ChatterBank1 min ago
Death Abroad
26 Answers
A British man who lived abroad, has died abroad, but not in the country he lived in.
Next of Kin is dealing with everything, and has had an enormous amount of help from the company the man worked for.
The man’s bank (HSBC) wants NoK to travel to a ‘local’ branch, although it’s not yet clear if this is country of residence or death.
Either way it’s around a 13 hour flight!
It’s not yet known who the beneficiaries are, or whether they live in UK or country of residence.
Surely the bank can’t insist on this?
I thought they were supposed to be “The World’s Local Bank.”
Next of Kin is dealing with everything, and has had an enormous amount of help from the company the man worked for.
The man’s bank (HSBC) wants NoK to travel to a ‘local’ branch, although it’s not yet clear if this is country of residence or death.
Either way it’s around a 13 hour flight!
It’s not yet known who the beneficiaries are, or whether they live in UK or country of residence.
Surely the bank can’t insist on this?
I thought they were supposed to be “The World’s Local Bank.”
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I think NoK should use his knowledge of the deceased lifestyle before spending a lot of time and money on this. Did he have property in the UK? What sort of property did he have abroad and what is the value of it?
For example, a stockbroker with a portfolio of rentals in the UK and a large retirement property in Italy versus a retired office worker who sold up in the UK to buy a modest home in Thailand and now has family there. Big difference in potential inheritance.
For example, a stockbroker with a portfolio of rentals in the UK and a large retirement property in Italy versus a retired office worker who sold up in the UK to buy a modest home in Thailand and now has family there. Big difference in potential inheritance.
The deceased is well known to NoK, AuntLydia. Certainly as far as UK goes.
It’s known that property was not owned abroad, but if he can’t get answers from other people regarding country of residence, then he’s hit a brick wall, and can’t make any decisions.
Deceased work paid a very good salary, though.
It’s known that property was not owned abroad, but if he can’t get answers from other people regarding country of residence, then he’s hit a brick wall, and can’t make any decisions.
Deceased work paid a very good salary, though.
Ah - this explains some of it!
A bank under UK law has a duty of secrecy to its account holders. They should not even acknowledge that the customer has an account even to the account holders closest relatives.
This causes a problem when the account holder dies and is informed of the death by the NOK, unless they have official confirmation via a death certificate.
The bank can't just willy nilly take what a NOK says as the truth. What would happen if the account was stopped and the account holder was still alive.
On the other hand the bank is put on notice that the account holder has probably died and therefore should not allow certain transactions.
The bank wants to be sympathetic with the NOK as in 99% of the time everything will be genuine, and the bank does not want to be "difficult".....but it has to also look after its own legal position.
However, as far as "information" is concerned they are unlikely to "want" to provide any details to the NOK until they have proof that the account holder has died (via the death certificate).
They will then register the account on the back of the certificate and await the next stage, which will be to determine what other assets there are in the estate, whether there is a will or not and whether the estate is small enough to pay out to the NOK/beneficiaries without the need of probate/grant of letters of administration.
Please note that in the UK and in most countries the balance of a joint account goes to the surviving party, whether or not there is a will. NOK does not come into it, the surviving name on the account gets the money.
My advice is try and get a copy of the death certificate asap - most of the information will be provided then,
A bank under UK law has a duty of secrecy to its account holders. They should not even acknowledge that the customer has an account even to the account holders closest relatives.
This causes a problem when the account holder dies and is informed of the death by the NOK, unless they have official confirmation via a death certificate.
The bank can't just willy nilly take what a NOK says as the truth. What would happen if the account was stopped and the account holder was still alive.
On the other hand the bank is put on notice that the account holder has probably died and therefore should not allow certain transactions.
The bank wants to be sympathetic with the NOK as in 99% of the time everything will be genuine, and the bank does not want to be "difficult".....but it has to also look after its own legal position.
However, as far as "information" is concerned they are unlikely to "want" to provide any details to the NOK until they have proof that the account holder has died (via the death certificate).
They will then register the account on the back of the certificate and await the next stage, which will be to determine what other assets there are in the estate, whether there is a will or not and whether the estate is small enough to pay out to the NOK/beneficiaries without the need of probate/grant of letters of administration.
Please note that in the UK and in most countries the balance of a joint account goes to the surviving party, whether or not there is a will. NOK does not come into it, the surviving name on the account gets the money.
My advice is try and get a copy of the death certificate asap - most of the information will be provided then,
Thank you, JJ109.
I understand all the privacy stuff, and that NoK is not a legal term, but perhaps someone should have explained better to NoK instead of “you need to go to country of residence before we will do anything.”
It’s believed that if there was joint account, it’s most likely been cleared out by now!
But, if that is the case, the UK account should still be in tact, as was less likely to be joint.
The death certificate will doubtless need translating.
I understand all the privacy stuff, and that NoK is not a legal term, but perhaps someone should have explained better to NoK instead of “you need to go to country of residence before we will do anything.”
It’s believed that if there was joint account, it’s most likely been cleared out by now!
But, if that is the case, the UK account should still be in tact, as was less likely to be joint.
The death certificate will doubtless need translating.
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