Bank closed deceased fathers account and should not of

xylophone

The bank may pay out without probate but surely they should have checked on whether there was a will with named executor or whether the person claiming the money was a PR ?
In the OP's case, I would be consulting a solicitor. The father left a valid will under which the spouse was left only a life interest in the property.
The spouse has availed herself of money to which she had no legal right.
And see  for example https://www.hsbc.co.uk/help/life-events/bereavement/faqs/

Keep_pedalling

xylophone said:

The bank may pay out without probate but surely they should have checked on whether there was a will with named executor or whether the person claiming the money was a PR ?
In the OP's case, I would be consulting a solicitor. The father left a valid will under which the spouse was left only a life interest in the property.
The spouse has availed herself of money to which she had no legal right.
And see  for example https://www.hsbc.co.uk/help/life-events/bereavement/faqs/

When I closed my mother’s account with Barclays after she died, I was asked if there was a will, and they took a copy of it, however if she had not got one I would still have been able to close the account and get the money.

The problem is the majority of people do not make wills, and the only way a bank could do further checks would be to force thousands of people administering small estates to apply for letters of administration, which they don’t currently need to do. 

If the OPs step mother told the bank that there was no will either because she lied or was not aware of one the bank is not at fault, the blame lies with the person claiming to to represent the estate.

Flugelhorn

Who was the executor of the father's will? really the bank should only have let that person have the money. if he had no will then they did the right thing passing it to his widow.
You do need to sort this out with her son, what is the issue stopping you being able to talk to him?

Keep_pedalling

Flugelhorn said:

Who was the executor of the father's will? really the bank should only have let that person have the money. if he had no will then they did the right thing passing it to his widow.
You do need to sort this out with her son, what is the issue stopping you being able to talk to him?

The OPs step mother should have signed a Small Estates Declaration & Indemnity form, in which she would have had to declare that she was next of kin and that there was no will as per the example below from Lloyd’s bank

https://www.lloydsbank.com/assets/media/pdfs/investments/direct-investments/Lloyds%20Small_Estates_Form%20online.pdf

As banks have no way of checking if a will exists or not, they would only be at fault if they failed to get the indemnity form signed.

SevenOfNine

https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.barclays.co.uk/content/dam/documents/personal/miscellaneous/Personal-indemnity-form-website11-070716.pdf&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwi4o7WulNTnAhXhXRUIHcZbBbcQFjAAegQICBAB&usg=AOvVaw3ZPcEmB42gxCpT6OIPgDeR

The form will have looked like this, see page 2 of it.  We've had to deal with the estates of 3 deaths & Barclays, Santander & Lloyds banks, NONE of whom asked if there was a will. Just as well with Lloyds as there were 2 named executors on it, & we were deliberately removing every penny in the deceased's a/c out of the grasp of 1 of them as fast as possible.
Which financial organisation is involved?

CSL50

The form will have looked like this, see page 2 of it.  We've had to deal with the estates of 3 deaths & Barclays, Santander & Lloyds banks, NONE of whom asked if there was a will. Just as well with Lloyds as there were 2 named executors on it, & we were deliberately removing every penny in the deceased's a/c out of the grasp of 1 of them as fast as possible.
Which financial organisation is involved?
Thank you ever so much for your reply. It is Barclays and my step mum signed it but died just before money  went into her account. Her son ,sole beneficiary of her account may have it now ,solicitor involved now .