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Got to be the most unhelpful bank ever!!!  Won't bore you too much but mother-in-law died three months ago.  Two next-of-kin, my wife and her alcoholic useless brother.  Naturally it has been us that have tried to sort the mess out, he never even went to her funeral, she had a current account, a debit card and a credit card with Lloyds. They had also given her - an 82 year old house-bound woman - a £2,000 loan shortly before her death!!  What bank in their right mind would do such a thing?  Three days aftger her death the alcy stole her credit card and withdrew over £500 cash (he knew her pin number).  The accounts had been closed the day after death!!  We had to give statements to the police regarding this but the bank decided as it was such a small amount they would not pursue it!! Dealing with the funeral directors and getting very small insurance claims paid out proved to be relatively simple.  Getting the money paid out in her current account is proving impossible, we need it to complete the funeral bills, they will not let us have it until we have a fully receipted bill from the funeral director!  Now today we have a form sent to us to list all her debts, assets etc. of which there are absolutely none!!  And which we declared to them two months ago. They also want the alcy's signature to say he will not be claiming anything!! He shot off to Devon with the money he stole and has not been heard of since!!  Fucking useless bastards!!

Did your MiL leave a Will?

No mate, she had sold her house to a private equity firm about ten years ago - the alcy brother pissed most of that money away (he was the blue eyed boy!).  Apart from the debts to the bank the biggest single debt is the funeral bill, we cannot finish paying it out until the bank releases the funds, they will not release it until they get a fully receipted bill!!!

I think Santander will give Lloyds a run for their money - utter tripe!

Can't wait to be shot of Santander.

I struggle to make a monkey last a fortnight, never mind 3 months.

Clearly more savvy than he let's on!

I understand it must be frustrating, but the bank are within their right to withhold the funds until they see Letters of Administration (I assume you've applied?).

Sam's right, it can be frustrating but it's completely understanding where lloyds are coming from here. They can't be seen to distribute capital without getting the authority they need. I would imagine that most if not all banks would act in the same manner here.

My mum had similar problems with having to provide proof of everything etc when my nan died. Shit i know and of no help, but a common occurance when you last need it unfortunately.
Bro in law being a cunt doesn't help either and makes your sitiuation worse.

The lesson here is to make a will

my nan did and the banking problems remained. There were no debts either.

Wills make sure your estate is distributed as per your wishes, but applying for probate can take months (or even years!) especially if there is an IHT liability to settle first. So making a Will doesn't prevent these delays.

Good estate planning and use of trusts is the key.

Trusts are fantastic, one good thing to come out of the crusades! As long as you understand what creating a trust actually means, and you choose the right one.

Good for tax avoidance too.

Letters of Administration?  No mate, she died on the Saturday afternoon (we were playing Barnet!!) and my wife and I went into the bank on the Monday, emerged two hours later having signed all the forms they wanted and all subsequent forms they have sent us!!  What pisses me off is it is only a relatively small amount, about the same as they wrote off when the alcy brother stole the money from her credit card!!

Letters of Administration are granted by the probate registry. They set out the administrators of the deceased's estate, the same way that a Will would name the executors.

If the amount in the bank is as small as you say then they probably will release it without Letters of Administration, but you will have to satisfy whatever requirements the bank ask of you. In this case; an indemnity from your brother in law - the bank are protecting themselves.

I would suggest you get Letters of Administration arranged asap. Unfortunately it's not just the bank you'll have to deal with, there's the utility companies and the pensions service (assuming she was receiving a state pension). If there's a property involved then you'll need Letters of Administration before you can sell it or do whatever else.

As she was intestate, your brother in law will be entitled to half of the estate by law so he'll need to be involved in the process.

See that's the problem with daily mail campaign against IHT, for the majority IHT was/is a very avoidable tax, in fact a voluntary tax, a bit of planning and other than the very well off would have an IHT liability to pay on death.

Professionally I love IHT and trusts, makes things very interesting, would be good to see the back of the transferable nil rate band, but that won't happen in the near future, I doubt.

when my wife died, the Halifax were fine, & released her accounts with just the death certificate. Other banks needed cletters of Admin. Getting this can be speeded up by going to the main probate office rather than a sub office. I got seen a month quicker by going to Oxford.
I understand that funeral expenses are generally released without any letters of probate. The funeral people may well know the answer. Why not get them to send the bill to Lloyds TSB ?

IHT is the pits. When my parents died I managed to sort everything pretty easily, NWB and First Direct were fine they just wanted the death certificate and copy of probate but this was made easier for me as I had Enduring Power of Attorney. I have heard this is a lot more difficult and far more exspensive now. HMRC stung us for nearly 24K in IHT.

Thanks for the advice Sam, there is no property involved, we have sorted out the other small debts, it's just the funeral bill that will be finally covered by the current account.  As you mention the brother-in-law he did a runner when we was told he is liable for half the debts!!!!! :bye: :bye: :doh: :doh:

I am in a similar situation to Ronnie21, my mother died 3 weeks ago but the Natiowide have been great, they froze all the accounts immediately, were prepared to write a cheque to cover the intial funeral directors invoice on production of the invoice and once I have obtained a solicitors signature they will transfer all my mothers money to my account before I have obtained a grant of probate because the total monies in all accounts is less than £30,000. My meeting at the Nationwide took 20 minutes.
The following site may be helpful regarding probate and letters of administration I am completing all the forms myself, quite straight forward.
http://search2.hmrc.gov.uk/kb5/hmrc/forms/view.page?record=VKhb2F_R9Q4&formid=3301

Ironically, the old Chief Exec of Santander, is now the Chief Exec of Lloyds TSB.

Coincidence...probably not.

quite a lot of work was done on that process, it's one of the most impacting and horrible things you'll have to do in a branch so a smoother and less open to cock up system was put in place :)

Sorry about your mum warksred......i hope you get things sorted as soon as possible.

Keep your pecker up.