Am I allowed to open mum's post?

martin2345uk

Sorry if this is a dumb question but in dealing with mum's affairs after her passing am I allowed to open mail addressed to her?

[Deleted User]

Yes, of course.

martin2345uk

Thank you :-)

Keep_pedalling

Assuming you are the person administering the estate then yes, if not they should be passed to the executor.

comeandgo

Sorry for your loss.  I put a redirection on to mail addressed to my mum and I still get mail for her and she died in January, most companies only need a few reminders but there are some who continue to send catalogues etc.

TBagpuss

Yes - if you are the executor or administrator then it comes with the role, f not, then you should pass it on to whoever is administering the estate but even then, opening it to check whether it is relevant or junk mail, before passing it on, would still be OK. (and opening non-business stuff to allow you to let people who didn't already know, about her death, would also be fine. 

I am sorry for your loss. 

If you are not the administrator / executor then it would be reasonable to ask them to arrange for her post to be redirected so it goes to them directly, so they can deal with it. 

martin2345uk

Thanks everyone. I am indeed one of the 2 executors. There is not need for a redirection at the moment as she doesn't live far and to be honest I like coming here  :'(

maman

I had redirection set up when my mam died as I was an executor and 200 miles away.

It didn't exist at that time but have you used the 'Tell us once' facility which should discourage many organisations from sending mail ongoing and help you to sort out the finances as part of your executor role.

I had a standard letter set up that I could cut and paste accordingly to send to organisations that sent mail. In some cases (like catalogues), you just want them to stop but in others they need to correspond with you as executor. 

It all helps to get yourself in control of things at this difficult time.