Telling bank after death

Spendless

My Nan died recently. She was in a Nursing home prior to her property had been sold to fund care several years earlier. She did  have a few thousand left in her bank account. She did leave a will. My Mum did have LPA and also is sole executor of Nan's wlll She told the bank who have frozen Nan's account. Any bills eg relating to her funeral are to be given to the bank and they will pay them from Nan's funds. Without Mum telling them what would stop her taking Nan's money out spending it on herself and telling me (a beneficiary of Nan's will) that there's nothing left? 

  I don't understand why you have  a reluctance to inform them?  I get the bills still need paying, but that's why you talk to the bank. They will tell you how to do this. They deal with it all the time

tetrarch

JGB1955 said:

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

I am not sure I agree. The will declares who will have the authority to act. It is the Grant of representation that actually gives the executor the legal authority to act.

Regards

Tet

Keep_pedalling

Sorry but what you have done is wrong and you may find you come under scrutiny when you finally get round to informing them of his death.

bobster2

tetrarch said:

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.

I don't understand why you asked the question on this thread - if you had already decided it was OK?

Some practical questions....

You referred to "electricity, gas, water etc" - what are the "etc"? They could be things that should not be paid out of the estate.

I presume you haven't told these companies (electricity, gas, water etc) about his death either? Presumably gas and electric will be taking direct debits based on how much he was using in the house when he was alive?

How are you even monitoring what direct debit amounts are being taken?

Savvy_Sue

Honestly, after we froze accounts it was not an issue. The utility companies simply froze the bills and waited for sale of the house / distribution of assets. But it did mean there was no chance of anyone - us, a scammer, an accident - getting their hands on the money in the account. 

Linton

tetrarch said:

JGB1955 said:

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

I am not sure I agree. The will declares who will have the authority to act. It is the Grant of representation that actually gives the executor the legal authority to act.

Regards

Tet

AIUI probate is only legally required where assets are formally registered such as property and shares. The banks also use it as a check when account balances are very high. But for most things, eg collecting money from debtors, paying money to creditors, and distributing assets probate is not required and the authority given by the will is sufficient.  Most estates I believe do not require probate.

bobster2

Linton said:

AIUI probate is only legally required where assets are formally registered such as property and shares. The banks also use it as a check when account balances are very high. But for most things, eg collecting money from debtors, paying money to creditors, and distributing assets probate is not required and the authority given by the will is sufficient.  Most estates I believe do not require probate.

Yes - banks will allow someone to act as personal representative and release funds without probate - up to a certain level. And they may ask to see the will.

But this is different from maintaining the charade that the person is still alive and operating the account on that basis.

p00hsticks

bobster2 said:

tetrarch said:

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.

I don't understand why you asked the question on this thread - if you had already decided it was OK?

Some practical questions....

You referred to "electricity, gas, water etc" - what are the "etc"? They could be things that should not be paid out of the estate.

I presume you haven't told these companies (electricity, gas, water etc) about his death either? Presumably gas and electric will be taking direct debits based on how much he was using in the house when he was alive?

How are you even monitoring what direct debit amounts are being taken?

Note that - unless we are dealing with one person using two separate id's, which is against forum rules -  you have conflated replies from two different people. Tetrarch, whose post you have quoted, has just piggy-backed onto this thread with a similar issue, and has decided it's ok to not inform the bank, but it is prop,  the original poster, who initially asked the question and referred to 'electricity, gas, water etc'

In relation to prop's original post, it is implied that there is no one now living in the deceased's property, in which case it's important to be open and honest about the situation when informing the insurance company, and this should be done as a matter of urgency. The existing insurers may well be happy to continue covering the property (buildings and contents) for a while, but may impose certain conditions such as checking the property regularly, turning water off or keeping it heated to a minimum temperature etc....

BooJewels

tetrarch said:

JGB1955 said:

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

I am not sure I agree. The will declares who will have the authority to act. It is the Grant of representation that actually gives the executor the legal authority to act.

If that were true, everyone would need a Grant of Probate for every Will in order to get anything done and they simply don't. 

I've executed 4 Wills in the last 3 or so years and I've only needed Probate for two of them and in those two cases, solely to sell a property - nothing else has required it.  

I've just advised my recently deceased aunt's bank of her demise and despite the holding she had with them being above the widely acknowledged threshold to require probate, they've decided that they won't require it in the circumstances - it would appear that it is largely at their discretion and based on more factors than just the account balance.  They also told me it also depended on how much was held elsewhere - so the whole value of the estate, not just their portion of it.

bobster2

p00hsticks said:

Note that - unless we are dealing with one person using two separate id's, which is against forum rules -  you have conflated replies from two different people. Tetrarch, whose post you have quoted, has just piggy-backed onto this thread with a similar issue, and has decided it's ok to not inform the bank, but it is prop,  the original poster, who initially asked the question and referred to 'electricity, gas, water etc'

Oh sorry!! It was the way Tetrarch wrote "Thank you for the replies" - just assumed it was the OP.