Advice MIL died without leaving a will

paul2louise

Spendless said:

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?

I am.not sure what name is on the NatWest acc. I can't mention or ask OH anything else at the min as he has said he just wants to wait till tomorrow to see what accountant says. I could tell he was getting upset so I had to back off a bit. The post office account I think was just left and he didn't inform them of the death so it's just sitting open and interest still earning. He knows how much money is in the NatWest as he has seen an email and statement detailing the amount. He can't access it as he didn't open it. His sis did that. I will let him bring the subject up tomorrow but I don't want to cause any argument with us. So I am just waiting for him to talk to me and then I will help where I can 

RAS

Obviously, we don't know their relationship but his emotions must be all over the place.

Let's hope the accountant can at least shed light on the delays? However, I doubt the accountant can authorise the release of any money.

By this stage, it is reasonable to ask sis for a copy of the estate accounts. He needs to do this in writing because if he has to escalate, he needs evidence that he's already asked personally.  When sis applied for probate, she had to confirm that a copy of the account would be delivered up to the court if requested. Hopefully it won't get to that stage.

Sarahspangles

So I am just waiting for him to talk to me and then I will help where I can 

I do feel for you, as this must be distressing for you both.  I think he’s right to be quite ‘formal’ at this stage.  Hopefully the advice she’s getting from the accountant is balanced and she will realise she’s out if order.  Let’s hope this isn’t going to result in a long term breach - there must be other family links that he values, perhaps your son’s relationship with cousins, for example. 

bobster2

If the sister opened, and has been using, this Natwest account to administer the estate - then it would be entirely normal for it to be an account in her name (and not necessarily a special executor's account).

There would be nothing unusual, or particularly suspicious about that. Many other aspects of what has gone on might be unusual - but not this.

Spendless

bobster2 said:

If the sister opened, and has been using, this Natwest account to administer the estate - then it would be entirely normal for it to be an account in her name (and not necessarily a special executor's account).

There would be nothing unusual, or particularly suspicious about that. Many other aspects of what has gone on might be unusual - but not this.

Agreed, but then why would OP's husband be able to see it and once all final bills had been taken out wouldn't sister just transfer half the money over rather than needing an accountant to 'sort it out'?

(That's the bit that makes no sense to me) 

noh

bobster2 said:

If the sister opened, and has been using, this Natwest account to administer the estate - then it would be entirely normal for it to be an account in her name (and not necessarily a special executor's account).

There would be nothing unusual, or particularly suspicious about that. Many other aspects of what has gone on might be unusual - but not this.

Yes but what is unusual is that the house sale money has been sitting there for over two years without being distributed which the sister should have done. No help from solicitors or accountants needed.

bobster2

noh said:

bobster2 said:

If the sister opened, and has been using, this Natwest account to administer the estate - then it would be entirely normal for it to be an account in her name (and not necessarily a special executor's account).

There would be nothing unusual, or particularly suspicious about that. Many other aspects of what has gone on might be unusual - but not this.

Yes but what is unusual is that the house sale money has been sitting there for over two years without being distributed which the sister should have done. No help from solicitors or accountants needed.

Yes - that's why I very specifically wrote that many other aspects of what has gone on might be unusual!! And I also pointed out, earlier on, that an accountant shouldn't really be needed.

It sounds like various suspicious things have gone on - but I just didn't want the OP to fixate on the account holder's name as a potential problem.

Spendless

bobster2 said:

noh said:

bobster2 said:

If the sister opened, and has been using, this Natwest account to administer the estate - then it would be entirely normal for it to be an account in her name (and not necessarily a special executor's account).

There would be nothing unusual, or particularly suspicious about that. Many other aspects of what has gone on might be unusual - but not this.

Yes but what is unusual is that the house sale money has been sitting there for over two years without being distributed which the sister should have done. No help from solicitors or accountants needed.

Yes - that's why I very specifically wrote that many other aspects of what has gone on might be unusual!! And I also pointed out, earlier on, that an accountant shouldn't really be needed.

It sounds like various suspicious things have gone on - but I just didn't want the OP to fixate on the account holder's name as a potential problem.

Though it might just be that sis instead of paying things in and out of this new/executor account muddled it all up with her own money and now doesn't know what's what - hence needing an accountant.

My Mum has got similarly confused with payments in and out of my Nan's frozen account between her death and transferring to Mum's account - I just made a post about it.

Hopefully today the accountant can establish what the issue is and give OP's husband  some news about receiving his share of his inheritance.

lisyloo

My SIL messed up some money. Didn’t take it and no intention to deceive, just put 2 lots of money into one tin and couldn’t figure it out and actively avoided the situation. My husband has to estimate it as fairly and as best he could.

so being completely disorganised and not wanting to admit that is a real possibility here.  

Once seen in a Christmas cracker : Never attribute to malice that which can adequately be explained by incompetence.

paul2louise

Spendless said:

bobster2 said:

If the sister opened, and has been using, this Natwest account to administer the estate - then it would be entirely normal for it to be an account in her name (and not necessarily a special executor's account).

There would be nothing unusual, or particularly suspicious about that. Many other aspects of what has gone on might be unusual - but not this.

Agreed, but then why would OP's husband be able to see it and once all final bills had been taken out wouldn't sister just transfer half the money over rather than needing an accountant to 'sort it out'?

(That's the bit that makes no sense to me) 

sorry it is confusing. My OH cant see or access the account but he knows the acc number but he had email from sis stating the amount in the acc and he knows how much the house sold for and knows the costs involved.