Natwest wont let me access my late mums money

yummymummy2012

Hi, my mother passed in December 18 following this went to bank with death certificate and froze the accounts and said now i had the death certificate i would be applying for Probate and arranging the funeral. Asked for balances on the accounts, list of DD's and any outstanding credit card amounts 1 was found i knew there were 2. I was sent statements for the credit cards and how to pay them and told the interest would be frozen until the estate could pay them.

No mention of only being able to access funds for the funeral if an invoice was provided

Visited branch after grant of probate and post funeral to ask for my mums accounts to be closed and money transferred to me to deal with as part of her overall estate. The local branch filled in the account closure form and explained in branch they could only pay funeral costs in branch if I brought the invoice in. I said could they transfer funds to my account through the closure process, they wrote this request on the closure form then they sent this off to the bereavement team along with Probate letter - implying this would happen. I then paid the funeral bill on this understanding

I have since received a letter from the bereavement team asking if the balance was needed towards the funeral bill or if it can be used to reduce her credit card debts. I rang and said i need it for the funeral costs which I had paid. They said they can only pay a funeral home direct, I have raised a complaint as this was not my understanding following the branch writing the request t transfer me the money on the closure form implied this could happen.

I asked why the money cant just be released to me and they lady couldnt answer that and I would now need to wait 5 days for someone from the complaints team to contact me.

My question is can they hold the £1000 against their debt, I understood I was the executor of her estate and i liquidised her assets and then paid all creditors and they couldnt pay it off their debts first??

Help

Yorkshireman99

yummymummy2012 wrote: »

Hi, my mother passed in December 18 following this went to bank with death certificate and froze the accounts and said now i had the death certificate i would be applying for Probate and arranging the funeral. Asked for balances on the accounts, list of DD's and any outstanding credit card amounts 1 was found i knew there were 2. I was sent statements for the credit cards and how to pay them and told the interest would be frozen until the estate could pay them.

No mention of only being able to access funds for the funeral if an invoice was provided

Visited branch after grant of probate and post funeral to ask for my mums accounts to be closed and money transferred to me to deal with as part of her overall estate. The local branch filled in the account closure form and explained in branch they could only pay funeral costs in branch if I brought the invoice in. I said could they transfer funds to my account through the closure process, they wrote this request on the closure form then they sent this off to the bereavement team along with Probate letter - implying this would happen. I then paid the funeral bill on this understanding

I have since received a letter from the bereavement team asking if the balance was needed towards the funeral bill or if it can be used to reduce her credit card debts. I rang and said i need it for the funeral costs which I had paid. They said they can only pay a funeral home direct, I have raised a complaint as this was not my understanding following the branch writing the request t transfer me the money on the closure form implied this could happen.

I asked why the money cant just be released to me and they lady couldnt answer that and I would now need to wait 5 days for someone from the complaints team to contact me.

My question is can they hold the £1000 against their debt, I understood I was the executor of her estate and i liquidised her assets and then paid all creditors and they couldnt pay it off their debts first??

Help

The bank hs a bereavement department. Contact them direct.

yummymummy2012

It’s the bereavement team I have been dealing with that have raised the complaint with

Yorkshireman99

yummymummy2012 wrote: »

It’s the bereavement team I have been dealing with that have raised the complaint with

Noted. This team are the best to resolve matters. The bank are allowed to offset debts against account balances.

nwc389

I think you were not given the correct information at the time you visited the branch . They should have advised you that you needed to pay the funeral bill by taking it to them .
Yes it is correct that banks are allowed to withhold funds to pay their outstanding balances but only after funeral costs have been paid from the estate so you should be refunded the money .
They might want to see proof from you that you paid the funeral costs .

SevenOfNine

My mother paid 50% up front to the FD, Barclays (where the deceased had her a/c) paid the other half direct to the FD on sight of the balance invoice.

I took my mother's 50% invoice to Barclays & told them to reimburse her from the a/c of the deceased. They did precisely that, by cheque. No quibbles.

Which bank are you referring to? Surely you have an invoice for the amount you've paid the FD?

troubleinparadise

The bank is Natwest, according to the thread’s title.

SevenOfNine

troubleinparadise wrote: »

The bank is Natwest, according to the thread’s title.

Zero out of ten for my powers of observation! :beer:

Savvy_Sue

Is there enough left in Mum's account to pay the funeral bill AND clear the credit card debts?

If not, is there enough in the estate to pay all debts and clear the credit cards?

getmore4less

Setof is in effect debt secured against other assets you hold with the institution.

That could take priority over the funeral expenses.