When is a will required

JGB1955

The bank will accept an indemnity signed by any 'Tom, !!!!!! or Harry' who happens to hold a death certificate and is willing to sign on the dotted line.  That's the end of their culpability.

cherry76

Only a financial institution where he had shares asked to see the will. The shares were worth inky £2,000.

SevenOfNine

JGB1955 said:

The bank will accept an indemnity signed by any 'Tom, !!!!!! or Harry' who happens to hold a death certificate and is willing to sign on the dotted line.  That's the end of their culpability.

When my FiL died Lloyds froze his a/c on sight of death cert. We then saw the bereavement staff member & with my husbands ID & the cert (he'd registered his dad's death), my husband signed an indemnity & a/c immediately closed & paid into our personal joint a/c! Sorted out a separate one straight away on-line & moved it to there.

Just like that, 30 mins, death cert & my husbands driving licence & £15k was moved & FiL's a/c closed. If its over whatever the bank limit is for paying out (most commonly £50k??), then the process is different, they'll freeze a/c but I think won't release cash until probate granted. Never asked for the Will, nor even if my husband was executor, surprised how easy it was.

Malthusian

JGB1955 said:

The bank will accept an indemnity signed by any 'Tom, !!!!!! or Harry' who happens to hold a death certificate and is willing to sign on the dotted line.  That's the end of their culpability.

The banks would like that to be the case, but it is not true. The bank remains liable to the estate if they pay out the money to someone who is not entitled to it, just as it would in a case of identity theft.

This is why banks apply a limit (which varies but is usually a few tens of thousands) above which they will insist on grant of probate.