What is the best thing to do with recently found prize bonds belonging to a deceased person.

[twofor1]

Some have turned up in a valueless book that was taken as a memento of the deceased, £100 in total, so about €127.

According to State Savings there is a process to cash these, when notified they will write outlining the required documents and forms.

There are 3 beneficiaries so they stand to get €42 each.

As probate has been granted and the estate distributed, there would probably have to be legal involvement to cash these bonds, which no doubt would cost way more than their €127 value.

I think it is best to leave them in the book, am I right ?

 

[Thirsty]

I had something similar happen in an estate for which I was a joint executor.

The amount was small and would have been worth very little to each of the several beneficiaries.

We agreed to donate the money to a charity that the deceased had supported.

 

[twofor1]

Hi Thirsty, it would be great if this €127 could go to a charity.

I suspect though it would cost far more than €127 in legal fees to release this modest amount, hence my view, leave the prize bonds in the book.

 

[Thirsty]

Do you have grant of probate? The prize bonds can just be sold.
Its the faffing about with such a small amount thats the hassle

 

[twofor1]

As far as I know only the prize bond owner can simply cash them in, in this case the owner is deceased, so that’s not an option.

I think what usually happens when the owner is deceased is State Savings would look for a certified copy of the will and death cert, if satisfied the funds could then be sent to the executor account.

In this case probate has been granted and the estate has been distributed. Even if State Savings were to send a cheque to ''The Legal Representative Of,'' the executor account has been wound up so there would be no way to cash it.

Given that unclaimed prizes are held indefinitely, I think leave the prize bonds in the book. Some of the next generations might check these prize bonds in the future, if there was a miraculous substantial win, they could consider sorting it at that time.

 

[Thirsty]

An executor stands in the shoes of the deceased so anything the deceased could have done an exec can do.
Can you transfer the prize bonds into the beneficiaries names? They can be split by value I think?

Prize bond wins aren't miraculous they do actually happen.

 

[Marsha25]

There's no point leaving them in the deceaseds name just in case there is a future win - that would cause more hassle trying to sort. Call state savings and explain that the estate has been wrapped up already. Given it's such a small amount they may be able to issue funds to the executor on signing the relevant form and indemnity once they get the death Cert/will. The executor will then divide the funds. As far as I recall that is what I did to cash in my aunt and mothers - however there was no will involved in either case so I just provided the death Certs. I'd say it's not uncommon that this happens after estates are sorted.

 

[Monbretia]

This reminded me I have 4 old bonds sitting in my office, one is belonging to my father from 1991, that's ok I can sort that one.

The others are dated 1957, one in my grandmother's sole name and another joint with a person I don't even know, gm dead since mid 70s, another in her sister's name, died in early 70s after retiring to Ireland from US and killed in car crash shortly afterwards.

Luckily they are only single bonds so not much money tied up and I've checked the unclaimed thing online and they never seem to have won anything, must give them a ring about them but I can't imagine how I would sort them at this stage, they were among my mother's stuff as my grandmother lived with us until her death.

 

[twofor1]

There's no point leaving them in the deceaseds name just in case there is a future win - that would cause more hassle trying to sort. Call state savings and explain that the estate has been wrapped up already. Given it's such a small amount they may be able to issue funds to the executor on signing the relevant form and indemnity once they get the death Cert/will.

Hi Marsha,

If there was a future win, ‘’whoever’’ would have to decide if it was worth the hassle, definitely not for a €50 win, but probably worth it in the very unlikely event of a €50,000 win.

State Savings will cash these prize bonds, that is not the issue, it looks like it would cost more than their value to get all the required documentation. As a starting point certified copies of the will, death cert and the grant of probate would have to be got from the solicitor and sent in to State Savings. When these documents are received State Savings will then send out a claim form, no idea what this form asks for.

State Savings have confirmed prize bonds cannot be transferred, only cashed and the procedure for cashing is the same, even for small amounts like this.