Help, Stepmum just died, we live in France....

thecrustycob

I hope someone can offer me some advice please.
My husband's step mum has just died.  He has been named executor on her will and everything is to go to him.  She has nothing. She lives in a Maritime housing association bungalow, she owns no property, has no assets that we know of it is just personal items. She has no friends or other family who can help
She has paid for a funeral plan, which I believe is still valid.  She has three estranged children, whom she hasn't seen for a long long time.  How do we find them to let them know their mum has died??
The problem we have is that we live in France, it is difficult to get back to England straight away, but the bungalow will need to be sorted, paperwork to attend to ect..
We've never done this before and don't know where to start. Obviously if we have to go back to England, can any tell us how long it takes for registering death, arranging funeral and do we need to be there, or can it be done from France.
Many Thanks

sheramber

How did she die? Was she under medical treatment or is it a sudden death? That can affect how soon the death can be registered.

The  landlord will advise how long you have to clear the house.

If you are certain there is nothing  of importance to be removed from the house  , you can employ a house clearance company to do it but that will  be at a cost.

Someone will have to get the funeral plan documents and pass them to the funeral director.  The funeral director will take care of the funeral arrangements, depending on what is covered by the funeral plan.

The funeral director will need a certificate  you get from the registrar.

Timing of the funeral will depend on local circumstances.

If no one is attending the funeral  the funeral director can take care of it once everything is sorted.

Someone  will need to notify any banks, energy suppliers, pension payer etc

When registering the death you can use the Tell Us Once service which will notify other government departments.

Unless there is contact information or you have any information about the whereabouts of the estranged children there is not much you can do. - you could try facebook if you have some details of names, families etc. that you could recognise.

RAS

With respect to the children, do you know their names, or married name if female, and dates of birth. Do you know step-mum's previous married and maiden names? And anything about location?

A lot depends how common the surnames are. Smith marrying Brown, Singh and Gill, going to be a lot of effort. But I've just been tracing the children and (living) grandchildren of someone in one of my trees. According to some private trees, there are 5 grandchildren. I've names and marriages for four them and suggested postal addresses for three. If any one of those is correct, a message sent to them all could locate the correct family quite quickly.

If you know anyone with Ancestry subscription? Or access to the Library version? Combine with www.192.com and it's possible.

HobgoblinBT

Sorry for your loss.  

As your late stepmother-in law lived in a housing association home can the housing association assist in terms of any immediate local help such as visiting the property etc?

  Also, for free practical guidance, check the U.K. Citizens Advice website which has an online practical bereavement guide including registration of a death.

Hope that helps

getmore4less

One option is do very little.

You have no responsibility to do anything.

For insolvent estates it is recommended start from do nothing then consider carefully what you do do. 

Obligation may take over but be careful you don't open yourself to becoming liable for costs.


First task might be trying to establish if the estate is solvent, not unknown for there to be an accumulation sitting in a bank account.

macman

You can't do much of it from outside the UK. You can of course appoint a solicitor in the UK and grant them POA to wind up the affairs, but if the estate is near-insolvent then this may be futile.
If you feel no moral obligation to get involved then you can renounce the executorship and walk away. The LA will make the funeral arrangements if the funeral plan does not cover the costs.

Marcon

thecrustycob said:

I hope someone can offer me some advice please.
My husband's step mum has just died.  He has been named executor on her will and everything is to go to him.  She has nothing. She lives in a Maritime housing association bungalow, she owns no property, has no assets that we know of it is just personal items. She has no friends or other family who can help
She has paid for a funeral plan, which I believe is still valid.  She has three estranged children, whom she hasn't seen for a long long time.  How do we find them to let them know their mum has died??
The problem we have is that we live in France, it is difficult to get back to England straight away, but the bungalow will need to be sorted, paperwork to attend to ect..
We've never done this before and don't know where to start. Obviously if we have to go back to England, can any tell us how long it takes for registering death, arranging funeral and do we need to be there, or can it be done from France.
Many Thanks

Harsh as the comment may sound, why do anything at all? You can't hurt the feelings of the dead, and if your husband's step mother had 'nothing', it's entirely possible as others have already mentioned that the estate could be insolvent - in which case doing nothing is by far your husband's best bet. It won't be the first time the housing association will have been in such a situation (i.e. someone dies with no relatives to clear the property/arrange the funeral), so simply taking no action could be the safest route.

TBagpuss

Does your husband *want* to deal with things? He doesn't have to act, he can renounce as executor (effectively declining to act) Her children would then havethe right to apply for letter s of adminstration with will annexed. 

IIRC (but check) registering the death and arranging the funeralaren't calassd as 'intermeddling' with the estate so he can probably do those thingsbut still renounce the executorship. Simialrly telling people of her death isn't intermeddling. Nor is writing to any creditors to say that as far as he knows, the estate is insolvemt and no one is administering it. So it's likely that he could register the death, and contact the company which provided the funder plan and organise the funderal without having to actually act as executor. 

If he is willing to act or feels he should, then he isn't under any obligation to inform her children (especially if there are no assets  / they are not beneficiaries) 

As executor, his role is to carry out the terms of the will - he isn't personally liable so if there aren't any assets to cover outstanding bills / pay to clear the house etc then he has no personal liability (landlord or other creditor may try to claim othewise) BUTa it is very importnat that undestnads and follows the rules aboiut how any assets are used, e.g. whatdebts / bills are paid, and in what order / what proportion.

If he feels that he should try to tell the childnre then things he can do (again, whether or not he  decides to act as executo) would include:

- worting to their last known address / last known e-mail address
- searching for them on facebook and other social media
- checking if his step mum had an address book and writing to any friends or family listed, and asking them to let him have contact details for the children or to pass on the news to them, if they are in contact with them 
- consodering putting a death notice / funeral notice  into step mum's local paper - the children may not see it but it will probably continue to be archived oline and fidable if they ever search, and has the benefit of letting any of step-mum's local friends know as well 

There are private detectives who can search for people, they are often used when probate lawyers or executors need to find heirs, and can check thinghs like the public electoraloll as well as making more in depth enquiries but while an initial search can be fairly cheap as it will be done using online respurces , anything further would get expensive fast so not something he should be paying for out of pocket.

If he does go ahead, then the probate application can be done online with orginal documnts sent by post so even from France he could still do most things. And he could instruct a UK solicitor to do the leg wortk if he wanted but again, if there's no money in the estae to pay for it it p would proabbly be more sensible to decline to act. 

The landlord will ultimately clear the property so maybe collect anything of sentimental value and lt the rest go. (technically taking things might b an sissue but unless they are actually, as well as emotionally, valuable, it's unlikely to be an issue or indeed soemthing that anyone else will know!) 

Savvy_Sue

Worth asking the HA if they would be able to clear the flat and store if he WANTS to do this task. There will be a charge, but they will want the flat back in use ASAP, often within two weeks. 

The funeral may well be 'put-offable' if you think you'd be able to travel within a reasonable timescale. 

The death has to be registered fairly promptly, but this can be carried out by either the HA if she died in her flat, or the hospital where she died. 

It does depend, as said, whether you WANT to do anything or not. Whether you do or not, your best liaison may be with the HA - the warden for the flat / her Housing Officer.

Pennylane

The comments about doing nothing don’t sit well with me. So, if this lady DID have anything worth inheriting it sounds like you WOULD  get involved.  anyway, lots of older people squirrel money away and you would be very surprised how much cash they leave behind them.  It doesn’t sound like the OP and her husband saw the StepMother very often as they live in France.  She may have a lot more than they think.     That aside, I would speak to the Housing Association because they may have someone else down as next of kin so at least you could inform someone else. 

macman

The OP can still benefit as a beneficiary if there is a valid will. but there is no requirement for them to act as executor.