Dying / Defensive

valiant24

1. I've been thinking about dying recently.   Almost all of our assets are tied up in ISASIPP/investment/dealing accounts, where the proceeds, if extracted, are withdrawn to a nominated current account.  In every case this is our joint account.  

Is it paranoid to worry about the joint account being frozen for a while in the event of one or other of us dying so that, say, she would be unable to access funds even if she withdrew them from her own ISA?   I was musing on each of us opening an individual current account just to act for theh purpose of nominated accounts.

2. I'm planning to sell some VWRP and invest a little of the proceeds in index-linked gilts (thanks for all the contributions to my thread on this last month!); and the remainder in some "defensive" equity funds/ETFs. 

Any suggestions for suitable funds please?  I'm not asking for comment on the strategy itself.

Thanks
V

Misslayed

Joint accounts are not frozen on the death of one partner, they just pass to the survivor. My husband and I changed both our personal accounts into joint accounts for this very reason when we were ‘putting our affairs in order’. We both still operate our own accounts in just the same way. 

Robin9

Putting all your eggs into one current account is not a good idea -  there have been several banks having IT issues and then you are stuck.  Ditto credit cards.

Yes both you and your wife should have individual accounts and make sure all the accounts are in different groups.

My wife keeps about £10k in readily available cash to allow for other funds to be released upon my death.

I also keep a spreadsheet of all accounts/funds/bonds/premium bonds etc to make her future a little easier at a time of great stress.

kempiejon

I also keep a spreadsheet of all accounts/funds/bonds/premium bonds etc to make her future a little easier at a time of great stress.

I've dozens of accounts, current, savings, fixed interest, premium bonds, debt and charge cards, ISAs, SIPPS, My chap would be stuffed following my demise so I intend to avoid worrying about that problem by counting on not predeceasing.

tacpot12

For anyone looking for a predfined spreadsheet format they can use to prepare for their death, I'd recommend having a read of this: Why I spent a year making a spreadsheet to help families after a death | by Tom Hiskey | Medium

I've reviewed Tom's spreadsheet and given him some feedback on it based on my own preparations for death.