Best bank for Executors' account?

Newly_retired

I would welcome people's experience of opening Executor accounts. Any banks to avoid? Or is it better to stick with a bank you or the deceased had an account with ( eg Lloyds )
Any advice on when is the right time to open one of these?
Do they need all 3 executors to be named? Or can one person do it alone?
Thanks in advance.

bobster2

Very few banks offer them. Many people just use a regular account opened specifically for this purpose.

[Deleted User]

I'm administering my fathers estate at the moment and I just opened a normal current account in my own name which I'm using (so I can keep the money seperate from my own). Natwest offer an executors account and you need probate to open convert a normal account to an executors account, but most banks will release funds up to a certain limit without requiring probate anyway. 

BooJewels

As @bobster2 just said, not many banks offer them these days.  My bank, when I made such an enquiry, actively advised against an actual executor account, unless the estate was especially complicated, as they have many restrictions in their functionality - such as theirs didn't allow on-line access and payments had to be made by cheque signed by all executors etc.

So I just opened a separate current account with my own bank and used that and just kept everything entirely separate and shared bank statements with the other executor.  The intention was to make it a joint account, but as this was in the first big lockdown, I had to open it on my own initially and my sister just wasn't bothered about being added it it, so its remained in my sole name.  I'm just using the same account again for another estate, again as executor with my sister.

As for timing, I'd set it up as soon as you know you're executing an estate, as often when closing other accounts they'll want account details to transfer funds to.

Spendless

I believe NatWest are one of the few banks to still offer an executor account. My Mum initially didn't think (sole executor) and just moved the money from Nan's estate into her and my Dad's joint account. Then realised it was too easily mixed up with their own money so opened another account elsewhere as a savings account. That has had the advantage that it's had some interest applied whilst waiting for the final bills to come in for Nan's funeral but when they've wanted to pay anything by cheque they've had to transfer the money into their current account first. Yes, you could do a bank transfer but I doubt Mum grasps how to do it. Just make sure it's a bank account which suits.

Not sure why Natwest who Nan was with didn't just offer an executor account  after they froze Nan's account after her death and Mum took her Nan's death certificate and Will but reading the above reply Nan's estate didn't need probate (estate too small) so that might be why. 

SevenOfNine

Deceased FiL banked with Lloyds, so did his son (my husband). Both been with Lloyds for more years than we can remember.  When we took death cert in (had already frozen the a/c) to move funds they literally refused to open an executor account.

Even worse, they said no-one was available to open a new a/c in my husbands name to move the money to! It was either going to be a cheque or transfer it to our joint account with Lloyds.

We opted for the latter, came straight home & opened a new a/c on-line in husband's sole name & shifted the funds into that, it wasn't appropriate to mix estate funds with our own money. 

NatWest, my deceased mum's bank. So appalling, difficult & obstructive with the £25k in her a/c I'll never have anything to do with them......ever again! I did a formal complaint & got a few hundred extra for the estate & paid for everything myself until probate was granted & they had no option but to hand it over.

There were 2 executors for FiL's estate & 3 for my mum's. We've found it easier to deal with on our own but FiL's 2nd executor wouldn't renounce or have power reserved, so we just froze him out of access to FiL's money because he'd been helping himself to it for many month before FiL died. 

With my mum's estate my brother's opted to have 'powers reserved', so when NatWest finally coughed up they were happy for me to continue with the finances in a new a/c moved to Lloyds just in my name.

All the 'power sharing' stuff works OK if you all live locally to each other, but even in those circumstances, we/I've found it easier to handle it alone, keeping simple but strictly accurate accounts.

BooJewels

SevenOfNine said:

[snip]
All the 'power sharing' stuff works OK if you all live locally to each other, but even in those circumstances, we/I've found it easier to handle it alone, keeping simple but strictly accurate accounts.

That reminded me of another point that was nudging at the edge of my mind. To open an executor account - at the time - they required all executors to be present together with ID and the Will to open such an account, which as this was lockdown and neither of us could travel, that ruled it out anyway - same for a joint account at the time.  Thankfully, with my sister and I we trust each other completely, so it's just not been an issue for me to handle it alone - she does different stuff and we work as a team.

Sorry that you had a bad experience with NatWest - it's just not needed at already difficult times.  My aunt banked with Barclays and they were really hard work when I was her Attorney, but once she passed, it was really quick and smooth getting it sorted.  I expected to need Probate as the balance was above what they quoted me as their Probate limit, but they just transferred it over in about 10 days - I was braced for a fight that didn't happen.

[Deleted User]

A correction to what I said above, a Natwest account can be converted to an exeutors account without probate but you can then only pay in, probate is required to get the money out again.

As mentioned above I'd open the account as soon as possible as when you close accounts banks ask where the funds should be transferred to. It might also be worth choosing an account that can have a cheque book in case any of the debts you need to settle require payment by cheque.

kipsterno1

I openned an account with Natwest.  Initially you open it as a normal account then apply to convert it to an executors account. We only had two executors but as others have said realised it was going to be a pain living over 100 miles apart to actually manage everything.  My sister, the other executor, agreed to reserve power so that I could deal with everything so I never actually converted the account to an executors and am still using it now everything has been distributed as a back up current account.

p00hsticks

I opened a Nat West one. As I bank with them already and use online banking the initial process is very easy, as the first step is just to open another ordinary current account with them - you can do it online in a few minutes. 
What is an executor account? (natwest.com)

I imagine I could theoretically have just renamed and used this account, but by that stage I was already using a separate personal account of mine with a different bank that I already had cleared down to handle the estate expenses. 

To officially turn it into an executor account you then have to go into a branch with the relevant paper work - from my recollection, they wanted to see a copy of the will, grant of probate or similar and my ID. The account was set up for only me - I could have added the other executor but it would have involved more hoops as they weren't NatWest customers and so would have needed to go through a lot if ID processes, and they were happy for me to handle the banking side of things. You get online banking (the account shows alongside your personal ones) and a debit card, which I don't believe all executor accounts offer.

I only really needed it to get the proceeds of a house sale - as I wasn't a residual beneficiary on the estate, I was concerned that a solicitor would want the proceeds to go into an executor account  rather than a personal one of mine. 

Sarahspangles

My OH already had a joint account with his Mum as he was her attorney, so that by default became the Executor’s account when she passed away. He then added the other Executor, his brother. The solicitor dealing with the conveyancing said that this meant that the proceeds from the house sale could be deposited there, otherwise they would have needed to issue two cheques, which would cost a bit more.

I won’t recommend the Co-op Bank though, as getting the second Executor added was a pain. He lives in an area with no branch coverage and this could only be done in branch, and they don’t offer guaranteed appointments even when he could manage to be near a branch.

There is a downside to this ‘looking like’ an ordinary account which is that the linked savings account gets interest, and we think this will be reported by the bank as interest received by OH and his brother.  OH will need to let HMRC know as otherwise it will affect his tax code due to him having used up his personal savings allowance with interest on his own savings.