How quickly can spouse get control of bank accounts after death?

badmemory

RAS said:

Not sure what's taking 6-9 months, but on-line probate is taking 3 weeks and paper applications less than 16 weeks.

That would be the letters of administration not probate as there would be no will to go to probate.

Parkhall

RAS said:

Not sure what's taking 6-9 months, but on-line probate is taking 3 weeks and paper applications less than 16 weeks.

What exactly is "probate"?

Parkhall

badmemory said:

RAS said:

Not sure what's taking 6-9 months, but on-line probate is taking 3 weeks and paper applications less than 16 weeks.

That would be the letters of administration not probate as there would be no will to go to probate.

What are "letters of administration"?

RAS

Probate (and Letters of Administration) are the grants that allow your widow to sell the house, take control of investments, access bank accounts that exceed your bank's limit. Many people whose estates don't include property don't require it.

You might want to ask your banks what their limits are? 

If you don't want to make your accounts joint, I'd suggest you transfer some money each month to an account in your wife's name, and organise that one utility direct debit is paid from her account. Otherwise when you die she'll have difficulties when she needs to set up accounts in her own name, even for things like a phone. 

Parkhall

RAS said:

Probate (and Letters of Administration) are the grants that allow your widow to sell the house, take control of investments, access bank accounts that exceed your bank's limit. Many people whose estates don't include property don't require it.

You might want to ask your banks what their limits are? 

If you don't want to make your accounts joint, I'd suggest you transfer some money each month to an account in your wife's name, and organise that one utility direct debit is paid from her account. Otherwise when you die she'll have difficulties when she needs to set up accounts in her own name, even for things like a phone. 

Thanks.Great suggestions.

RAS

She may find that she needs to set up a basic bank account in the first instance (if she has no prior banking history), and upgrade later. She can still set up DDs on a basic account.

Keep_pedalling

Parkhall said:

I want my wife to be able to get control of my bank accounts as quickly as possible when I die. She has no income and so will need access to my accounts ASAP. I have not made a will because we have no children or others. 

Roughly how long does it take for the process? Would it be any quicker if I made a will?

Having no children is actually a good reason why you should have a will. What do you want to happen to your estate if you die together or with a short time of each other? A will won’t speed things up as far as bank accounts are concerned but it could prevent your estate going to a relative you don’t like. 

You should have a main joint account where you incomes goes into and the bills are paid from. This will provide some continuity when one of you dies or through illness or accident loses their mental capacity. Your wife should be able to get the money released from your sole accounts in a few days provided their are not very large sums of money that the bank won’t release without probate (e,g Barclays, Lloyds and NW will release up to £50k without probate)

What will cause your wife more problems is if you suddenly lost your mental capacity through illness or accident, so as well as making wills you should both put financial lasting powers of attorney in place. 

RAS

Correction £50k?

marcia_

Parkhall said:

born_again said:

Would be better making it a joint account, which would allow her to use the account with no issues. Or if you do not want to do that. Get her to open a account which they can have funds in to tide them over.

Sole account. She would need a death cert, & some councils can take a while to process. Then how long the bank take to process.

I've just been enquiring about a joint account with my bank but there is so much rigmarole involved  . . . 

 Which bank? HSBC just requested my husbands birth certificate and our marriage certificate and added him to my account there and then in the branch 

Parkhall

marcia_ said:

Parkhall said:

born_again said:

Would be better making it a joint account, which would allow her to use the account with no issues. Or if you do not want to do that. Get her to open a account which they can have funds in to tide them over.

Sole account. She would need a death cert, & some councils can take a while to process. Then how long the bank take to process.

I've just been enquiring about a joint account with my bank but there is so much rigmarole involved  . . . 

 Which bank? HSBC just requested my husbands birth certificate and our marriage certificate and added him to my account there and then in the branch 

Danske Bank. Did he have to go to the bank in person?