Natwest Bank and probate threshold

itm2

I believe that the probate threshold for Natwest Bank is £25,000 - i.e. the threshold at which they require a Grant of Probate before releasing funds to the executors of a will. My recently-deceased mother held accounts at Natwest to the value of about £26,500. 
We are currently looking at funeral plans for Mum. The cost of the funeral will almost certainly exceed £2,000, and we are planning to ask Natwest to settle the costs directly from my Mum's accounts. Since this would reduce her account balances to below the £25,000 threshold, we are hoping that Natwest would then be prepared to release the remaining proceeds of Mum's accounts (subject to presentation of the will and death certificate) without the need for a Grant of Probate. This could then help us with the other costs of dealing with the estate (my sister and I are the  executors and main beneficiaries of Mum's will).
Could anyone advise on whether my logic above is sound - i.e. that Natwest would not require a Grant of Probate if the funeral costs reduced the value of Mum's accounts with them to below the £25k threshold?

SeniorSam

Sounds just right. Call and speak with their bereavement department and check, but it should b OK. 

Since 1st January 2022, the rules have changed about estates needing Probate. Banks need to get up to date.

msb1234

Just be careful. Virgin Money, who my mums account was with, have a lower limit of £35k before probate is required. Mum had much less than that in her account so I was told the balance would be transferred to me as executor within 5 working days. 4 weeks later I received a letter from them stating that as I was applying for probate they could not release the funds, even though it was well below their threshold.

SeniorSam

If you told them  you were applying for Probate, then I can understand their reply.

This may have been before the rules changed on the 1st January this year when many previous applications for Probate were no longer required.

msb1234

SeniorSam said:

If you told them  you were applying for Probate, then I can understand their reply.

This may have been before the rules changed on the 1st January this year when many previous applications for Probate were no longer required.

It was in March this year.

shiraz99

I have the same thing. I notified Natwest for my dad's account and clicked on the box that I will be applying for probate in the future and now they're expecting me to upload the grant of probate documents before going ant further.

I also got a text/email today to remind me to upload documents and when I went in to the online portal they're now asking me to upload my mum's death certificate too. Any reason for this? She passed 3 years ago and all my dad's account's are sole accounts in his name.

On another related issue, I've created a separate account at Natwest to run as an executor account but the account mandate suggests that I'll also require probate first before allowing access to the account to distribute the funds.

TraceyMcP

First time user asking for advice please.
Father in Law has passed away. Lived in council rented accommodation and had savings of £40,000 with NatWest. My partner had lasting power of attorney for property and finance when he was alive and is named on his bank account. This was registered and granted in July 2021.

We’ve just discovered his will was made in 2004 and held in the Isle of Man where he previously lived. It names the executor as his ex wife who sadly died in 2011. The will declares any monies to be split equally between the 4 children.
The council are at present refusing to accept the termination of tenancy signed by my partner as it must be the executor! 

All rent is paid a month in advance and is up to date. The only ‘debts’ are utility bills waiting to come in. 
Basically do we need to apply for probate? 

Any advice greatly accepted. Thank you.

Keep_pedalling

Just for future reference, it is always better to start a new thread than post questions on an old one.

As for probate, yes you are going to need it and any (or better at least 2 of them) of his children can take on the role when there are no living executors. The council need to be informed that the names executor has died and that your partner has taken on the role of administering the estate.

Powers of attorney end as soon as the donor has died. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and the way to avoid probate would have been to move some of his money to a different provider while he was alive. 

akat0

itm2 said:

I believe that the probate threshold for Natwest Bank is £25,000 - i.e. the threshold at which they require a Grant of Probate before releasing funds to the executors of a will. My recently-deceased mother held accounts at Natwest to the value of about £26,500. 
We are currently looking at funeral plans for Mum. The cost of the funeral will almost certainly exceed £2,000, and we are planning to ask Natwest to settle the costs directly from my Mum's accounts. Since this would reduce her account balances to below the £25,000 threshold, we are hoping that Natwest would then be prepared to release the remaining proceeds of Mum's accounts (subject to presentation of the will and death certificate) without the need for a Grant of Probate. This could then help us with the other costs of dealing with the estate (my sister and I are the  executors and main beneficiaries of Mum's will).
Could anyone advise on whether my logic above is sound - i.e. that Natwest would not require a Grant of Probate if the funeral costs reduced the value of Mum's accounts with them to below the £25k threshold?

It is very strange how different banks have different 'as they wish' Probate Threshold Policy which seems unregulated

(I understood NATWEST probate threshold was £50,000 , at least earlier in 2022, if they have not halved it.)

When someone dies, expenses can be high. If a grant of probate is required the banks will generally just pay out only ONCE for the funeral cost upon presentation of an invoice. 

A Grant of Probate (or Letter of Administration if intestate ) application is a very long drawn out process , and is required by each bank if the deceased bank total balance of all accounts/investments held exceed the threshold.
We can used a solicitor to apply for the grant, and fees are into thousands
( or do it yourself for free other than application fees. It is not that difficult )
But idea of the bank is for the next of kins to hopefully use their legal services to generate lucrative fee income
By keeping their threshold low, it means no one can have access to the bank account until they have been their probate granted.

To avoid this ( what I see appears to be a legalised  money making kind of scam ,  or whatever you want to call it )
we make sure that if the total balance of my bank accounts exceed the threshold , we just open an account (/s) with another bank and transfer the excess over.. and once that account exceeds the bank's threshold, just repeat the process with another bank, ensuring that no bank can force you to present a grant of probate , just to access the funds.

Hopefully everyone who saves, make sure that they do their home work and keep checking 
probate thresholds for all their banks and make sure that the balances held is always below the threshold.
This will save a lot of stress and grief. 
This way , at least , all the bank accounts can be accessed , closed, and they money used/distributed by next of kin/s  
leaving grant of probate application only for other less liquid assets if/where required.

As for whether or not NATWEST will consider if the total balance of accounts falls below their threshold after paying funeral cost,
just call their Bereavement 0800 161 5903 

retroman62

 I’ve just gone through the process, and NatWest limit must be 50,000, as we got a figure transferred that was just below that.

msb1234

akat0 said:

itm2 said:

I believe that the probate threshold for Natwest Bank is £25,000 - i.e. the threshold at which they require a Grant of Probate before releasing funds to the executors of a will. My recently-deceased mother held accounts at Natwest to the value of about £26,500. 
We are currently looking at funeral plans for Mum. The cost of the funeral will almost certainly exceed £2,000, and we are planning to ask Natwest to settle the costs directly from my Mum's accounts. Since this would reduce her account balances to below the £25,000 threshold, we are hoping that Natwest would then be prepared to release the remaining proceeds of Mum's accounts (subject to presentation of the will and death certificate) without the need for a Grant of Probate. This could then help us with the other costs of dealing with the estate (my sister and I are the  executors and main beneficiaries of Mum's will).
Could anyone advise on whether my logic above is sound - i.e. that Natwest would not require a Grant of Probate if the funeral costs reduced the value of Mum's accounts with them to below the £25k threshold?

It is very strange how different banks have different 'as they wish' Probate Threshold Policy which seems unregulated

(I understood NATWEST probate threshold was £50,000 , at least earlier in 2022, if they have not halved it.)

When someone dies, expenses can be high. If a grant of probate is required the banks will generally just pay out only ONCE for the funeral cost upon presentation of an invoice. 

A Grant of Probate (or Letter of Administration if intestate ) application is a very long drawn out process , and is required by each bank if the deceased bank total balance of all accounts/investments held exceed the threshold.
We can used a solicitor to apply for the grant, and fees are into thousands
( or do it yourself for free other than application fees. It is not that difficult )
But idea of the bank is for the next of kins to hopefully use their legal services to generate lucrative fee income
By keeping their threshold low, it means no one can have access to the bank account until they have been their probate granted.

To avoid this ( what I see appears to be a legalised  money making kind of scam ,  or whatever you want to call it )
we make sure that if the total balance of my bank accounts exceed the threshold , we just open an account (/s) with another bank and transfer the excess over.. and once that account exceeds the bank's threshold, just repeat the process with another bank, ensuring that no bank can force you to present a grant of probate , just to access the funds.

Hopefully everyone who saves, make sure that they do their home work and keep checking 
probate thresholds for all their banks and make sure that the balances held is always below the threshold.
This will save a lot of stress and grief. 
This way , at least , all the bank accounts can be accessed , closed, and they money used/distributed by next of kin/s  
leaving grant of probate application only for other less liquid assets if/where required.

As for whether or not NATWEST will consider if the total balance of accounts falls below their threshold after paying funeral cost,
just call their Bereavement 0800 161 5903 

I’m sorry, but this sounds completely bonkers! First of all, funeral expenses do not need to be paid out on one invoice. I sent the bank 5 different ones for undertaker, flowers, venue hire, buffet and headstone. All from different businesses. They paid each one out separately. 
Secondly, some banks will not release any funds if they know probate is being applied for - Virgin Money for one.
Finally, having money in lots of different accounts can make it difficult for people to trace - just put it in we’re accounts, and make sure there is a list of these for the executor to refer to when applying for probate.