advice please-administration of deceased persons bank acc

I am assisting the administrator of a deceased persons bank account. The deceased died intestate and the person I am assisting,(his daughter) is the sole beneficiary. We have contacted all the finanical institutions that he dealt with and many have been happy to supply detaisl re amounts in accounts but require an indemnity form to be completed and countersigned by a solicitor. Some want formal letters of administration. We are in the process of collating data to apply for letters of admin from the probate service ,forms PA1 and HT205.

We are having difficulties with the bakers who operate his current account. They tell us that they will not cancel any outbound payments, i.e direct debits/standing orders and that should we wish,we can reclaim those monies back from the organisations which were paid at some later date!!.

My way of thinking is that those organisations are now creditors of the estate and must wait for settlement. They should not be able to avail themselves of ongoing SO's and Direct debits since the person who authorised them is now deceased.

Can anyone comment on the legal position? What course of action should i take?

There is no point in paying umpteen solicitors to countersign lots of forms and so i need to wait at least a few weeks to apply for probate. Potentially,the direct debits and SO'd could put the account in debt by then!!

thanks

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Reply to
tarquinlinbin
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There is no legal requirement for that but they are quite correct in not releasing funds until they have sight of the L.O.A.

Some want formal letters

If they have been given notice of, and proof of by way of a death certificate, then the account should be frozen. AFAIK they have no right to pay any monies until probate. It is normal that creditiors have to wait.

Correct. The contracts ceased at death.

Write to the head office of the bank.

Reply to
Peter Crosland

You should contact the Bank again as soon as possible - write to the Head Office telling them that the deceased died on whatever date, and the date that you advised of them of the death, and TELL them that any debits/withdrawals from the date that you advised them have to be paid back into the account, and that the Bank can try to reclaim them from the beneficiaries! Once someone dies any bank mandate dies with them and until such time that the legalities are sorted out they have no authority to let any money out of that person's account (or for that matter any money in) Eric

Reply to
Eric Jones

x-no-archive: yes

as i understand it, the account has to be frozen- nothing in or out, when the bank have been informed of the account holder's death.

my father died without a will, though fairly straightforward estate (no property owned).

Reply to
crofter

Seems you had the misfortune of dealing with a junior bank officer or a bank manager of Dad's Army ilk.

Reply to
Peter

If you are aware of the parties with direct debit authority (usual ones are power, gas, phone, rates, insurance payments, etc), it would pay to let them know too, so they can stop trying to execute direct debits.

Reply to
Peter

I did this recently, and all the bank needed was sight of the death certificate at the local branch. They then froze the account, but were able to transfer funds to a funeral director to cover funeral expenses. Once letters of administration are issued by the probate office (remember to order enough copies), these are sent to the financial institutions. There is no point in involving solicitors. The advice from The Probate Office is straightforward and the whole process easy to d-i-y.

Reply to
stuart noble

IIUC it is permissible to pay in a cheque that was made out to the deceased prior to his/her death.

Reply to
Cynic

x-no-archive: yes

best to see bank, get a separate 'trustee' or 'eexecutor' account setup- or can do in your own name, subject to status naturally!

Reply to
crofter

In message , crofter writes

No need for that, and its not possible until the LOA is issued.

Reply to
john boyle

In message , Cynic writes

No. Only dividend warrants credited directly which were declared before death.

Reply to
john boyle

In message , Peter writes

Actually, whilst I understand the point you are making the examples you have picked are quite wrong because Captain Mainwaring was a proper Bank Manager and Wilson was an 'Appointed Officer' which means they would both have obtained their AIB, which in their day was a not easy set of

10 x 3 hour papers which usually took years to pass as it was done in their own time. They would CERTAINLY have known that banker/customer relationship is determined at the moment of death and all the things that had to be done.

These days it seems to be the norm for an entrant to have undergone sufficient training to be a cashier about 14.5 minutes after starting on their first day and be some sort of 'manager' of something or other by the end of the first month. AIB (now the ACIB) is, er, well, er whats that then mate? .

I think it is the latter type that the OP has encountered, most likely at one of the new fangled pretend banks that are around these days.

The concept of bank 'officers' seems to have vanished for ever.

Reply to
john boyle

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