After distanced family bereavement

Newly_retired

If you are talking about State Pension - DWP will need to be informed. This can be done, along with other government and local authorities by using the Tell Us Once form. When you  register the death, the Registrar provided the info to do  this. That informs DWP, DVLA etc, andyour local council who should respond by reducing council tax by 25% if the house is now single occupancy.
DWP will probably first ask for any overpayment to be repaid. It may be that Dad is now entitled to claim Pension Credit? If he gets Attendance Allowance that may increase his threshold for PC.

If a company pension, make contact with them, look for any paperwork re entitlements.

RAS

Funeral costs can be claimed directly by the funeral director. Just make sure they know the account details.

If mum's estate including any house exceeds £322k, then stepdad does not inherit everything under intestacy rules.

LPA, you can do on-line yourselves for £82 per form. Does step-dad have internet access? If not, print out forms at home, complete manually in discussion with him, then enter details and print off the POA. You'll need a certificate provider who can confirm step-dad understand what he's arranging. The biggest thing is making sure it's signed in the correct order.

But that takes time to register. So use the basic Power of Attorney as suggested above. You may have to take step-dad to the bank.

With respect to mum's estate, you need to check with each provider if they will release the money to stepdad. And whether he inherits any company pension? Since you've got to inform the provider, check at the same time.

Come back when you have a few answers and ask more if needed.

p00hsticks

BetterCallClem said:

Estate is around 25k no property 

they were both retired can get dad still get her mums pension?

Following on from @Newly_retired 's post above.. 
Any inheritance of mum's state pension will very much depend on whether they reached state pension age before or after the new State Pension was introduced on 6th April 2016, and how much (if anything) over the basic amount she was receiving. Once DWP are aware of the death (via the Tell Us Once service)  then they will automatically deal with any changes - in my experience it tool around six weeks.  

BetterCallClem

Thanks she retired few years ago after retirement age so after 2016 but she would have been 77 this Saturday so born in 1948.

Can now do the tell us once as registered death this morning and ordered certificate (out of area so don’t know how long it takes to get)

will speak to wife about contacting her old company believe it was greenhams

thegreenone

Newly_retired said:

 If he gets Attendance Allowance that may increase his threshold for PC.

I may be misreading.... Attendance Allowance is not means tested.  My Mum got AA when she was in receipt of PC and it continued when she was no longer eligible for PC.

KxMx

I think what they meant is an AA award can make entitlement to PC more likely. 

My Mum wasn't entitled to PC, but when she got AA she also got PC. 

H657

We had a solicitor visit Mum at home to make both her will & POAs after my Dad died. He went on 3 separate occasions and took a trainee with him as witness on the final visit. 
I was present each time (at mum’s request) but removed myself to a different room after answering door etc so that the solicitor was sure there was no coercion.
No extra charge for the home visits either.

sheramber

You can contact the Pension Service to check if he can receive any of his late wife's state pension.  https://www.gov.uk/contact-pension-service

It depends on whether she paid any additional/second pension payments

https://www.gov.uk/additional-state-pension/inheriting