Now my mum's money

DE_612183

Pollycat said:

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.

Yes I agree, I've always applied for probate ( 3 times in the last few years ) I didn't realise you didn't need to.

However the 3 I have done have either had multiple beneficiaries or no will - so I don't think I had the choice!

Pollycat

The OP may find this useful:
What to do if an NS&I customer has died | Help | NS&I

NS&I website states:

We will let you know if we need a Grant of Representation (also known as a Grant of Probate or Grant of Letters of Administration) once we receive your completed form. We may ask for this if the customer's total NS&I savings are £5,000 or over. The Director of Savings also reserves the right to request a Grant of Representation for savings of any value.

OP
If you were speaking to the NS&I Bereavement Dept, I'd formally complain about their attitude and mis-information.

Incidentally, roughly how much money is involved?

p00hsticks

DE_612183 said:

Pollycat said:

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.

Yes I agree, I've always applied for probate ( 3 times in the last few years ) I didn't realise you didn't need to.

However the 3 I have done have either had multiple beneficiaries or no will - so I don't think I had the choice!

As I understand it , the need for probate is not so much a case of whether there is a will or not (if not, it's technically 'Letters of Administration' rather than 'probate', I think) or who the beneficiaries are, but rather what the deceased's estate consists of.

Probate is needed to b able to sell shares or property, and - as in this particular case - may be needed if cash savings exceed the limit specified by the particular financial institution. 

DE_612183

p00hsticks said:

DE_612183 said:

Pollycat said:

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.

Yes I agree, I've always applied for probate ( 3 times in the last few years ) I didn't realise you didn't need to.

However the 3 I have done have either had multiple beneficiaries or no will - so I don't think I had the choice!

As I understand it , the need for probate is not so much a case of whether there is a will or not (if not, it's technically 'Letters of Administration' rather than 'probate', I think) or who the beneficiaries are, but rather what the deceased's estate consists of.

Probate is needed to b able to sell shares or property, and - as in this particular case - may be needed if cash savings exceed the limit specified by the particular financial institution. 

ok, so in two of the cases I've outlined the property had to be sold - in the other it had to changed from a single name to joint names.

Keep_pedalling

The OP has not told us how much is involved here so I think saying that NS&I are being unreasonable  is currently unproven.

On the up side applying for probate on the first death is quite handy for the executor on the second death especially if their is a long period between deaths.

bobster2

bigsis1985 said:

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.

The fact that someone left a will does not mean that probate is not needed. Indeed you can only obtain probate where there is a will.