Telling bank after death

prop

Hi 
Dad has died and he had 2 bank accounts with different banks, the value of his estate does not need probate to close the accounts.
One account has savings and the other pays all the bills.
What I would like to do is tell the savings bank to release the savings to me and my brother and leave bill paying bank in operation so electricity, gas, water etc are still paid by DD from the funds in there until we sell the house.
Is this practical and is it allowed?

RAS

Sorry for your loss.

Have you used tell us once?

You need to tell both banks pretty much immediately. Although if you can get a list of DDs from them or statements it's a good idea.

You and bro, jointly or one of you, needs a new account for the estate, effectively an executors account although it may not be called that.

Speak to the bereavement departments at all of the suppliers with readings and set up new DDs, assuming there is enough cash to cover them. If there isn't, suppliers will defer payment until the house is sold.

You'll need probate anyway for the house, and to collect any money in accounts and pay all debts before distributing anything. 

It's early days yet, but do speak to the insurance company and check what their requirements are.

Keep_pedalling

His current account should not be used to continue any DD payments, the bank needs to be informed and they will freeze the account. As above inform the utility companies of his death. 

Is anyone still living in his home? Was it rented accommodation or did he own it?

RAS

Keep_pedalling said:

Was it rented accommodation or did he own it?

They are selling the house.

Linton

As has been said you must tell the banks as soon as possible about the death. The bank will hen freeze the account.  If you are an executor and the bank balance is less than some bank-dependent limit (perhaps £30K) the bank will release the cash directly to you.  You will need to show them the will and your ID.

You must then tell the utilities who will probably be very helpful.  When I was executor for example the water company simply stopped charging until the house was sold.

Keep_pedalling

RAS said:

Keep_pedalling said:

Was it rented accommodation or did he own it?

They are selling the house.

Doh! Senior moment.

tetrarch

Linton said:

As has been said you must tell the banks as soon as possible about the death. The bank will hen freeze the account.  If you are an executor and the bank balance is less than some bank-dependent limit (perhaps £30K) the bank will release the cash directly to you.  You will need to show them the will and your ID.

You must then tell the utilities who will probably be very helpful.  When I was executor for example the water company simply stopped charging until the house was sold.

"Must" is a very specific term and implies some kind of legal basis. Is it a legal requirement and on whom does it fall?

Regards

Tet

Linton

tetrarch said:

Linton said:

As has been said you must tell the banks as soon as possible about the death. The bank will hen freeze the account.  If you are an executor and the bank balance is less than some bank-dependent limit (perhaps £30K) the bank will release the cash directly to you.  You will need to show them the will and your ID.

You must then tell the utilities who will probably be very helpful.  When I was executor for example the water company simply stopped charging until the house was sold.

"Must" is a very specific term and implies some kind of legal basis. Is it a legal requirement and on whom does it fall?

Regards

Tet

Not telling the bank would be counter to the bank's Ts&Cs.  Continuing to use the deceased's money when they were no longer around to authorise it could be seen as fraud.  The authority of a PoA ends on the death of the donor.  It is the job of the executor to tidy up the deceased's affairs.

Sarahspangles

tetrarch said:

Linton said:

As has been said you must tell the banks as soon as possible about the death. The bank will hen freeze the account.  If you are an executor and the bank balance is less than some bank-dependent limit (perhaps £30K) the bank will release the cash directly to you.  You will need to show them the will and your ID.

You must then tell the utilities who will probably be very helpful.  When I was executor for example the water company simply stopped charging until the house was sold.

"Must" is a very specific term and implies some kind of legal basis. Is it a legal requirement and on whom does it fall?

Regards

Tet

Executors/administrators (representatives) are legally responsible for the money, property and possessions of the deceased from the date of death.  So they need to inform banks and stop payments etc that were made to accounts set up in the deceased’s name.  The estate’s creditors and debitors need to deal with the representatives directly from that point onwards.  

For practical purposes a DD made for a gas bill within a couple of days of the death isn’t really going to be an issue, there will have to be a calculation of the closing balance for the account and a payment or credit.  But this shouldn’t go on indefinitely.  Executors need to account for transactions - the starting point is account balances, creditors and debtors at date of death, then payments made from the estate start after that point.

tetrarch

Thank you for the replies.

To confirm that there is no LPA involved in my situation (MIL)

All the statutory bodies (Council, HMRC etc) and income streams (pensions etc) have been told. An application for probate has been submitted and we are waiting for it to be granted (two queries at week 4 dealt with, now on week 7....). The most practical seems to be NS&I where you have a year to sort out Premium Bonds

None of the banks have been notified of the death. The plan is to approach those institutions after the probate has been granted and deal with everythng in one go.

"Not telling the bank would be counter to the bank's Ts&Cs" - But the executors have no contractual relationship to breach. In fact thet cannot have any kind of contractual relatonship until after probate is granted

"Continuing to use the deceased's money when they were no longer around to authorise it could be seen as fraud"  - This is conjecture, is it actually fraud or is acting for the deceased in line with their wishes not allowed?

"Executors/administrators (representatives) are legally responsible for the money, property and possessions of the deceased from the date of death." - agreed. But allowing Direct Debits to continue and the account to operate without notifying doesn't negate this. 

"So they need to inform banks and stop payments etc that were made to accounts set up in the deceased’s name.  The estate’s creditors and debitors need to deal with the representatives directly from that point onwards" - You are using "need" - it's the same as "must". I can find no legal requirement that this has to happen, but I'm happy to be proven wrong if such a legal requirement can be shown.

Regards

Tet

I'm going to be asking a connected question soon on a separate thread

JGB1955

tetrarch said:

Thank you for the replies.


"Not telling the bank would be counter to the bank's Ts&Cs" - But the executors have no contractual relationship to breach. In fact thet cannot have any kind of contractual relatonship until after probate is granted

The will gives the executors authority to act.  Probate is just confirmation of that.