Not a clue where to start after the death of our mother.....

wendb69

Wondering if anyone can assist us please.  Our minds and foggy and we just cant think after the death of our mother.
Our father passed away 9 years ago and everything (well the house), passed to our mother.   She died a week ago.
What she has:
Savings/bank account of £3,000
An ISA £3,000
House paid for - probably worth around £350,000.

We understand we need to contact DWP about her Pensions.  She wasn't receiving any other income benefits.
But what do we do next?
Her Will was written in Trust - we did it this way as our brother was going through a divorce.  
We just don't know where to start.
Do we put the house on the market first?
Do we keep the council tax and electric / water going until the house is sold?
Do we apply for probate first (if needed???) and then put the house & car up for sale - and will we be asked to pay for anything upfront from money we don't currently have?
Do we keep the bank account open to pay the utility bills in the interim?
Do we open a bank account to receive the monies in to the Trust and then pay out in equal shares?   There are 2 monetary amounts of £1,000 each to 2 relatives - do these get paid from a Trust bank account??

We just dont have a clue.    Myself and my brother are both executors. 
Please if you can give some guidance we would really be very grateful. 

getmore4less

Duplicate thread over on the probate board, replies probably best there.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6232643/not-a-clue-where-to-start-after-the-death-of-our-mother#latest

Flugelhorn

We understand we need to contact DWP about her Pensions.  She wasn't receiving any other income benefits. - this can be dome when you register the death using the "tell us once service"
  
We just don't know where to start.
Do we put the house on the market first? - need to start applying for probate
Do we keep the council tax and electric / water going until the house is sold? discuss with the council as if the house is empty there is often a period of time during which it is exempt - you need to insure the house and follow the insurance company's advice about checking on the property and whether it should be heated etc 
Do we apply for probate first (if needed???) and then put the house & car up for sale - and will we be asked to pay for anything upfront from money we don't currently have? likely to need probate - you shouldn't have to pay anything  huge (I had to pay for insurance_) - many things can wait until probate eg fuel bills, costs of selling the house come out of the proceeds of sale at the end.  You may be able to access the cash in accounts without probate, below a certain amount (~20K for some) they will release it to the executor in sight of will and death cert 
Do we keep the bank account open to pay the utility bills in the interim? you may not need to pay them immediately - discuss with the bereavement teams at the utilities. 
Don't know about the trust bit so I will keep quiet on that 

Keep_pedalling

getmore4less said:

Duplicate thread over on the probate board, replies probably best there.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6232643/not-a-clue-where-to-start-after-the-death-of-our-mother#latest

This is the probate board!

getmore4less

read a few of the on-line guides and come back once you have some of the basics.
MSE has a few helpful ones

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4896302/deaths-funerals-probate-board-read-these-first#latest
here are few more to get you started. 
https://www.gov.uk/after-a-death
https://www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/money-legal/legal-issues/what-to-do-when-someone-dies/
https://www.which.co.uk/later-life-care/end-of-life/what-to-do-when-someone-dies
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/family/death-and-wills/what-to-do-after-a-death/

getmore4less

A few questions to fill some gaps.

Is the property occupied.
What sort of trust
was you mum the sole owner of the property.

Keep_pedalling

You will need to obtain probate before the house can be sold, although you can start to market it before then. You need to inform the council, as the house will now be exempt from CT.

The bank should bay out the small among of cash she had without probate so you should be able to access that to pay for funeral costs. You can’t keep the accounts open they will be closed as soon as you inform the bank of her death. The executor can sell the car without probate. 

You should keep any money from the estate separate from your own money. It is not easy to find a bank that will provide executor accounts, but I just set up a separate ordinary current account for my mums estate.

What sort of trust was set up by the will?

Mojisola

Have you been able to register the death yet?  If not, the registrar should offer the Tell Us Once service which will notify the government agencies of her death.

www.gov.uk/after-a-death/organisations-you-need-to-contact-and-tell-us-once

wendb69

getmore4less said:

A few questions to fill some gaps.

Is the property occupied.
What sort of trust
was you mum the sole owner of the property.

Hi there,

Property unoccupied now.
Will with Family Trust
She was the sole owner after the death of our father .  Probably still registered in his and her name.

basill

Im sorry for your loss, After losing my own mother 2 years ago I have just completed the administration of her estate.  Yours does look more straightforward.
Im not familiar with the type of will you have but for some of the other questions,  When you register a death they will tell you about the Tell us once service which will inform DWP, council, DVLA etc. We received a rebate for council tax.
If the house is empty inform the Insurance company and follow their instructions such as regular inspections and keep the heating on low to prevent frozen pipes etc.
I found that when I informed Gas, Electricity, Phone and water suppliers they were very sympathetic and offered  to defer payment until the estate was settled.  The water company cancelled the bill and did not charge at all during administration.

You should inform the banks as soon as you can, they will freeze the accounts and provide a figure to use on your probate application.  They will certainly be able to release money for the funeral and amounts are low enough that they may release the rest to the executors without probate.  You can use this money to pay for the estate expenses, such as probate application, postage, utility bills, insurance etc.  It's a good idea to open a separate executors account for this money and the proceeds of the house sale.  Keep receipts and a record of any spending.  When everything is settled you can pay out the legacies from this account.

You will need to apply for probate to sell the house, for this you will need a valuation of the house and any other assets. We used and ebay type values for possessions and I sold the car to a nearby dealer, a letter from the executors was enough for him to sort out the paperwork.

Finally, I found the GOV pages at https://www.gov.uk/probate-estate very helpful for all stages of the estate admin and  the staff on their helpline numbers excellent ( after a bit of a wait).

xylophone

Will with Family Trust

What exactly does the will say?