Banking arrangements for joint executors - is this arrangement acceptable?

badger09

BooJewels said:

If I may ask a supplementary question - doesn't really warrant a new thread, but some might know if they've been through it.

My father passed away 10 days after his last 4 weekly state pension payment - which I understand are in arrears.  After registration, my sister used the Tell Us Once service as soon as she got the reference to do so. His pension would have been due later that week, but was stopped in time and he's had nothing further since.

Do the state pension pay every day right up to death - because he's about 10 days short and it's over 200 quid. I don't want to close the bank account yet if there might be something due in.   I think he was overpaid 2 days of Attendance Allowance as well, but they don't balance each other out.  All the private pension payments are sorted and cheques are coming to me for a couple of refunds, so this is the only potential payment inwards outstanding.

The State Pension should be calculated up to the date of your dad's death.

When I dealt with my late sister's estate as Executor in 2018, Santander Bereavement team told me that on receipt of her death certificate, they would freeze her account. Payments could still be made into it, but DDs, SOs etc would stop, though they would pay funeral director if I wanted them to. The account would not actually be closed until they received Grant of Probate. I'm not sure at what point they would have closed her account if Probate hadn't been required.

BooJewels

Thanks @badger09 - I thought that it must be, his private pension will be, once they've got the death certificate etc. and I was  able to nominate the new account for any residue to be paid into.  

There's only a small amount in the current account in question, certainly less than their Probate limit, so they advised - anonymously - that they'd close the account as soon as they were informed of the death.  I can understand stopping all SOs and DDs, but I've almost changed all of those - just waiting on paperwork to sign or returned phone calls - the current situation with lower staffing levels is certainly - and understandably - impacting on efficiency.  But you'd think, for a deceased account, rather like switching, that they'd forward any inbound payments.  But we haven't got as far as discussing such details yet.

I might ring the Tell Us Once service to ask how it might work, as there's a telephone number and reference on the confirmation letter.

getmore4less

It does not matter where the money is and in many cases best not to get into conversations with institutions they just cause confusion.
The important thing is good records to make sure the inventory and account is correct and any money in your name is identified as funds held in trust in case you die.
A Separate account just for estate funds is good as it can make life easier and you can cross reference statements to the estate accounts.
Joint account can be a problem as they create a financial link that you don't need.
better to just have funds each to deal with bills or purchases, just keep records.
there is one potential issue as some institutions release assets to go to executors of...    in most cases the forms have space to put who or where the funds should go,
Some banks get fussy with accepting funds that don't match the account name, others will just accept them. 
Most utilities will suspend accounts and nothing needs to change they do not cut off.
If a house is getting sold and no one is living in it delay the probate application till the house is ready to sell as council tax kicks in after 6 months.of receiving te grant.

BooJewels

As mentioned on preceding pages of the thread @getmore4less I have already now opened a sole current account to house the estate funds - the thread is almost 2 weeks old now, so I've been getting on with things.  I don't think my sister is fussed about making it a joint account, as long as she can pay the odd bill that comes her way and she has some 'estate' cash for that and I can always transfer amounts to cover any expenditure.  So I suspect it will stay as a solo account.

I've been keeping good records all along, as I've been managing his affairs for over a year anyway under an LPA, so I just started a new sheet in my spreadsheet and put opening balances from the point where my role changed.  So the accounting is the easy bit.  That account won't be used for anything other than managing the estate - i.e. looking after the house mainly.

We're not really expecting any further funds being released to us - 17 days of one private pension, but they already have the new bank details and I got a cheque yesterday, somewhat quicker than expected, for the only other thing I was expecting and that was made out to me, so already banked into that account through the app.  The only outstanding matter is about 10 days shortfall of state pension - we'll have to cross that one when we come to it.

Thanks for the tip about delaying probate. I mentioned earlier in the thread both that I'd done most of the probate and IHT forms and that I knew about council tax coming due after probate - but didn't connect the two or think about timing.  It's not actually posted yet, but I have paid the fee, to get the reference for the form.  I don't know how long that gives you, I'd need to check, but maybe we can sit on it for a little while longer.  My sister can't collect the original will for another 2 weeks anyway when she has some time off coming, so it won't get done before then.

getmore4less

Do everything you need to get the house ready for sale including starting the marketing and getting a conveyancing solicitor lined up.
Check the house is registered if not you need to think about first registration,part of the sale if fine but get the docs checked out early so there are no surprises 
You will get asked about having the grant and some prospective buyers want to see motivated sellers as probate properties are up there with divorce properties as potentially difficult.

BooJewels

I think I'd like to have probate granted before we actually market - there's absolutely nothing to cause any delay with that - so a buyer shouldn't have to wait on it.  We had wanted to get it done reasonably soon, in case we get any offers - we already had one very cheeky one, but it's a development project in a very good 'sought after' postcode on a large plot, so it's already been looked at without any marketing, so we'd consider anything remotely sensible if it comes our way.  Estate Agent and solicitor already lined up.

The registration is the bit that worries me - it was bought in the sixties, so not digitally registered yet, so that certainly does need looking at - that's one of my intermediate tasks, once I've got all the finances moved to this new bank account (last item now in progress), account closed etc.  I've pretty much initiated everything I can now with that, I'm now at the mercy of others to get things actually finished.

tehone

NinjaTune said:

I know that Barclays won't let you open an Executor account without Probate.  This seems a bit chicken and egg when they say I can obtain the funds from my Dad's Barclays account without Probate but can't open an Exec account without it.  Go figure.

Unless this is a fairly recent change then its not true, I opened a joint Executor account without probate at Barclays last year. As noted by NinjaTurtle we also had the option to just take the money and go elsewhere.