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

born_again

IanManc said:

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.

I don't think ANY bank will take £100K cash without proof of source. Even saying it came from deceased persons house, they are still going to have serious concerns over the source. 
Splitting it is only going to open OP up to further investigation.

Thumbs_Up

I kid you not only yesterday I took my late mum spare cash to 2 different banks, getting paranoid about the cashier giving me the 3rd degree. £1,500 between the 2 banks.

 

daveyjp

Very much doubt £100k is from the sale, i.e. a buyer paid in cash.

They may have sold and then withdrawn large amounts of cash on a regular basis, but if they did there would be a record of the deposit and cash withdrawals with a financial organisation.

You need to find a solicitor that does know what to do, which may mean going for one of the larger firms who can deal with the money laundering aspect and probate matters as one instruction.

It won't be cheap, but the estate pays for the costs.

Marchitiello

When The King (then PoW) received €3m in cash stuffed into Fortnum & Mason carry bags, apparently called Coutts (his bank, part of the NatWest Group) to come and collect it.. Maybe NatWest should arrange collection with a security van (I think their issues was about insurance and not able to safely keep it at the branch, rather than source).

xylophone

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! 

The particular branch where you hold the exor account?

Or any branch?

I wonder would be worth while checking out a City of London branch/Natwest HO?

[Deleted User]

xylophone said:

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! 

The particular branch where you hold the exor account?

Or any branch?

I wonder would be worth while checking out a City of London branch/Natwest HO?

Any branch with a full business banking counter would be able to service the cash. Small branches & ex-Building Societies usually have difficulties with large cash transactions.  However, sounds like they will be reluctant without corresponding documentation regardless of the practicalities.

Do you know who the intended recipient is/was? I would be tempted to give it to them in duffle bag Tony Soprano style!

adindas

Deleted_User said:

xylophone said:

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! 

The particular branch where you hold the exor account?

Or any branch?

I wonder would be worth while checking out a City of London branch/Natwest HO?

Any branch with a full business banking counter would be able to service the cash. Small branches & ex-Building Societies usually have difficulties with large cash transactions.  However, sounds like they will be reluctant without corresponding documentation regardless of the practicalities.

Do you know who the intended recipient is/was? I would be tempted to give it to them in duffle bag Tony Soprano style!

What about to deposit it in a smaller chunks, say £9.990 at a time for a few days, weeks and might on different branches??

Brie

Keep it somewhere safe and hand it over to the beneficiaries as is.  Let them get it into the bank.

MrFrugalFever

adindas said:

Deleted_User said:

xylophone said:

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! 

The particular branch where you hold the exor account?

Or any branch?

I wonder would be worth while checking out a City of London branch/Natwest HO?

Any branch with a full business banking counter would be able to service the cash. Small branches & ex-Building Societies usually have difficulties with large cash transactions.  However, sounds like they will be reluctant without corresponding documentation regardless of the practicalities.

Do you know who the intended recipient is/was? I would be tempted to give it to them in duffle bag Tony Soprano style!

What about to deposit it in a smaller chunks, say £9.990 at a time for a few days, weeks and might on different branches??

That just looks suspicious and the end result is the same.

NedS

lizzilawrence said:

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!

As bank notes have been changed out relatively recently to newer polymer notes, there must be some history. If the cash has come directly from the sale of a house, the conveyancing solicitor will have a record of how payment was made. If she withdrew that amount of cash from their account recently, there will be bank statements showing the withdraws. The age of the notes will determine how far back you need to look.