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

Grumpy_chap

walrrrus said:

If you got a freind to take it to the police saying they 'found' it, the police would have to store it - it should be fairly safe in police station. Then you find a bank that would take it and you could go and 'claim' it.

The Police might accept the friend handing in the "found" money, but there will no doubt be some quizzing.
When the OP goes to claim the money, the Police will need some justification as to why this is the OPs to claim

SAC2334

When I dealt with two people s estates being an Executor is not enough proof  to approach banks and get information on private bank account s. You would need the official document issued by the Probate Registry called Letters of Administration.
You are going to need that to dig deeper into the deceased bank account (s ) and get proper information on the house sale and where that money ended up by following the banking trail . 
Once you have Letters of Administration you can then approach all other banks to find out if there were other accounts.
 
EDIT. people will hide money from the DWP so they can claim extra benefits and claim they have no savings .This is what my Uncle did when he hid £10,000 . 
Most of it was reclaimed back once they examined his bank account in detail after his death 

tetrarch

Have you considered renting a safety deprosit box?

It is a perfectly reasonable cost to charge to the estate until yo can find a solution. I imagine that cash from a estate disbursement should be acceptable to the beneficiaries' bank(s) when the estate is finally settled

Regards

Tet

born_again

Grumpy_chap said:

walrrrus said:

If you got a freind to take it to the police saying they 'found' it, the police would have to store it - it should be fairly safe in police station. Then you find a bank that would take it and you could go and 'claim' it.

The Police might accept the friend handing in the "found" money, but there will no doubt be some quizzing.
When the OP goes to claim the money, the Police will need some justification as to why this is the OPs to claim

I think that should read. 100% proof of the source. Simply saying "I found it in friends house" would not cut it. As well as throwing up well how did the person that handed it in get it?

Still does not solve the issue of paying it into a bank.🤷‍♀️

SAC2334

Executors of Estates can be prosecuted if they mishandle the full estate incorrectly..You can t just wing it and hand it into police .. Keep it hidden in your property somewhere . You have to play it 100 % legal and firstly get power via Letters of Administration to deal with all banks to get a full banking trail of where this large sum came from..Pensions are paid into bank accounts nowadays and that will be a start to examine that account going back years .Once that is established the bank should accept it as proof and you are not money laundering.

Grizebeck

SAC2334 said:

Executors of Estates can be prosecuted if they mishandle the full estate incorrectly..You can t just wing it and hand it into police .. Keep it hidden in your property somewhere . You have to play it 100 % legal and firstly get power via Letters of Administration to deal with all banks to get a full banking trail of where this large sum came from..Pensions are paid into bank accounts nowadays and that will be a start to examine that account going back years .Once that is established the bank should accept it as proof and you are not money laundering.

This
But you can legally hold onto the cash and the distribute the cash to the beneficiceries of the estate and then it becomes their problem (so to speak)
There is no legal requirement for you to bank the money and no reason why you can divide the cash as per the will or as such as rules of inherritance

On-the-coast

Seems crazy to "hide in house" though.  As tetrarch advised above - rent a safety deposit box asap! 
Get a few trusted witnesses to confirm your counts too... 

sheramber

Grizebeck said:

SAC2334 said:

Executors of Estates can be prosecuted if they mishandle the full estate incorrectly..You can t just wing it and hand it into police .. Keep it hidden in your property somewhere . You have to play it 100 % legal and firstly get power via Letters of Administration to deal with all banks to get a full banking trail of where this large sum came from..Pensions are paid into bank accounts nowadays and that will be a start to examine that account going back years .Once that is established the bank should accept it as proof and you are not money laundering.

This
But you can legally hold onto the cash and the distribute the cash to the beneficiceries of the estate and then it becomes their problem (so to speak)
There is no legal requirement for you to bank the money and no reason why you can divide the cash as per the will or as such as rules of inherritance

Do you envisage packing a wad of notes into an envelope and posting it to companies to pay outstanding debts, to a beneficiaries?

Grizebeck

sheramber said:

Grizebeck said:

SAC2334 said:

Executors of Estates can be prosecuted if they mishandle the full estate incorrectly..You can t just wing it and hand it into police .. Keep it hidden in your property somewhere . You have to play it 100 % legal and firstly get power via Letters of Administration to deal with all banks to get a full banking trail of where this large sum came from..Pensions are paid into bank accounts nowadays and that will be a start to examine that account going back years .Once that is established the bank should accept it as proof and you are not money laundering.

This
But you can legally hold onto the cash and the distribute the cash to the beneficiceries of the estate and then it becomes their problem (so to speak)
There is no legal requirement for you to bank the money and no reason why you can divide the cash as per the will or as such as rules of inherritance

Do you envisage packing a wad of notes into an envelope and posting it to companies to pay outstanding debts, to a beneficiaries?

I see no issue with that for beneficiaries

badger09

OP has clearly found a solution to this 'problem' as there has been no further activity since 27 October.