Probate: Bank won't release funds without a lawyer?

Flugelhorn

would your trusted solicitor be able to write to them or get some info ? - never heard of an organisation refusing to pay up to someone with probate 

eskbanker

Suggest a formal complaint and FOS escalation if necessary:

16. Dispute Resolution

16.1. We are committed to providing an excellent customer experience for all our Customers. If we do not meet your expectations in any way, we want to have the opportunity to put things right.

16.2. In the first instance, your initial communication will be with our Customer Services Team who can be contacted by Email to xxx@xxx.com or by phone to +44 0000000. Our Customer Services Team will listen to your needs and will do their best to solve your issue promptly and fairly. We value the opportunity to review the way we do business and help us meet our customers’ expectations.

16.3. If having received a response from our Customer Services Team you are unhappy with the outcome, please contact the Complaints Team of Prepaid Financial Services Ltd, 5th Floor, Langham House, 302-308 Regent Street, London, W1B 3AT in writing via email on complaints@prepaidfinancialservices.com.

16.4. Once received, the Complaints Team will conduct an investigation and you will receive a response of its findings within 15 days of receipt of the complaint. In exceptional circumstances where we are unable to reply within the first 15 days, we will reply providing a reason for the delay and deadline for response, not more than 35 days after first receipt of complaint.

16.5. If the Complaints Team is unable to resolve your complaint and you wish to escalate your complaint further, please contact the Financial Ombudsman Service at South Key Plaza, 183 Marsh Wall, London, E14 9SR. Details of the service offered by the Financial Ombudsman Service are available at https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/ ...

https://prepaidfinancialservices.com/images/pdfs/pfs_tc-06-21.pdf (which seems to be a template for adjustment, but should be viable for this purpose)

ph265

poseidon1 said:

Googled the company concerned, they are not a bank but a specialist issuer of prepaid cash cards in the local authority sector. Judging from the universally negative reviews of their service, seems their very poor security protocols have enabled scamming and fraudulent access to customer monies. 

I suspect this overkill in the OP case of insisting on a solicitor intermediary, is an over reaction to problems they are facing in the wider aspect of safeguarding client funds.

Very interesting. Thank you. And for correcting me on my terminology too.

Think the writing is on the wall isn't it. I'm going to just have to find a lawyer who is willing to do it.

Incredible to think that vulnerable people were having their life's savings handed over by the council to these quite dubious companies.

t1redmonkey

ph265 said:

t1redmonkey said:

ph265 said:

MEM62 said:

ph265 said:

We have grant of probate but the bank holding her funds won't release the money without us instructing a solicitor. 

To do what?  What is the banks policy in this situation.  

Yes my thoughts exactly. That's what our solicitor said as well. 

The company say: 'it's our policy as it is such a large sum of money this is in place to safeguard the funds. Any person administrating an account with us if the account holds over £10,000 must instruct a solicitor.'

(The amount is roughly £20k by the way.)

I've asked for the terms the deceased signed up to (or those acting on her behalf). But haven't received anything yet. 

It's puzzling. Was interested to see if this was normal with banks or financial services? 

So I've actually worked in the 'Estates' department of a financial services firm before.  The only vaguely similar policy we had to this, was that if the value of the account with us was over £10k (I think it was £10k anyway, maybe it was £20k), then we had to have sight of either the original GoP or a solicitor certified GoP.  Have you definitely provided them with this?

Thank you very much for your response. That's very helpful to hear. 

Yes I've provided them a Grant of Probate which names me explicitly as the only executor. 

This I thought provided me the right to act in deceased's stead. But they're not playing ball. 

Prepaid Financial Services are a very odd company. No idea why a local authority was using them. 
 

Ok yeah if you've already given them an acceptable GoP then they shouldn't need too much else, so on the surface it is a bit confusing why they're asking for more.  The company I worked for mainly just needed the GoP, then of course a withdrawal instruction signed by the executor(s) named on the GoP, and we'd then be able to carry out their instructions.

masonic

Unless the charity would rather have the money quickly (net of solicitors fees), then going down the complaints route suggested by eskbanker seems sensible.

Or you could go along with the request and pursue the firm for costs, but this is less likely to succeed than a complaint up front.

SAC2334

I was an executor in the 1970 s for my late Father and went through the probate myself with no solicitor   and was granted Letters of Administration. House was sold and all the sales of my Father's
 estate were realised of around £55,000 total .

 I did appoint a Solicitor for the sole purpose of distribution of funds to the named beneficiaries. This way it was all above board and everyone was happy. The cost was not high..
Arranging for the solicitor to distribute all the funds as a trusted middleman seems to be good idea 

eskbanker

SAC2334 said:

I was an executor in the 1970 s for my late Father and went through the probate myself with no solicitor   and was granted Letters of Administration. House was sold and all the sales of my Father's
 estate were realised of around £55,000 total .

 I did appoint a Solicitor for the sole purpose of distribution of funds to the named beneficiaries. This way it was all above board and everyone was happy. The cost was not high..
Arranging for the solicitor to distribute all the funds as a trusted middleman seems to be good idea 

Each to their own but there is far more transparent access to information fifty years further on, so there's really no need to engage solicitors for routine administrative activities like this, even though they can undoubtedly add value in other areas.  OP already confirmed that their solicitor is of the same view and is therefore unwilling to go along with this request:

ph265 said:

Our trusted solicitor has said that this is unnecessary and won't do it.

dunstonh

Was there a Will?  If so, has that been provided and does it state the charity name on it?
(just wondering if a potential conflict of interest)