What happens upon death of spouse?

J_B

Father in Law (92) is in hospital - he may get better, but may not.

Mother in Law (88) is still coping reasonably.

They still live independently in their (owned) rambling 4 bedroom house as long as 'we' do the shopping and ferrying for them.

They have a will in place and we have both LPA's for them both.

I *think* that the electricity (EON) and telephone/internet (Plusnet) accounts are in his name.

If he sadly passes away, what happens to the utilities?

What other things have we overlooked?

Marcon

J_B said:

Father in Law (92) is in hospital - he may get better, but may not.

Mother in Law (88) is still coping reasonably.

They still live independently in their (owned) rambling 4 bedroom house as long as 'we' do the shopping and ferrying for them.

They have a will in place and we have both LPA's for them both.

I *think* that the electricity (EON) and telephone/internet (Plusnet) accounts are in his name.

If he sadly passes away, what happens to the utilities?

What other things have we overlooked?

They won't be summarily cut off, if that's worrying anyone. 

'They' have 'a' will - hopefully each of them has their own will? If you can find out now what his says, that would be especially helpful in case there is anything which could usefully be discussed while the testator is still alive, assuming of course that people can cope with doing that from an emotional/psychological standpoint. In particular, ensure that you have any computer passwords etc.

If you google on the words 'what to do when someone dies' you'll get lots of links to helpful websites with links alerting you to what will need to be done.

J_B

Marcon said:

They won't be summarily cut off, if that's worrying anyone. 

'They' have 'a' will - hopefully each of them has their own will? If you can find out now what his says, that would be especially helpful in case there is anything which could usefully be discussed while the testator is still alive, assuming of course that people can cope with doing that from an emotional/psychological standpoint. In particular, ensure that you have any computer passwords etc.

If you google on the words 'what to do when someone dies' you'll get lots of links to helpful websites with links alerting you to what will need to be done.

Many thanks for your quick response.

Methinks that any discussions would be uncomfortable and unlikely as he has, shall we say, difficulty in much rational thought at the moment.

We gave the will to our local (trusted) solicitor to 'check' in 2021 and he replied ...

I have just spoken with Mrs xxx about the wills, their instructions remain the same today as they did when the wills were made so there is no need for a change and as such they are going to collect them this week

He uses the word wills, so presumably there are two

Flugelhorn

a couple can't have  single will so there must be two (if any). 

utilities etc get changed to the survivor's name -  when you have to do all this, speak to the bereavement team at each place - struck me that they were the best trained, most helpful people in the organisations 

Robin9

J_B said:

What other things have we overlooked?

Insurance -  buildings/contents;  bank accounts/ investments/premium bonds; water; council tax ;   but rheres no rush.

Use the "Tell Us once" service

practical -  who looks after the garden.

Even more so - will MIL cope physically ?  She will say yes.


I had a Which? book - "What Happens When Someone Dies"

BooJewels

Another alternative arrangement to consider is to use the LPAs already in place, to manage things like utilities and insurance etc. in place of the couple, on their behalf.  I had already done this with the elderly family members I was both Attorney and Executor for - which was less for them to worry about (I just advised them of any developments as we went along, submitted meter readings etc.) and it made the transition to estate accounts that bit easier, as I was already familiar with everything.

Newly_retired

Tread carefully. If anyone had tried to take over eg the utilities when my late husband was ill, I would have told them where to go, but it very much depends on the individual and how involved they are with household admin. 
Do they have a joint houshold account? Standing orders / Direct Debits?

There is a very useful sticky at the top of this board with links to what to do when someone dies.

Although all our utilites were on the joint account which I ran, but my husband accessed too, his personal spending was separate. Something I found invaluable was to be able to see on bank and credit card statements what the regular outgoings were. I traced all sorts of subscriptions that way and stopped them - even managed to get a couple of refunds.

400ixl

I would for now just focus on knowing the as is position. 

What bank accounts / investments exist.
What bills go out of the accounts and when.
What contracts do they have and when do they expire / come out of minimum terms.
Are there any debts anywhere.

Getting copies of the wills and understanding who the executors are will be useful. As well as looking at any possible IHT implications if they exist.

Once you have that information you will know if there is anything that needs further discussion. If there is nothing amiss then you do not need to get involved but will be well informed and have less stress if anything does unfortunately occur. You can just contact the bereavement teams at the suppliers and focus your attention on your mum.

p00hsticks

I'm just going through this myself following the recent death of my father. 

Some utilities (gas/electric) were happy to just amend the account to be in my mothers name, others (water) wanted to close the existing account and open a new one.

Home insurance insisted on cancelling the existing policy and starting a new annual one from scratch, with me having to answer all the questions again, although they did only charge the same price as for the original policy which was going to run out next month, so probably a good deal.

the Tell Us Once (TUO) service you are given acess to when you register the death lets you inform most government departments (DWP, HMRC, DVLA, Local Authority etc) in one go. The latter will send out a revised council tax bill and an application to apply for single person discount. 

Others to be aware of are car insurance / breakdown cover if he was still driving (if you use TUO they will automatically be removed as registered keeper and tax will be cancelled and refunded, so car needs to be kept off road until sold or given a new registered keeper). Also banks, private pension companies, pharmacists, any magazine or society subscriptions etc. 

As far as your mother staying in the home, a few people have given us contact numbers for Age UK / local authority adult social care etc who I am hoping will be able to point us in the direction of getting someone around to advise us on things that will potentially lbe able to help such as pendant alarms, fitting grab rails, home helps, meals on wheels etc...

BooJewels

Newly_retired said:

Tread carefully. If anyone had tried to take over eg the utilities when my late husband was ill, I would have told them where to go,  [snip]

Whoa!  Steady on.  I suggested it as an arrangement to consider ... on their behalf.  No one is suggesting 'taking over' anything - that's not even how LPAs work. You don't shut the Donor out if you start acting - it's not an either/or situation, it's a supporting and complimentary one.  And it must always be in the Donor's best interests.

The whole point of an LPA is to supplement what the donor does - often alongside them - and often only temporarily. In the two cases I mentioned, I had acted previously in a temporary capacity, kept things in place, but left them to it when they felt able.  In both cases they asked my sister and I to take over matters when they reached the point they didn't want, or weren't able, to continue doing so for themselves.   It should be a helpful arrangement to relieve pressure at a time when most needed, it's not a military coup.

badmemory

I do know that someone in a very long relationship can feel rudderless if one dies.  I remember my mother being furious at my father & for a few weeks being unable to focus on much.  She needed guiding through a lot at the time but once only a few months had passed she was back being able to do all the stuff she had always done.  So just a bit of hand holding was all that was needed & I suspect the longer the marriage & the older the people the longer that takes.  Too much help can be counterproductive though.