Telling bank after death

Sarahspangles

Posting this in case it’s useful to someone reading this thread, who will become an executor of someone whose health is declining.

My OH was his mum’s attorney under an EPA (the older version of an LPA) and after his dad died he was added as a joint account holder for her current account as she was already struggling to manage her affairs.  There are strict rules about what an attorney can and can’t do with the funds of the person they support, this was fine within those rules and he made sure to keep clear records of actions.  

When she died the account was simply moved into his sole name, rather than frozen, and he subsequently added the second executor so it became a joint Executorship account.  Again, there are strict rules about what executors can and can’t do - here, management of the money in the account went seamlessly from being under the Attorneyship to the Executorship.  

When the estate is settled, the distribution will take place from the Executorship account, which can then be closed, and all transactions can be accounted for to beneficiaries in the Estate Accounts. 

This has kept things really simple, compared to when he administered his father’s estate - there, most payments for estate costs ended up going through our account as his mum wasn’t able to use online banking or write cheques.

BooJewels

My sister and I did that with our Dad @Sarahspangles - not with all his money, but we each had a joint account with him at different banks with a few thousand in - enough to pay all the immediate bills anyway - but it ended up not being needed for a while, as the bank released his main current account to the estate account I'd opened within about 5 days, because I was already a customer myself and had been an active Attorney on his account for about 2 years.

Ditto with my aunt mentioned above - one of the factors they cited for probably not needing Probate (haven't got the funds yet, they may well change their minds) - is that I have been an Attorney on her account for over 18 months, so I've already passed their security and ID checks.

msb1234

The problem with not notifying the banks is that there is a ‘hierarchy’ of debts that will need to be paid from the estate. If theres, say, a charge against the property, then this is the first debt that has to be repaid. Where money has been used to pay off things like an outstanding utilities bill, there could be complications.
Just notify the banks, notify anyone who has a direct debit set up on those accounts and once probate is granted you will be able to pay any outstanding debts in the correct order.