK opening up loopholes for theft.

Yorkshireman99

Flugelhorn wrote: »

I suppose it will depend on whether the OP has access to the will?

It is a major flaw but the banks have repay the fraudulently withdrawn funds to the rightful owner. They spend vast amounts on complying with money laundering and leave simple loopholes open. Compulsory registration of wills would help. But that will be seen as more bureaucracy. On the one occasion I encountered such a fraud the bank refunded with great speed given proper proof.

getmore4less

Dotty15 wrote: »

We do not have the Will which he would have been executor to and he has since passed away. A will search didn't bring positive results and alot of money stolen from her estate in general. I think where fraud is concerned banks should take this just as seriously as they so money laundering, she had 3 children, 2 grandchildren and 4 great grands he was her children's step father and he took all and did not carry out the instructions in her Will and hid probably burnt it. WILLS SHOULD BE COMPULSORY TO REGISTER AND NO ONE ABLE TO TAKE MONEY OUT OF ACCOUNTS WITHOUT GRANT OR LETTERS. We are too relaxed in the UK opening up loopholes for theft.

the executor of his estate can pick up administration of the wife estate.



The onus is on the testator to appoint someone trusted.
as it is with LPAs.

Uxb

SevenOfNine wrote: »

3 years ago Santander did exactly the same (£18k), but in cheque form, & 7 years I was obliged to obtain letters of administration (no will) for my aunt's estate because Barclays 'limit' was £25K at that time, & she had £26K. Each financial organisation can set it's own 'limit'.

Just checked the current Santander form as I was using it earlier this year - but in my case with probate
For accounts of less than 50K probate is not required but if you are going down that route then
you have as executor to confirm you acceptance of 5 paragraphs as to your duties - one of which being

"Where any other beneficiaries are entitled to a share of these funds I/we confirm that I/we have their consent to give instructions on behalf of the deceased customers estate"

Along with an indemnity clause absolving Santander of any blame and that if Santander is found liable to pay anyone else then the executor will repay Santander along with all costs. (just to be clear - that's a precis of 7 lines of legalese not the exact words).

Dotty15

getmore4less wrote: »

the executor of his estate can pick up administration of the wife estate.



The onus is on the testator to appoint someone trusted.
as it is with LPAs.

Well it's a pity she trusted the wrong person to be Executor he robbed her estate blind.