Letters Of Administration

[hardy49]

When my brother died in February his affairs were taken over by a Social Worker as he wss in a nursing home and did not make a Will. When she had finished her investigations she said I should apply for Letters of Administration as the amount involved wzs £18000. I asked her several times if this figure included his pension from East Sussex Council where he used to work. She said that she had no knowledge of any pension, but I knew he had because he had told me. I sent the Social Worker a copy of the letter I had received from the Councils pension department informing me that they had paid the final instalment into his account. Not knowing where this money had been paid into I asked her who should I contact,but again she did not want to know and said she would wait to hear from me when I received the Letters of Administration. So I contacted the Councils pension department and asked if they would tell me where the money had been paid into. Without giving away any information they told me it had been paid into the Halifax in George Street Hove. I contacted the branch and after they had tracked down his account I explained tbat I had to inform them that he had passed away. As I live in Carlisle there is no way I could get to see them so a young lady said she would contact their branch in Carlisle and tell them to expect visit from me in the near future. When I went to see them I took with me what I thought was adequate identification. However,because I do not have a drivers licence and my passport is out of date they said that my bank statements and letter from Carlisle Council regarding Coiuncil Tax was not sufficient so I have had to contact Ministry of Pensions to confirm that I am in receipt of a State Pension.
Now today the Letters of Administration have arrived and states that the gross value is £18000 but I do not know how much is in the Halifax. Will they accept the Letters of .Administration as I am still waiting to hear from the Ministry of Pensions.

[bednobs]

i would have thought so: loa just gives you authority to act on the estate. unless thre are hundreds of thousands in the halifax account, inheritance tax wont be an issue. now you have loa, you can sort the halifax account out

[bednobs]

ps you have things slightly wrong - the sw could not have "taken over the affairs" of the estate, as that's what the LOA do (which you now have) you must now identify the assets and liabilities and administer the estate

[hardy49]

Thank you

[Buenchico]

Letters of Administration will show that, for example, Fred Bloggs of 23 Acacia Avenue, Sometown has the legal right to administer the estate of the deceased but Fred Bloggs would still need to prove to the deceased person's bank that he really is the said Fred Bloggs and not someone (who happens to have found the Letters of Administration left on a train) simply pretending to be Fred Bloggs.

So, while physical possession of Letters of Administration might help Hardy49 establish her identity with her brother's bank, it's still not impossible that they could want to see further proof of identity before they'll release the funds to her. It really comes down to an individual bank's security protocols, rather than to a precise matter of law, in my opinion.