Help with dealing with estate issues

Paperwork_Pro

Hi everyone!

This is my first thread so I apologise if I've done anything wrong in advance! I have a couple of issues that I am really, really worried about that I could use help with as below.

1) - I had no idea about the correct processes you go through after someone's death (my Father's in this case). After he died I honestly thought it was fine for me to use money from his bank accounts to pay the household bills with (I have access to his online banking as he wasn't great with the internet). I realise now I screwed up doing this, what can I do about it? Can I try to pay back the money into his estate? Would that be okay?

2) - Dad left just over £3500 in an SIPP (apparently not part of the estate?) which I really need to use to pay the funeral. If I used that can I claim the money back from his estate (which might well be insolvent :eek: ). If so what priority or not does paying this back have over other debts?
Related to this is £1440 left in a trust investment but to get it Hargreaves Lansdown want Letters of Administration to release it. Is that right for such a small amount? I wanted this to pay some of the funeral costs but I won't get it in time if I need to apply for the Letters.

I hope that all makes sense. I am really grateful for any assistance given. Thanks so much.

TonyMMM

First...

Did he leave a will ?

If he did, who is named as executor ?

If not - what family did he have ...wife living ? Other children ?

What sort of amount was in the bank, how much have you used,and have you told them about your father's death ?

Paperwork_Pro

Hi, thanks for replying so quickly.

There's no will at all. He has a surviving wife, my Mother. I'm his youngest daughter and there is my older sister. That's the only close family he had.

General estimates of what was in the bank are £1800 (minus benefit overpayments). I've used just on £1000, some of that on creditors debts before I told them of his death. All of them have been told, though I am waiting on a response from MBNA at the moment.

If you need any other info, let me know. Thanks again.

Keep_pedalling

The first call on any estate is funeral costs, followed by creditors, then beneficiaries, which in this case would be your mother. It sounds like the estate is insolvent and you should not have paid any of his creditors unless there was anything left after funeral costs.

As for the SIPP you are going to have to get LoA to release those to your mother, the administrators of those sort of envestments nearly always require them.

Paperwork_Pro

I've done some figures and there is enough left in the estate to pay for part of the funeral (as long as HL pay the £1440 in the trust investment to the directors on receipt of a copy invoice). My main concern is there won't be nowhere near enough to pay off his creditors, even if I sold everything he owned I can find!

Actually, that brings me to another question, what possessions constitute part of the estate? Just valuable, undamaged items? Or does it go right down to old furniture, mobility aids, magazine collections level? Does anyone know, or has valued an estate without many valuables?

Thanks for any and all assistance given.

Owain_Moneysaver

Paperwork_Pro wrote: »

Actually, that brings me to another question, what possessions constitute part of the estate? Just valuable, undamaged items? Or does it go right down to old furniture, mobility aids, magazine collections level?

It includes everything.

It sounds like you have now taken on the duties of administrator and cannot walk away. If you can sell something on Gumtree for a tenner, you sell it for a tenner and the money goes towards the creditors.

Mobility aids - you may find they've been loaned by the local council Social Work, NHS or Red Cross, and have to be returned to them.

If there isn't money to pay for a funeral, the local council has to provide a public health funeral, which will usually be a cremation with a simple ceremony officiated by the crematorium staff - which you can attend. If you or your mother are on certain benefits there may also be help with funeral costs from DWP.

https://www.gov.uk/funeral-payments

elsien

What about the house he was living in - rented or owned?
Were he and your mother still together?

hb2

OP, I am sorry for your loss.

Were any bank accounts in joint names (with your mother, or anyone else) or were they solely in your father's name? If he owned any property, was this in his name only?