Mother just died, I have no money of my own, what to do

poppystar

AlAlbert said:

TBagpuss said:

You can normally also ask a bank to pay the funeral directors directly from her accounts, although that may not be what you want to do here. 

That is what I'd expect to do: Just send them a bank transfer or a debit card payment from my mother's account.

TBagpuss said:

If you have no income of your own then you may be able to claim benefits to cover your immediate outgoings until probate is granted.

It's not unreasonable to look for a job, too. 

In terms of the house, as soon as you get probate, put it on the market - in the mean time, talk to some local agents for marketing advice - what they realistically think it will sell for in its current condition, and whether there is anything you can do that would be affordable or which you can do yourself to make it more marketable. 

Thanks for the excellent suggestions.

Strictly speaking you should have informed the bank of your mothers death and not be using her cards or your online access to her account. Speak to the bank’s bereavement department as there should be no problem accessing the money and then it is all above board 

AlAlbert

thegreenone said:

I am so sorry for your loss.  My mother passed away in November and everything feels daunting on top of grief.

Thank you and my condolences for your loss. You're quite right about it being daunting on top of grief.

thegreenone said:

When you receive the death certificate take it and the WILL IN to your local bank branch with details of the bank accounts.  The bank said they would release funds for the funeral but I had that already covered.  The bank were quite happy on sight of the Will and ID that my husband and I were the Executors; asked for our bank details and within a week I had all Mum's money, which I put into a separate account.

This begs the question of how the bank knows that someone has died. Presumably you told them? Dare I ask, is there actually a need to tell them? It seems to me that this will only complicate matters unnecessarily.

I am fairly sure that the banks were never told when my grandmother and father died.

Certainly my family doesn't seem to have bothered with this sort of thing historically. Until very recently, the water bill was in my deceased great grandfather's name (seriously), the phone bill is still in my father's name (18 years after he died), and my deceased grandmother still has a joint bank account with my now deceased mother.

In the case of my mother's bank account, I am making payments from it more or less daily for every day expenses. The practical need to do so hasn't altered much despite my mother's death.

thegreenone said:

Please don't pay for a valuation.  I only needed one valuation for probate, although some say get three. 

Did you use an estate agent to get a free valuation? I take it that HMRC didn't question this.

thegreenone said:

Funnily enough my late Mum's flat was in Epsom.  It was a very large 3 bed flat in leafy communal gardens and although in need of renovation it went for £375k.  Next door, completely renovated sold for £400k so with your inheritance I think you could afford to buy and have plenty left over for living life without financial worries.

Very interesting! I'm glad it sold easily and quickly for you. The small differential between needing-renovation and renovated is certainly quite surprising to me.

Indigo_and_Violet

You talk about lacking access to capital to renovate the home you would ideally like to stay in. Assuming there is no IHT to pay there doesn't seem to be a rush to sell the home. Since you're currently living in it, it must be habitable even if a bit run-down. 
In the very short term I agree that universal credit should be your first point of call. However, if you can move relatively quickly into employment, might you be able to take out a mortgage to pay to the improvements to the family home? It would take a while to be in a position to get one (you'd need to be able to show about 6 months proof of income) but given how slowly probate is running at the moment it might not add much of a delay. 
If you would be comfortable with the idea, you could also look at taking in a lodger. Things will be very raw now so perhaps not immediately, but depending on area and room size even £500 a month is cheap rent for London and that would cover a lot of your immediate living expenses. It might not be a long-term arrangement (if you do decide to stay and do the house up they might not want to stay through the renovations) but it would help with the short-term cash flow. 
I think I'd definitely try not to rush into anything. There will be complicated emotions around the house at the moment, plus the stress of dealing with all the paperwork. Given that you seem attached to the area I would be tempted to avoid selling until I was certain there was something better to move to rather than feeling rushed into it.   

AlAlbert

poppystar said:

Strictly speaking you should have informed the bank of your mothers death and not be using her cards or your online access to her account. Speak to the bank’s bereavement department as there should be no problem accessing the money and then it is all above board 

Ah, I see. I greatly fear them blocking access if I tell them anything. We shall see what happens.

AlAlbert

Indigo_and_Violet said:

You talk about lacking access to capital to renovate the home you would ideally like to stay in. Assuming there is no IHT to pay there doesn't seem to be a rush to sell the home. Since you're currently living in it, it must be habitable even if a bit run-down.<./div>

I've still got do some budgeting but I suspect that there will be something of a rush to sell as the costs to cover bills and maintain the house are likely to be more than I could reasonably afford for the easily foreseeable future. Regrettably, it's very likely indeed that it will have to go as quickly as feasible (even without IHT to pay).

Indigo_and_Violet said:

if you can move relatively quickly into employment, might you be able to take out a mortgage to pay to the improvements to the family home? It would take a while to be in a position to get one (you'd need to be able to show about 6 months proof of income)

It is just, maybe, possible that I might be able to obtain a business mortgage to cover conversion to an HMO (or even full renovation to make it a stellar family home, which seem to be back in vogue in this area) but I'd need a very understanding lender. I might do better trying to do it as a JV with a more experienced (and more creditworthy) partner. As I say, I think this approach would probably still be likely to leave me short of money to live elsewhere during the work and before eventual sale and it is of course vastly more complicated than just selling as is. As for a normal repayment mortgage to refurbish the house as my own home, I don't think there is any way I would be able to obtain such a thing. I have absolutely no personal debt which makes me deeply uncreditworthy.

Indigo_and_Violet said:

Things will be very raw now so perhaps not immediately, but depending on area and room size even £500 a month is cheap rent for London and that would cover a lot of your immediate living expenses. It might not be a long-term arrangement (if you do decide to stay and do the house up they might not want to stay through the renovations) but it would help with the short-term cash flow. 
I think I'd definitely try not to rush into anything.

This is a very good idea in principle. I am a rather private person so I know I'd find it exceedingly difficult. But needs must.

thegreenone

I agree with poppystar.  I provided the Death Certificate and Will and they started closing down Mum's accounts and transferring the money to my account.  I don't think they will leave you unable to pay bills.  You might also want to see what's in the other accounts your Mum shared with her family.  You never know!

Valuation:  a local EA who I know has experience selling flats in the block.  HMRC and Probate didn't query only having one valuation.  As said, I did employ a solicitor but I did all the legwork.  From applying to HMRC to Probate being granted was seven weeks.  Should've been six but HMRC were a bit behind.

theoretica

I am sorry for your loss.

If you are going to sell the property, I think selling it as is would probably be very worth considering - so much can go wrong on a first time renovation, and some people really like renovating to their own taste. Doing the renovation before selling might not be financially worthwhile for you.  My first port of call for this would be a local estate agent or three - you could also discuss what cheaper properties you might be able to afford.  Because if you sold and bought at the same time you wouldn't need storage, but would be able to pack and take things that would fit to your new home and arrange for the rest to go to auction/charity/clearance as appropriate.

But also, as suggested, do look into benefits and job hunting.  If the valuations work out and you have enough money coming in maybe you will choose to stay where you are for a while and it might take the pressure off.

AlAlbert

thegreenone said:

I provided the Death Certificate and Will and they started closing down Mum's accounts and transferring the money to my account.  I don't think they will leave you unable to pay bills.  You might also want to see what's in the other accounts your Mum shared with her family.  You never know!

Thanks. In this case I really don't want them closing any accounts as it would be a mighty hassle to set up new payments from my own rather beleaguered bank account. We'll see what they say.

thegreenone said:

Valuation:  a local EA who I know has experience selling flats in the block.  HMRC and Probate didn't query only having one valuation.  As said, I did employ a solicitor but I did all the legwork.  From applying to HMRC to Probate being granted was seven weeks.  Should've been six but HMRC were a bit behind.

Thanks, that's all very useful.

AlAlbert

theoretica said:

I am sorry for your loss.

If you are going to sell the property, I think selling it as is would probably be very worth considering - so much can go wrong on a first time renovation, and some people really like renovating to their own taste. Doing the renovation before selling might not be financially worthwhile for you.  My first port of call for this would be a local estate agent or three - you could also discuss what cheaper properties you might be able to afford.  Because if you sold and bought at the same time you wouldn't need storage, but would be able to pack and take things that would fit to your new home and arrange for the rest to go to auction/charity/clearance as appropriate.

But also, as suggested, do look into benefits and job hunting.  If the valuations work out and you have enough money coming in maybe you will choose to stay where you are for a while and it might take the pressure off.

Thanks for that.

Keep_pedalling

AlAlbert said:

poppystar said:

Strictly speaking you should have informed the bank of your mothers death and not be using her cards or your online access to her account. Speak to the bank’s bereavement department as there should be no problem accessing the money and then it is all above board 

Ah, I see. I greatly fear them blocking access if I tell them anything. We shall see what happens.

They will freeze the accounts, but with the values you are talking about they will almost certainly transfer what is  in them to you. Banks will also pay funeral costs from the deceased persons account directly to the FD if required.