Advice MIL died without leaving a will

Sea_Shell

What is actually left to sort?

Debts to be cleared, or further assets to be cashed in?

If it's all now "ready" then surely she just needs to make a transfer or issue a cheque etc.

Could you ask for a significant portion of the final amount to be paid ASAP, as a gesture of good will?

paul2louise

Sea_Shell said:

What is actually left to sort?

Debts to be cleared, or further assets to be cashed in?

If it's all now "ready" then surely she just needs to make a transfer or issue a cheque etc.

Could you ask for a significant portion of the final amount to be paid ASAP, as a gesture of good will?

the money is cleared but in 2 accounts. Who issues the cheques, why does it need an accountant to sort it. If the accounts are in MIL name. 

Sarahspangles

If SIL has probate and the estate is ready to be settled (all debts paid and assets collected) all she needs to do is distribute the estate. 

This is really clear - SIL is at Step 7 https://www.gov.uk/probate-estate - it's really not difficult to close the PO account with the probate certificate and then arrange to transfer half the value of the estate to your husband.  He might look at whether he is owed interest!

TonyMMM

Unless there was a business to wind up, or complicated tax issues to sort out I can't imagine any reason at all to have an accountant involved in sorting out what sounds like a very straightforward estate. If SIL has probate/administration, then there shouldn't be anything for a solicitor to do either .....sorry to say but it sounds like she is making up reasons for delay ( whether innocently or not).

As a guide,  I dealt with an estate as executor  a few months ago -  I had to wait about 12 weeks for the grant of probate to come through, but once I had that closing all the accounts, completing on sale of a property, gathering in all the proceeds and then distributing to the beneficiaries only took about another 4-6 weeks.

poppystar

If the sister has probate then no one else is needed. She needs to draw up a statement showing the estate accounts - very simple, all money collected in less expenses. Divide this amount by two and transfer one half to your OH. It sounds like you are also going to end up with accountants fees taken off without any real need as far as we can see. I hope the accountant isn’t a ‘friend’ of the sister. I’m pleased you said OH can see the money is still there, given the way his sister is behaving I’d be very worried otherwise that it had already been used for her children. 

OH needs to ask to see the estate account statement and to receive his part of the value of the estate NOW as per the law! 

RAS

The sister is mucking about. 

The only person who needs to be involved is the administrator.

Who can sign for cheques, authorise payments from the Natwest account? That person can go in on Monday and authorise payments to the beneficiaries. Any odds and sods like the accountant's fees can be paid for from the PO account, then it can be divided, distributed and closed. 

 Anyone who can manage a bank account sensibly can work out that:

Income = house sale + other accounts

Expenditure = funeral + running costs prior to sale + legal costs of sale and probate + administrator's expenses (clue: The administrator should have receipts, and bill or invoices for all costs)

Income - expenditure = net assets

Net assets divided 2 = amount to be distributed to beneficiaries when dealing with 2 intestacy and two children.

Even if there is a solicitor involved, they can't do anything without the administrators say so. All the administrator, solicitor or accountant need is details of your OH's bank account, or permission to get a bank draft/cheque drawn. 

We had some specific problems, so had to use a solicitor, even though we had all the financial paperwork.

One of the beneficiaries needed the money quickly, so the administrators authorised a partial distribution by BACS, keeping enough back to cover any unknown debts. We all got cheques for couple of thousand a couple of months later to close the accounts.

It really is not rocket science.

Sarahspangles

The action your SIL may need help with from an accountant is the estate accounts.  These aren't difficult, the link I provided has a layman's description of what they need to cover.  We can all speculate about what the hold up is, I think the scenarios range from 'has not kept receipts for valid estate expenses' through to 'has emptied one of the accounts and what remains now isn't enough to pay brother his share'.  Presumably the accountant is being charged to the estate?

bobster2

paul2louise said:

There is savings in a post office account which has the MIL name on the account and as far as i know hasnt been frozen. When his mum died the sister opened a new account with natwest where her old account was for the estate. The sale of her house went into this new natwest account. His sister said that they only needed an accountant to sort it all out and it would save money instead of using a solicitor. After a series of different accountants there is one now dealing with it. He knows how much is in both accounts and has the details of the natwest account and the post office account. 

This all sounds very strange. How can a deceased person have an account that is not frozen? Normally you inform a bank of the death. They freeze the account - then at some point on request (e.g. with Probate) they will close the account and pay the balance into the executor's/administrator's account.

And I'm baffled what an accountant needs to sort out. As others have pointed out - what needs to be done now is very simple.

As Probate has been obtained - all the tricky valuations / calculations of estate assets and debts have already been completed.

Spendless

paul2louise said:

There is savings in a post office account which has the MIL name on the account and as far as i know hasnt been frozen. When his mum died the sister opened a new account with natwest where her old account was for the estate. The sale of her house went into this new natwest account. His sister said that they only needed an accountant to sort it all out and it would save money instead of using a solicitor. After a series of different accountants there is one now dealing with it. He knows how much is in both accounts and has the details of the natwest account and the post office account. 

I'm sorry I'm really suspicious here. I don't see what an accountant is sorting out as others have mentioned. House sale money went into account in  sister's name, your husband might know how much went into the bank account, unless he has access to it then he can't know how much is currently sat in there.

Maybe I wouldn't be as cynical and think this is just someone who doesn't know you can dish the amount out once the estate is dealt with and they're just naïve. out of their depth etc if it wasn't for this request to split your husband's share between 7 people, taking a £200K total inheritance down from £100K each for 2 of them  to under £30K per person and conveniently your son is under 18 so his money (if your husband agreed to sister's suggestion) wouldn't be given to him till he was 18, giving sis another 6 years before his share needed handing over.

I had previously thought sisters comments were projection, I said as much earlier 'Mum would turn in her grave' 'you are being selfish'.

I hope the accountant sheds light on the situation next week. I hope my thoughts are completely wrong. Currently I do think hope for the best, prepare for the worst.  

Spendless

paul2louise said:

There is savings in a post office account which has the MIL name on the account and as far as i know hasnt been frozen. When his mum died the sister opened a new account with natwest where her old account was for the estate. The sale of her house went into this new natwest account. His sister said that they only needed an accountant to sort it all out and it would save money instead of using a solicitor. After a series of different accountants there is one now dealing with it. He knows how much is in both accounts and has the details of the natwest account and the post office account. 

Please can you clarify whose name this new bank account with Natwest is in?