Paying in cheques made out “to the estate of”

LT5678

I’m looking for some advice. My dad is the administrator and sole beneficiary of my late uncle’s estate. He has obtained the relevant probate/administrator paperwork as my uncle passed away without making a will and notified all companies that my uncle help accounts with.

He has recently received a cheque made out to “the estate of...” and has no idea how he is meant to pay the cheque in as the bank (Halifax) said that he could not pay it into his own account despite having all of the paperwork with him and they could not advise him if he needed to open an estate bank account.

Has anyone experienced this and if so what did you do in order to pay the cheque in?

Many thanks

Skiddaw1

I had a similar problem when administering my father's estate (like your dad, I had probate). Several of the financial institutions involved would only pay what was due into an executor account so I opened one. I did similar when I was executor for my (sadly deceased) best friend a couple of years ago. It was straightforward (effectively, it's just a current account) and in both cases, once the proceeds of the estate had been distributed I closed the account.

Dox

Open a savings account in the appropriate name; or ask whoever issued the cheque to reissue in your father's name.

Keep_pedalling

The main problem is that most banks do not provide executor accounts.

badger09

LT5678 wrote: »

I’m looking for some advice. My dad is the administrator and sole beneficiary of my late uncle’s estate. He has obtained the relevant probate/administrator paperwork as my uncle passed away without making a will and notified all companies that my uncle help accounts with.

He has recently received a cheque made out to “the estate of...” and has no idea how he is meant to pay the cheque in as the bank (Halifax) said that he could not pay it into his own account despite having all of the paperwork with him and they could not advise him if he needed to open an estate bank account.

Has anyone experienced this and if so what did you do in order to pay the cheque in?

Many thanks

Your dad should ask the payer to reissue the cheque in his name, as Executor. He will almost certainly have to provide payer with a certified copy of Probate, but that will show his name & address, which should be sufficient for their purposes.