I have an ailing relative who was living alone until recently. She went into hospital and it is unlikely she will return home - may move to nursing home but I am preparing for the worst.
As an executor, I am interested to know what happens administratively at time of death. Clearly her income will cease and all bank accounts will be frozen.
So how is her house maintained until time of sale? If the unspeakable happens close to winter, then the place could do to be heated intermittently. How are things like gas/electric/maintenance expenses covered/paid for in this situation? Is it usual for monies to be transfered into an executors' account and direct debit redirected to this?
If she still has her marbles, you could ask her for a float to cover the r= unning costs, but you wouldn't be asking if this was the case.
If she doesn't have her faculties, and it is likely to be a long term sta= y, then you should get the Court of Protection involved who would appoint a= receiver and check accounts. I had to do this 20+ years back and I was the= receiver. However, I believe things have greatly changed in recent years a= nd they will not now appoint a relative as a receiver. A lawyer is appointe= d, estates are liquidated and fees are racked up at a great rate. My knowle= dge is dated, a solicitor is needed.
If the life expectancy isn't great, the relatives have some money and are= n't a devious shower, I'd suggest just paying for the running costs and com= forts, keeping an account, to be repaid from the estate after death. I'd av= oid the Court of Protection and their fees if possible. It was more a matte= r of spending time on it rather than money, and lawyers charge lots for the= ir time.
Firstly, you have my sympathies. Now my memory is a bit hazy about this but I had power of attorney (which ceases at death) and was able to deal with all incomings/outgoings etc on my mothers behalf. I.e, I had control of all monies and could pretty much do what I wanted. When she died, as the house was willed to me, I then paid all bills. If there's no will and it goes to probate (heaven help you) it can take quite a while to sort out. In any case, the house will need the new owners name on all bills. AFAIR you need a few (certified) death certificates to send (to change the name on bills). Re: transferring into an executors account - before death, with power of attorney, yes. After death no, without POA I don't know how you work it. HTH.
That doesn't happen automatically - you (together with any other personal representatives) have to make it happen. Inform the DWP (for state pension) and any other pension providers, banks, building socs, etc. etc. HMRC too. Register the death and arrange a funeral are the first two things to do though.
That's very much up to you. You're duty bound to preserve the value of the state for her beneficiaries though.
Inform the suppliers and they will continue to send bills to "The personal reps of..." or to "Joe Bloggs (deceased)" c/o..." at your own address.
Getting your hands on her money can be difficult until you've obtained a 'grant of representation' (i.e. probate if there's a will or letters of administration otherwise) but ask the banks etc. They will usually allow you the money to pay the undertaker's bill. Many people just pay for things themselves and claim back from the estate once probate is granted.
Execs' accounts are a standard thing. I don't know whether they allow DD mandates though. Ask the banks. IME the normal branch staff won't know much - you need to get onto the relevant department.
In general I'd recommend getting hold of one of the many books on what to do when someone dies. Most public libraries have a good stock. The "Which? What to Do When Someone Dies" is one they often have.
In the meantime, if you have not seen it already, there's a checklist at
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the specifics, I agree with others that it's best to avoid the Court of Protection if you can. But on that and much else a lot may depend on
(i) are you confident there will be a net estate bearing in mind the risk of care fees? If not, you may not want to spend a lot of your own money which you may not get back - though of course that depends on your own circs (ii) if there are other executors/beneficiaries who may give you grief over expenses.
One last point of detail is buildings/contents insurance. While it's probably the last thing you or she want to think about now, insurance policies may not provide cover for an unoccupied house.
Based on recent experience, cover can often continue but you must inform the insurers, confirm someone will pop in regularly (in case of leaks etc) and ensure that the house has at least background heating (leaks etc again).
I'd also add a few timer driven lights too and talk to friendly neighbours to keep an eye open - give them your contact details or even get a cheap PAYT mobile if you don't want all and sundry ringing your personal number.
As she has been in hospital for some weeks already, we have already informed the insurers about the house being empty(ish). They were not bothered upto 60 days, but then wanted heating set at 15c!! to prevent freezing. Yes the house is visited regularly to remove post and sister visits and stays there for a couple of days each week.
Been there, done that. Twice. It *really* all depends on all sorts of other thing. Is there a will? Is there another executor and do you get on with them? Are there likely to be relatives fighting?
I'm assuming the estate is worth more than £5000; below this, you may not need probate. Details on the following web site.
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two "Which" guides, Wills and Probate and What to do when somebody dies are both excellent. I've not really needed anything else, plus the government web site.
When my brother died unexpectedly, he had appointed his solicitor and myself a executors. I was at that time executing my mother's rather simple estate without a solicitor. My brother's solicitor was happy to divide up the work between us in a sensible way so as not to rack up unnecessary costs, and I was very pleased with his approach and attitude. The will left some money in trust for a minor, and once the estate was sorted he was happy to transfer his "trustee" role to another family member to avoid costs. Obviously, he was happy by then that I and the other person were not going to rob the minor. YMMV.
You can claim back all reasonable executor's costs against the estate, including of course the funeral costs. The simplest thing to do is to pay all the bills yourself, and claim them back once you have probate. At that point it is simplest to have an executor's account to accumulate the assets (money in the bank, money from sale of houst) and you will use this to pay any tax, debts, and legacies.
If they are currently of sound mind and are happy to do so, perhaps they could convert their current account to a joint account which would let you deal with bills in the short term. I think with most current accounts, on death of one party the other remains able to draw, but this could put you in slightly dubious legal territory (for example if you did a runner with a lot of cash either to avoid death duties or to rob other beneficiaries).
When my mum died recently it was down to my brother and I to go to the doctors to get a slip of paper stating she had died and how, this we took to the registrar they issued us with a death certificate (you can buy copies ) this certificate we had to take to the bank (to close her account) and to the solicitor (to access the will (brother and I were named as executors [no surprises there mum had made it really clear what was to happen])). The bank and solicitor both only took photocopies of the certificate (though we had bought copies for everyone) . Mum had left money (in envelopes ) for everything; gas bill, leccy bill, funeral catering etc. She knew she was dying (terminal cancer) so had organised everything (including taking a bond at the undertakers coffin, plot, cars etc had all been organised). Her estate was used for Insurance untill the house is sold . Brother is living there so heating etc is his problem . So use the estate monies for EVERYTHING. For ease and to avoid mistakes it may well be easier to open another account and put any estate monies into that and redirect any direct debits to this . This was our situation it was fairly painless but for specific advice it may well be worth while contacting a solicitor. You do NOT have to do anything as executor you can decline to act but it is very much a disscussed thing . If someone dies intestate it is very much more complicated. Please please, please for the sake of those left behing write a will (everything being organised also helped a great deal (it is hard to organise anything when you can hardly see for the tears)).
If there isn't enough money to pay for heating remeber you can be a wideo and run a heater (on a timer) for several weeks before the leccy company cut the power off (remember they will have a claim on the estate when the house is sold but they generally do not chase monies from dead people). If you don't wish to do this you either pay for it yourself or are SOL
you should inform and sent death certificate copues - ;pts of rthem to all and sundry.
You can legally take on all her bills and pay them, on her behalf. Open a separate bank account and charge the lot to the estate eventually.
No money is transferred until probate is through and that's a bastard process that may involve haggling with tax men over inheritance tax and valuing the estate.
If you can get the person to sign in a witnessable sound state of mind a Power of Attorney then you can use her money to cover her costs up till time of death.
A probate lawyer is probably worth a couple of hours chat - I hope you have the will - but keep them firmly under control.
Probate lawyers deal with disputes over inheritances, and carry on faffing about until there's no money left to divide. Solicitors mainly charge the earth for doing dogsbody paperwork that any fool could do. Unless you're very unlucky, you shouldn't need either
Yes, and most places insist on orginals for the Death Certificate not a copy. Some places can the sit on them for weeks before sending it back, meantime you can't send it to anybody else who wants to see it.
So when you register the death get several "orginals" so you can have them sat with banks, insurance companies etc in parallel. This can make a considerable difference in how long it takes to get Probate.
A simple Power of Attorney may not be any use in this case. It is only valid while the person whose affairs it covers still has the capacity to ratify the attorney's actions.
A Lasting Power of Attourney would be better but this has to be registered by the Office of the Public Guardian before it becomes valid and there is a period (up to 9 weeks IIRC) where all interested parties are contacted and can object etc... The forms are not simple and there is a fee of =A3130 (non-refundable if you screw up the forms...) for each LPA and you may need two, one for Health and Welfare and another for Property and Finances.
My mother had a gradual and very predictable decline. As soon as we could see how things were going I set up joint accounts (one current, one savings) with online access, and shifted all her money into them. So I could continue to operate the account when she became unwilling and then incapable, and after death.
It all worked very well. Strictly speaking this was against the account's terms and conditions (which specify that the money must be jointly owned) and I suppose I should have declared half of the (small amount of) interest on my tax return, but I couldn't be arsed. The other slight difficulty was resisting the common assumption that Mr & Mrs Barnes were married.
Worth thinking about for anyone with one aged parent.
Eeek. You posted exactly the same links as me but earlier. Am I a "virtual" Andy Wade - ie a simplified model of you - running as a computer model? That'd explain why I can't understand difficult things like what I think I thought I used to; and why sometimes I seem to be very, very slow.
Where I have dealt with this empty house (for various reasons) the insurance company has insisted that the CH and the HW and CW pipes needed to be drained.
Of course that would not stop the incoming stop tap freezing (as happened at a friends house last winter).
The policy I had on empty grandparent's house required all plumbing to be drained, or heating run continuously 24x7 for 7 months (over winter) set to 16C minimum, or no cover for burst pipes and their consequences. It was a policy aimed at second/holiday homes, left empty for long periods.
I decided to go for the no cover, with heating running at about 8C, and the water turned off at the stopcock in the road so that if it did freeze, damaged was limited to what a header tank full could do.
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