Bank Account of Deceased

My father recently passed away and I am one of the executors of his will. My Mum is still alive and in a nursing home and has dementia. I am currently sorting out Dad's financial affairs and started completing the Statement of Affairs (Probate) SA2 form online. I plan on applying for the Grant of Probate myself i.e. not using a solicitor.

Dad left one Bank Account in his name, all the rest are jointly held with my mother. Most of the money from his estate is held in this bank account. There is a standing order from Dad's Bank Account to pay for my Mum's nursing home bill. I am holding off telling the Bank that Dad has passed away as I am afraid that they will cancel the direct debit and that would leave me liable to pay for her care.

My question is am I likely to run into issues with the Grant of Probate process if I continue to leave the standing order in place and not inform the bank.
For example, if I say there is 60,000 in Dad's account when I complete the Statement of Affairs form and by the time it goes to Grant of probate e.g. 5months later there is 55,000 in Dad's account.

Has anyone had a similar issue?

BTW there is no power of attorney for my Mum.

DeeBee

When you say you are liable to pay for your mother's nursing home fees, what do you mean?

You don't have any legal liability for them.

If you pay them now, you can get them back when the estate is distributed.

I would recommend against misleading a bank.

What happens if you don't tell the bank, and some other payments go out.

The bank account of a dead person should be frozen.

If you are the Executor, the bank will probably allow you to withdraw some money - but usually to pay funeral expenses.

Brendan

My mother's pension isn't enough to cover the cost of the nursing home. The standing order on my Dad's account covers this shortfall.
While I would not be personally liable to pay this shortfall, I am the person that the invoice comes to they would expect payment. I am not in a position to pay due to other financial commitments.

You should engage a solicitor as the risk of you getting into a financial tangle seems high. They would be best to help you navigate the next few months until your father's affairs are put in order.

This situation is more common than you think. Probate in this country takes so long, even for the most straight forward of cases, that many are left faced with the situation where they do not inform financial situations that someone has passed away due to the fact that they are reliant on the income from that person.

Informing all financial institutions of your father's death is what you are supposed to do. What will happen if you don't? Nothing.

Make sure his State pension has stopped and if he is receiving an annuity from a life company/ old employer that they are notified so they can stop payments.

DeeBee said:

My mother's pension isn't enough to cover the cost of the nursing home. The standing order on my Dad's account covers this shortfall.
While I would not be personally liable to pay this shortfall, I am the person that the invoice comes to they would expect payment. I am not in a position to pay due to other financial commitments.

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Have you considered Fair Deal, especially given the fact that the circumstances have now changed?

My mother already has the Fair Deal and there is still a shortfall.

If I do nothing and still leave the Standing Order in place to pay the nursing home, is there any way that it could cause problems with the probate process?

The sole beneficiary of my Dad's estate is my mother and the money from Dad's estate will ultimately go into a trust for Mum as per the will.

I do intend to use a solicitor for forming the trust.

Best to plan and proceed on the basis that the bank will freeze the account at any moment even if you do not inform them.
As Brendan says, the account should be frozen as the holder is now deceased.

Who is the beneficiary of the will? Is it just you? Is it your mother?

Many people leave the monthly bill from the nursing home mount up until after probate . You are not liable to pay, it is your Dad’s estate. And you will not be able to pay until after probate.

The bank may close the account at any time. You can delay letting the bank know your father is dead until you apply for probate. Who is to say the best order to do things. But you should ensure all social welfare and pension payments are stopped asap.

My father died in 2019. My mother informed the bank who then, unbeknownst to my mother closed their joint account and opened a new account in my mother’s name only. It was about 2 months later that my mothers old employer got on to her to inquire why her pension money kept bouncing back to them. The bank was less then helpful. It all happened during covid and my mother could not hear them on the phone, did not want to visit in person due to covid risk, and bank would not speak to anyone else because they were neither the account holder, next of kin, or executor. The bereavement support department was useless as well.

DeeBee said:

My mother already has the Fair Deal and there is still a shortfall.

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Has Fair Deal been notified of your fathers's passing, if not they should be.

If you applied for your mother, you should notify the HSE.

If your father applied, his executors, which is you anyway, should notify the Hse.

Not what you want to hear but when the HSE are notified, your mother will be reassessed financially as a single person rather than a member of a couple and could end up paying more.

The HSE will find out at a later stage anyway, so better to be compliant and up front now.

As others have pointed out, when the bank do freeze the account, it would not be unusual in these circumstances for the nursing home to wait for probate to get any monthly shortfall owed to them, so no need to worry.

Why not just explain matters to the nursing home? I doubt this would be the first time this has happened.