some advice, please

[kia cat]

We recently lost my mother-in-law and yesterday, my Father-in-law too.

[1] There's money in various accounts. Would the most sensible solution be to open a new account in my wife's or my name and get the monies transferred into it? There will be insurance payouts to follow. I'd like to keep it above board and not confuse it with our own account. We'll need cheques etc to be issued [funeral fees and the like] plus other bills that need to be paid off & closed [BT, Gas etc] &
[2] They both had chip & pin cards for their state pension. There's still money in those, earned before their passing away, which they were entitled to. Can we withdraw from those accounts or should we transfer everything into one account. There's no will, we haven't appointed a solicitor and no estate to speak of [they were in Local Authority rented property]. Thanks for your time

[albaqwerty]

Firstly, my sincere condolences to you and your wife.

I have no idea about the legalities, but I would go to your bank and ask about opening an account solely for accepting any insurance payments and for issuing payments as you have described.

Have a word with CAB to give you advice.

Again, my sincerest condolences to you both.

[kia cat]

Thanks albaqwerty, lovely words. I'll try CAB when they open later on. Just think a new account where everything can be paid into & out of saves any "confusion" and keeps it all transparent.

[ojread2]

my condolences to
For cancelling bills etc upon a death, most, if not all, companies require a death cert, original not copy

[factor-fiction]

My condolences too.
Are you executors? I would have thought you would need probate before banks would let you touch the money and insurers would want it too unless you are names on the policy in some way. Anyway, speak to thebank but I'm sure you'd need probate for that.
To cancel DDs and freeze the account , yes the Death Cert will be needed.

Good luck

[dzug2]

Probate isn't needed for a small estate unless one of the companies insists on it. But remember you are dealing with two estates - MiL's assets go to FiL first and thus add to his estate.

If it isn't needed there's no real reason (other than your own convenience) to open a separate account. If there is no will then your wife is entitled to claim the estate. She would have to give equal shares to any brothers or sisters she has

Regarding the pension accounts - there is a simple form you can get at the PO to claim any balances. You shouldn't just withdraw the money (assuming you know the PINs) though in reality I'm not sure anything untoward would hapen if you did.

[Old_Geezer]

FWIW When my mother died I was executor and the bank opened a special "deceased" account in her name that I could then use.

You need to be careful though as my mother had Building Society investments that had not yet matured and rather than lose by ending them before the agreed term I had them transferred into my name with the intention of performing the split between my siblings and myself at maturity. Only to find when the time came the tax man was asking me what I hadn't declared, and for a huge laugh giving no clue as to what the heck he was on about. Finally worked out what he must mean and convinced him, and that the estate had already paid all due tax, but it wasn't a nice experience.

[factor-fiction]

Yes, I think the first thing to do is make a quick check to see whether the value of the estate is under or over the £5000 threshold for probate. If it is not expected to exceed £5000 then, to quote the directgov site, "To establish whether the assets can be obtained without a grant, the executor or administrator would need to write to each institution informing them of the death and enclosing a photocopy of the death certificate (and will if there is one)."

This info may be useful:
http://www.direct.gov...eparation/DG_10029799

[VHG]

When my wife's mother died she closed down her mother's bank accounts, then found out her mother was due money BACK from some organizations. But we had problems because her mother no longer had a bank account.

So keep their accounts open for a while till you are sure there is no requirement to put money IN to them.

[atalanta]

Usually banks will pay funeral expenses out of a deceased person's account. But you must do things officially and properly, or the banks will not cooperate. After all, if you could just tell a bank to hand over someone else's money, anyone could come along and claim to be the son of a dead person and help themselves to someones money if there were no safeguards. Ask CAB, ask the banks concerned. get lots of officially-issued copies of the death certiificate - photocopies won't do.