Friend died - we found over £100,000 cash in her house - banks refusing to take it - what to do?

lizzilawrence

Hi - All advice appreciated as we are bit flummoxed. A friend passed away, and on clearing her house out, we found over £100,000 in cash in her house. Valid notes. She sold a property not too long ago and we think it must be from that. However, her bank refused to take it - her bank account has been frozen anyway as she has now passed away. As Executors we opened up an Executors Account with NatWest as they seemed to indicate we could pay the cash in that way, but after the branch spoke to the Nat West Legal Team, they then said due to a) money laundering b) the cashier is not insured to count that amount of money in branch and c) they are not insured to hold that amount of money overnight in branch! they wouldn't therefore accept it.  I have asked a solicitor for advice and they do not know what to do. But the Probate Office say we need to get it into a bank account as it forms part of our friends estate - so how on earth can we do this ? Thank you for any suggestions!

Keep_pedalling

Try your own bank, explain the situation and provide evidence that you are the executors ( the will or grant of probate if you have it) ring the bereavement team first for advice.

Is any of the money out of circulation bank notes?

[Deleted User]

I'd also play up the bereavement angle as they should be more sympathetic and see if the bank could take payments bit by bit with an explanation of where this money was coming from. 

My condolences on your loss

soulsaver

I'd suggest you change that name to something meaningless... or everyone with that name (or near) in the country is at risk of burglary.

MrFrugalFever

soulsaver said:

I'd suggest you change that name to something meaningless... or everyone with that name (or near) in the country is at risk of burglary.

and also at risk of not being able to do anything with it if they did get their hands on it!

kazwookie

Pay it into your account bit by bit over a period of months, and do a dd / so to your executors account bit by bit over a period of months. (I think £9800 and under per go)

NBLondon

I'd push back at NatWest - is there a central bereavement team to talk to?  A larger branch?    I understand why they are suspicious - selling a property for physical cash is not an everyday thing!

eskbanker

lizzilawrence said:

She sold a property not too long ago and we think it must be from that.

Are you able to locate any supporting information for that transaction?  As above, it would be highly unusual for a UK property sale to be funded by huge wads of cash, but if there's a conveyancing solicitor involved then they should at least be able to offer some documentary evidence to identify how the friend came by the money, even if the original source of that payment may be a little cloudier....

mrmajika

kazwookie said:

Pay it into your account bit by bit over a period of months, and do a dd / so to your executors account bit by bit over a period of months. (I think £9800 and under per go)

IMHO this is horrendous advice which should be disregarded. It would not work on a number of levels. 

I would imagine the solicitor would have come across similar situations. Maybe await their suggestion? 

RobM99

"She sold a property not too long ago and we think it must be from that."

Won't a solicitor/conveyancer have a trace of that? The sale, not the cash.

IanManc

I suggest that you open another executor account with a different - more amenable - bank. Show them the grant of probate and the forms you filled in to obtain probate, which show that you have declared the cash to the authorities as part of the assets of the estate, and that the cash is included in the net estate figure. Also tell them that the Probate Registry have told you to bank the money and deal with it according to the will. Be upfront from the start that the estate contains a large amount of cash and that you have properly declared it.

It is unlikely that the cash comes from the sale of a property. A solicitor acting for a purchaser wouldn't accept cash to fund the purchase because they have to comply with the regulations on money laundering so have to see an audit trail for where the money came from; and the vendor's solicitor wouldn't accept cash for similar reasons.

It's more likely that your friend just liked to hoard money at home. That isn't uncommon, but the huge amount is quite unusual.