Now my mum's money

bigsis1985

Hi, my dad very recently and suddenly passed away, my mum has had to contact banks, pensions insurance etc, not easy, all have been fantastic, helpful and supportive when she has made contact.
When mum started the process with ns&I she didn't think anything different. Mum sent on a copy of dad's will, a copy of her passport and another document they had requested. Mum then received a letter to say they still needed a letter of probate before she can do anything with the money they are holding, she has not needed this for any other financial institution and doesn't have one as my dad left a will, everything is now mum's. Mum phoned ns&I to explain this, the person who we got first was obviously reading from a script, then claimed that she needed one by law, as every other institution would say the same, when mum said that wasn't true, we then had a 'senior team leader' who has no compassion or skill when it comes to dealing with the recently bereaved, said to my mum if she wanted the money she had to get the probate letter. Mum does not need one as the money is hers, ns&I said it was policy, fine, but it's not the law. The money is hers, do they have a right to hold it from her? 

DE_612183

Why have you not applied for probate?

I think it's up to organisations whether or not they take just a death cert - what about property? I think you may need one to transfer property as well.

Misslayed

Have you tried ringing and asking to speak to the bereavement department ? They have specific training to deal with these kinds of issues, and are generally more sympathetic. 

RAS

NSC&I are often the only entity that requires probate. There are odd occasions when folk report getting sums over £5k released, but they are rare.

Other banks have different limits beyond which they will release accounts, some over £30k. Obviously they require a guarantee from the person to whom they release the money that they will repay it if they are proved not to have right to receive it. 

Otherwise probate is needed for property, but in England and Wales if there is a IPDI trust, that's not required on the first death.

Keep_pedalling

How much was he holding in NS&I?

As they are insisting in having probate before releasing the money you mother has little choice but to apply for it. It is a relatively straight forward process but if you get stuck there are plenty of knowledgable people on here to help.

if your father had no will the she actually needs letters of administration but the process is basically the same with the same starting point on the government website.

https://www.gov.uk/applying-for-probate/apply-for-probate

If any of this is held in premium bonds they can be left in the draw for 12 months with your mother getting any winnings,

Flugelhorn

unfortunately NS&I are like that - lots of people hold premium and their families have to get LoA or probate just to release those - I think the maximum amount they will do with probate is about £5k

p00hsticks

As others have said, it's up to individual financial institutions as to how much if a deceased's money they will release to an executor (or beneficiary)  without requiring probate, and NS&I is one of the lowest limits. 

I've got a similar problem dealing with my late fathers estate - he has just over the £20,000 probate limit in a building society account ,and it's going to cost me £300 to apply for probate in order to gain access to the money. 

Keep_pedalling

Flugelhorn said:

unfortunately NS&I are like that - lots of people hold premium and their families have to get LoA or probate just to release those - I think the maximum amount they will do with probate is about £5k

Above £5000 is the amount they say may require probate but I believe they will release more than that but that seems to be at their discretion. 

Suffolksue

n NS&I are a nightmare and v v rude and unsympathetic .
They insist on probate for anything above £5k
my DH died in lockdown and they wouldn’t even tell me the amount of his premium bond’s until after I filled out a form which they then outsourced ( they thought ) as they only out sourced some but couldn’t say which .
when I rang the Probate Office with a query ,a lovely man asked why I was getting probate as we were well under the limit.
I replied ‘Premium Bonds ‘ and he sighed !

Pollycat

DE_612183 said:

Why have you not applied for probate?

I think it's up to organisations whether or not they take just a death cert - what about property? I think you may need one to transfer property as well.

When my Dad died, he left a will leaving everything to Mum.

All the financial institutions we dealt with on Mum's behalf said we did not need to apply for probate.

Shame on NS&I for their policy and attitude.

Gers

As I've said before - my experience with NS&I was very different.  They paid out immediately my late DM's £26k PBs to me.  I suspect it was because I had set up my POA with them a couple of years before her death and I also had PBs.