Is a separate account necessary for sole beneficiary?

Topsinger

My husband died 4 weeks ago & I am only now trying to get my head around dealing with the financial side of things. He died intestate so I will apply for letters of administration and be the sole beneficiary. I have already used Tell us Once and the Death Notification Service which will start the ball rolling. 

When I dealt with my mother’s estate I used one of my ‘spare’ accounts to pay funds into until I was ready to distribute to the beneficiaries. As I am the sole beneficiary can I take ownership as soon as funds are released, rather than ring fence in a separate account and wait until everything is finalised?

The banks are likely to want to close his accounts soon as the individual amounts are under £50k but NS&I will require probate so I could be waiting quite a while. 

Thank you for any advice now & in the future as I navigate this daunting task. 

Keep_pedalling

As you are the sole beneficiary there is no need for a separate account you can just transfer the assets to your own account as they become available. 

Ginger70

Firstly are you sure you're the sole beneficiary - intestate estates do not necessarily pass to spouses in full.
Portions are sometimes given to children and siblings or even other relatives of the deceased.
Bank won't close the accounts as soon as possible - they'll freeze them until you have probate.
Can you afford a solicitor to deal with this - some charge a one off set fee of around £1500 but atleast you'll have peace of mind that everything has been dealt with correctly.

Brie

The best reason (in my opinion) for an executor to have  separate account is so that everything can be seen to be dealt with honestly and make account to the beneficiaries easy and open to their scrutiny if necessary.  As you are the only beneficiary then you only need to account things to yourself. 

Personally I think it might make things less problematic if you used a spare account (if you still have one) just so you know what's happening.  I would think dealing with your mother's estate might be less of an emotional issue than dealing with your husband's so this might make keeping track of what you've done and not done easier.  But that's my opinion and I am by no means an expert in the field.  

Meanwhile - my condolences.

Keep_pedalling

Ginger70 said:

Firstly are you sure you're the sole beneficiary - intestate estates do not necessarily pass to spouses in full.
Portions are sometimes given to children and siblings or even other relatives of the deceased.
Bank won't close the accounts as soon as possible - they'll freeze them until you have probate.
Can you afford a solicitor to deal with this - some charge a one off set fee of around £1500 but atleast you'll have peace of mind that everything has been dealt with correctly.

In the OPs previous thread she said.they have no children so everything will pass to her. Siblings are not entitled to anything where the deceased is married.

Letter of administration is not very complex, and handing it over to a solicitor is almost certainly going to drag the process out so I would avoid that if possible. 

AP3

Sorry for your loss.

I lost my wife in February and just transferred everything into my existing account(s), as sole beneficiary. There were no debts to worry about servicing.

I did probate myself, and it was very simple. Just the ~£300 fee to pay.

Topsinger

Thank you all for your replies & condolences. 

I am confident that I am sole beneficiary and will keep records as I work through my late husband’s assets. 

Ginger70, most financial institutions will release funds under indemnity subject to their own limits. We were careful to ensure the balances were kept below these.