Beneficiary not taken cheque

Rural_Life

Hi, Google struggles to give me the answer. A friend of mine lost their loved one last summer and he was responsible for notifying all beneficiaries. All very simple and straightforward until one has not cashed their cheque, they have the cheque, have acknowledged getting it, have not put in a claim for more against the Will but have not taken the money. 

How long do they have? My friend doesn't want a sum of money sitting I  his account that he cannot use and isn't his. Surely there must be a time limit?

He is happy for the person to cash the cheque and be done with his responsibility rather than be tied to this. This is also in Scotland which may have different rules

user1977

Five years is the usual time limit for prescription in Scotland, so sounds like he's nowhere near that yet. If he wants rid of the money I think there is a procedure for it to be lodged in court and the beneficary (or in turn, their beneficiaries) can claim it in the future, but probably simpler just to chase them up.

Brie

Might be a simple case of contacting the beneficiary and asking if they would prefer the money to be transferred online.  Some people have trouble getting to a bank particularly if all the branches near them have closed. 

Or if they've changed their name and the cheque is in the wrong one.  Or if the bank won't accept the cheque even if it's in the right name (happened to me).

p00hsticks

user1977 said:

Five years is the usual time limit for prescription in Scotland

The cheque won't be valid that long though - most (all ?) banks would refuse to process a cheque dated more than six months ago. so it's likely that if the beneficiary did eventually decide to bank it after that timeframe, they'd be referred back to the executor for the cheque to be reissued.

macman

What date was the cheque issued? More than 6m ago?
Contact the beneficiary pointing out that it will expire on date x/x.
Aren't legacies usually sent by bank transfer these days?

RAS

That requires the beneficiary's co-operation. If they can't get round to cashing a cheque, it may be there are other issues round responding to requests.

msb1234

could it be that the beneficiary is in receipt of means tested benefits that would be affected if they cashed the cheque?

lisyloo

Brie said:

Might be a simple case of contacting the beneficiary and asking if they would prefer the money to be transferred online.  Some people have trouble getting to a bank particularly if all the branches near them have closed. 

Or if they've changed their name and the cheque is in the wrong one.  Or if the bank won't accept the cheque even if it's in the right name (happened to me).

I take my cheques to a post office if they are too large to go through an app.
Difficult to believe someone can’t get to a post office.
sounds like they have another reason.

I have not cashed cheques before from a person I didn’t want a relationship with.

Rural_Life

msb1234 said:

could it be that the beneficiary is in receipt of means tested benefits that would be affected if they cashed the cheque?

This is my belief. 
My friend is of the same opinion but he just doesn't want to have to hold on to this money in his bank until the individual decides to get her finger out and cash it. I said; if the cheque elapses then the beneficiary has the name, number and location of the solicitor who wrote the Will and that solicitor can contact my friend 

lisyloo

I’ve put through old cheques before and they went through. I don’t think there is much checking these days.

is this deliberate deprivation of assets?
and does the executor have any responsibility in that regard?

SiliconChip

Rural_Life said:

msb1234 said:

could it be that the beneficiary is in receipt of means tested benefits that would be affected if they cashed the cheque?

This is my belief. 
My friend is of the same opinion but he just doesn't want to have to hold on to this money in his bank until the individual decides to get her finger out and cash it. I said; if the cheque elapses then the beneficiary has the name, number and location of the solicitor who wrote the Will and that solicitor can contact my friend 

I think that DWP may treat the inheritance as if it has been received whether the cheque has been deposited or not, so if they find out about it the benefits may be stopped anyway, and possibly clawed back to the date the cheque was issued. In the worst case scenario it could be viewed as a fraudulent claim with the possibility of criminal proceedings.