Late Husband's Bank Account

[chrissa1]

Both my husband and I have separate accounts with the same bank. His account was the account that his earnings went into and from which all payments and DD's were paid from. I always carried his card and used it to shop for food, petrol etc.
The day after his death I transferred most of the balance into my account and just kept enough there to cover the DD's for this month.
I should ring the bank and inform them of his death and close his account. Will they be miffed that I knew all his bank details, (I used to do all the electronic payments for him) and will they change all the DD's over to my account?
Thanks

[Mamyalynne]

Please Chrissa however hard it is, do not worry it will all be sorted and handled with calmness and dignity.

[chrissa1]

I'll try and thanks.

[anneasquith]

hi chrissa. im sure banks deal with these situations on a regular basis, try not to worry.

[woofgang]

Chrissa, you won't be the first or last person to have made small mistakes at such a difficult time. Try and set it all down till monday. The CAB will help i am sure and the bank will sort out any problems.

[chrissa1]

I have just rung the bank and i have to simply send the Death Certificate down to their Head Office to close the account and have the balance transferred to my account.
As the amount in his account was less than £20K there is no problem.
I have to do the DD's but that's no problem. Phew,

[LoftyLottie]

Chrissa, I was just going to post to you and say what you have now done. If the amounts are below a certain amount (and it does vary from bank to bank) then there is no problem. My mum's £15,000 pounds in her Nationwide Account was transferred to me as next of kin.

[themas]

Chrissa

Is the holiday let property in your sole name? If not, I assume it was in joint names with your husband & it will have to be valued for probate. If it is in joint names was it a joint tenancy or was it tenants in common? If joint tenants then his share becomes your automatically & is not part of his estate (except for any possible Inheritance Tax - which seems unlikely from what you say); if tenants in common then as there is no will his interest will be dealt with under intestacy rules.

[chrissa1]

Themas - You kindly answered my questiopn about a Charging Order being finalised with an Order to Sell being made after that. When my husband was ill and in hospital I applied for a Stay in Proceedings and the case has been delayed until 4th April. After I did this sadly my husband has died. I spoke to the Court today and was told that this threw up a different legal question and that I should write to the Court/Judge and inform them.
Any thoughts??

[themas]

Chrissa

The charging order was only against your husband's interest in the property. I think - but I am far from certain - that any Court action against someone who has died has to be discontinued. It would probably be a good idea for you to get legal advice on this but I guess you can't afford a solicitor. Write to the Court as they suggest (send them a copy of the death certificate). Send it recorded delivery & keep a copy. See what their response is. I would be surprised if they say the hearing can go ahead as the defendant (your husband) is clearly unable to defend the action.

Having said all that, the debt to which the charging order relates is a debt of your husband's and will have to be paid out of the proceeds of his estate if there are funds in the estate to pay it. Please note that it is only money from his estate which has to be used to pay his debts - no-one can make you pay his debts from anything which is yours. As I said before, his interest in the house will have to be valued for probate.

As I see it, there are 2 possibilities:

1. The property was owned as joint tenants, in which case your husband's interest became yours automatically. I know that, in that case, his interest would not be part of his estate from the point of view of distributing the estate assets to beneficiaries. What I do not know is whether it also falls outside the estate from the point of view of paying debts owed by your husband. If it does, the person to whom the debt is due can only be paid from any other money or assets in the estate (after funeral expenses have been paid - they are always the first call on estate money). This issue is one on which you may well have to get legal advice if it becomes a problem; or

2. The property was owned as tenants in common. In this case your husband's interest in it is definitely part of his estate & the probate valuation of that interest will have to b

[themas]

Chrissa

continued
; or

2. The property was owned as tenants in common. In this case your husband's interest in it is definitely part of his estate & the probate valuation of that interest will have to be used to pay the debt. This will mean selling the property (unless you can raise the money in some other way).

[chrissa1]

Thank you very much Themas for another wonderful answer. I shall certainly write to the court as you and they suggested and find out what the judge says. Personally I thought the same as you, that it isn't my debt and now that my husband has died the only lien the claimant had was on my husband's half of the property. Now that the property has reverted to me, that has gone.
I must say that that we strongly felt that we did not owe this money to this man but after taking legal advice from a barrister which cost us £5K, he was of the opinion that it would cost us £40 - £50K to defend it.

[anneasquith]

hi chrissa , nice to see you around, i think its great that themas has given you such good advice, people can be very nice at times.

[chrissa1]

Defo anne and thanks.

[judysbecks]

My husband has just past away very suddenly ,we were separated for 6 months but were still legally married will the bank let me into his account so I can sort things out with the bills he left