Wife,s dad passed away yesterday but do not know what to do.

Flugelhorn

yes definitely good idea to get paperwork out of the flat.  I know it seems wrong and people assume that somehow the family have to deal with  it and this is is what the council depends on  but it really is down to the estate to fund it and not the family, and if there is no money then the estate can't fund it

We had one in the family, 40s , debts +++, family opted to pay for funeral as they could afford to do it and wanted it that way - also death wasn't local. 
But there really was no money and they fended off all creditors by not administering the estate and pointing out that if there was any money that they were first in line as they paid for the funeral

rich_shot2003

Flugelhorn said:

yes definitely good idea to get paperwork out of the flat.  I know it seems wrong and people assume that somehow the family have to deal with  it and this is is what the council depends on  but it really is down to the estate to fund it and not the family, and if there is no money then the estate can't fund it

We had one in the family, 40s , debts +++, family opted to pay for funeral as they could afford to do it and wanted it that way - also death wasn't local. 
But there really was no money and they fended off all creditors by not administering the estate and pointing out that if there was any money that they were first in line as they paid for the funeral

Sorry to be a bit thick but when do you mean by estate? does that mean money in his bank account and life insurance?

if he had any money in bank then all it will be from is DWP which as he has been in and out of hospital and the time he was in hospital before he died was over 28 days then are DWP within their right to claw that back from his account?

this is what i mean we have no idea at all on all the hard stuff like money in bank account and if we can get at it to pay for things or not.

its all a big mess.

Robin9

From Citizens Advice

There used to be a good book from Which ? - What to do when someone dies.

• 
  

Dealing with the financial affairs of someone who has diedThis advice applies to England. See advice for See advice forNorthern Ireland, See advice forScotland, See advice forWales

How to deal with the property of a person who has died

Everything owned by a person who has died is known as their estate. The estate may be made up of:

• money, both cash and money in a bank or building society account. This could include money paid out on a life insurance policy

• money owed to the person who has died

• shares

• property, for example, their home

• personal possessions, for example, their car or jewellery.

If the person who died owes money to other people, for example, on a credit card, for fuel, for rent or a mortgage, this comes out of the estate

silvercar

rich_shot2003 said:

Flugelhorn said:

yes definitely good idea to get paperwork out of the flat.  I know it seems wrong and people assume that somehow the family have to deal with  it and this is is what the council depends on  but it really is down to the estate to fund it and not the family, and if there is no money then the estate can't fund it

We had one in the family, 40s , debts +++, family opted to pay for funeral as they could afford to do it and wanted it that way - also death wasn't local. 
But there really was no money and they fended off all creditors by not administering the estate and pointing out that if there was any money that they were first in line as they paid for the funeral

Sorry to be a bit thick but when do you mean by estate? does that mean money in his bank account and life insurance?

if he had any money in bank then all it will be from is DWP which as he has been in and out of hospital and the time he was in hospital before he died was over 28 days then are DWP within their right to claw that back from his account?

this is what i mean we have no idea at all on all the hard stuff like money in bank account and if we can get at it to pay for things or not.

its all a big mess.

Sorry for your loss.

the estate is all that he owned, so money in the bank and in his home, personal items, life insurance etc.

if there is no will then the law dictates who inherits, first that would be a spouse followed by all his children equally. If there is nothing, then collect any memories from his home and walk away from the estate.

RAS

Your wife needs to avoid intermeddling in the estate as that could make her personally liable for debts/costs.

It's OK to go into the house, collect paperwork and assess whether dad has assets. If he does have money, it's OK to get the funeral director to bill the bank directly, but it's important to ensure the costs can be met from the account. Otherwise, tell the hospital/social to arrange a public health funeral.

It's OK to use "tell us once". But don't pay any other bills, engage with any creditors. If any ask, tell them the estate is insolvent, and offer the carrier bag of paperwork if they wish to administer the estate.

Removing mementoes would be OK, but not valuables.

Flugelhorn

rich_shot2003 said:

Flugelhorn said:

yes definitely good idea to get paperwork out of the flat.  I know it seems wrong and people assume that somehow the family have to deal with  it and this is is what the council depends on  but it really is down to the estate to fund it and not the family, and if there is no money then the estate can't fund it

We had one in the family, 40s , debts +++, family opted to pay for funeral as they could afford to do it and wanted it that way - also death wasn't local. 
But there really was no money and they fended off all creditors by not administering the estate and pointing out that if there was any money that they were first in line as they paid for the funeral

Sorry to be a bit thick but when do you mean by estate? does that mean money in his bank account and life insurance?

if he had any money in bank then all it will be from is DWP which as he has been in and out of hospital and the time he was in hospital before he died was over 28 days then are DWP within their right to claw that back from his account?

this is what i mean we have no idea at all on all the hard stuff like money in bank account and if we can get at it to pay for things or not.

its all a big mess.

you aren't being thick - this whole things is sadly new to all of us at some point. The estate is everything he owned cash / insurance / property / goods.

re being in hospital for > 28 days, I think that affects attendance allowance.

re getting at money in bank accounts, if there is some then the banks are allowed to pay a funeral director's invoice directly even if you don't have access. Many FDs though are asking for some money upfront as they are wary in case there is not enough money in the bank account

Teapot55

@rich_shot2003 Sorry for your loss. 

Recently I had to find out which insurance company my Auntie had had her life assurance policy with and there was no policy to look at because another family member had previously removed all the paperwork from the house and then disappeared. It is possible to find out whether a person had a policy and which company it was without paperwork. 

What you do need to claim on a policy is the death certificate. They will only accept the original that the registrar at the register office have provided you with and I think I had to take the envelope to the post office to post it ‘signed for’ so it got there safely. They do send it back to you straight away. 

Also I had to open a separate bank account with my bank so that when the insurance company paid out they did a bank transfer into that account. In our case there was just enough money to cover a simple funeral but if there hadn’t been enough there was an option to have a basic one for about £1200. 

Teapot55

@rich_shot2003 Also, you don’t have to pay for anything. If a person has any debts or unpaid bills any money in bank accounts (or paid out from life assurance policies) goes first to pay for their funeral. Then, if there’s any left over it has to be used to settle the debts and bills. If there’s no will and no money then relatives don’t have to get involved and you won’t be in trouble with anyone. 

This from the government website is very helpful: https://www.gov.uk/search/all?keywords=Death&order=relevance

Also this is about getting help with Funeral costs: https://www.gov.uk/funeral-payments

rich_shot2003

Can i double check something we have gone to hospital and picked up his wallet and his bank code and pin was in there.

So we went to cashpoint and he has money in his account which would cover everything.

So as we are sorting it all out what are the rules about taking money out?

Would we get into trouble if we took money out to cover all the cists?

elsien

No you shouldn’t be taking money out using his pin. You should be informing the bank that he’s passed away at which point they would freeze the account. However they would usually pay the money directly to a funeral director if the funeral director invoices them.

So when you say taking money out to cover all the costs, what costs do you mean? If there’s not enough in there to cover the cost of a funeral, and you are not able to pay for the funeral yourselves, then you need to step back and let the local authority do it as previously referenced.