Refund

sonia owen

Registered User
Hi All,

Our mum passed away at the end of January. All her bills that needed to be paid always came to me to deal with. I never had POA and she did not make a will. Everything was split equally and amicably.

Just had a letter from our local council addressed to the Executors of my late mum, stating our names as the executors. It would seem from 2013 she had been over charged for Day Care and Home Care. They were very sorry for this oversight and a cheque will be made payable to her estate in due course. The refund is over £3,000.

I had a refund(payable to my Mum) the other day for £10 from the place where mum rented her sheltered flat from. Took the letter and the cheque to my bank to see about putting in it. Thank goodness I had the letter addressed to me concerning the rebate for the bank to see and copy. Even showed them mum's death certificate. Mum's death was sudden so it had to go to the Coroners Court for an inquest, so as my name was not on it. My bank would only accept the paperwork letter from the sheltered flat rental company.

Just wondering now what will happen when our local council send me the cheque for a much larger amount. Will I have to go through the same carry-on at my bank when trying to deal with this.

Any advice about this matter would be most helpful. Thanks

Sonia xx
 

jugglingmum

Registered User
Jan 5, 2014
7,085
0
Chester
I've no idea, but worth a try phoning the council and saying all her bank accounts already closed and will they make the cheque out to you?
 

mancmum

Registered User
Feb 6, 2012
404
0
You probably need to apply for letters of administration first

If there is no will then you have to go through a process similar to that of an executor. The links on the government website go some way to explaining it.

http://www.probate.uk.com/grant_of_letters_of_administration.html There is a helpline number

If the money and assets your mum had were relatively small then its possible to do this yourself without a solicitor and then funds will not be eaten up. People doing this job often set up a bank account to receive incoming funds and to pay any debts. You don't need a power of attorney to do this. If you do decide to use a solicitor don't be afraid to ask them how much they will charge and go for the cheapest/most convenient. We were going to use one who then would have charged about 5,000. It was a series of straight forward forms and my sister did it for very little.

If its complicated then it is useful to use a solicitor. Complicated usually means more than one person thinking they are due money but bear in mind it could also mean estranged spouses or children who were given away (or estranged - perhaps bought up by a former partner) (but not formally adopted). You know your family history and hopefully it is uncomplicated.
 

Jessbow

Registered User
Mar 1, 2013
5,679
0
Midlands
Basically, you should have left a bank account in her name open a bit longer.

How have you managed to distribute her funds without any official authority?
 

sonia owen

Registered User
The overpayment has only just come to light. Closed her bank account after she die because we did not expect the council to have found their mistake. Only found it when she had passed away.They were quite happy to transfer what she had left in her account into my brothers bank after seeing the paperwork we were given. While the coroner decided what the cause of the sudden death before he issued the final paper work. Saw evidence that my brother was who he said he was. A serving policeman. My brother spilt the money between us two and I shared her jewellery with her Grandaughters. That's how mum wanted it to be.
Sonia
 

balloo

Registered User
Sep 21, 2013
227
0
northamptonshire
Hi All,

Our mum passed away at the end of January. All her bills that needed to be paid always came to me to deal with. I never had POA and she did not make a will. Everything was split equally and amicably.

Just had a letter from our local council addressed to the Executors of my late mum, stating our names as the executors. It would seem from 2013 she had been over charged for Day Care and Home Care. They were very sorry for this oversight and a cheque will be made payable to her estate in due course. The refund is over £3,000.

I had a refund(payable to my Mum) the other day for £10 from the place where mum rented her sheltered flat from. Took the letter and the cheque to my bank to see about putting in it. Thank goodness I had the letter addressed to me concerning the rebate for the bank to see and copy. Even showed them mum's death certificate. Mum's death was sudden so it had to go to the Coroners Court for an inquest, so as my name was not on it. My bank would only accept the paperwork letter from the sheltered flat rental company.

Just wondering now what will happen when our local council send me the cheque for a much larger amount. Will I have to go through the same carry-on at my bank when trying to deal with this.

Any advice about this matter would be most helpful. Thanks

Sonia xx

did your mums estate appy to probate that is what normally happens and socilitor puts all funds into their account and then share it out .when my mum passed away i paid some bills my brother paid for others ,we were reinbursed by solcitor from estae and then shared out to the 3 of us as was my mums will said
 

fizzie

Registered User
Jul 20, 2011
2,725
0
If the amount left was very small the bank don't need probate and so won't ask for it. I don't know the amounts. Someone here will tell you the amount, I think it is 15,000 and if she is under that and you haven't had a problem accessing her money and there is no property then there isn't any reason to go to probate which is much more expensive if there is no will!! Meanwhile I'd do as others have suggested and ask explain to the council that bank accounts in her name have been closed would they please make the check payable to you or your brother, there shouldn't be a problem with that.
 
Last edited:

sonia owen

Registered User
Thanks Fizzie if I had l known that our local council was going to write to me concerning the over payment for mum's day centre care. I suppose if I had not had to inform them of my mum's passing their mistake would not have come to light. The overcharging had been going on since 2013 till she died. When I rang them they said it had happened because another department had just taken over the payment charges!!!!!!

When someone passes away you usually close bank accounts when there is no property, lots of money to deal with etc.
I will give the council a ring to let them know there is no account in mum's name now. They made the mistake not me I just paid them mum's bills, when they were due.
Sonia x
 

jugglingmum

Registered User
Jan 5, 2014
7,085
0
Chester
Most banks have a limit below which they will pay out, I was sorting out POA with one the other day and they told me that as it was below their limit and stayed that way when she died they would just transfer the money to me with sight of death certificate, even though I will need probate as the value of her estate is high enough to need it.
 

nitram

Registered User
Apr 6, 2011
30,081
0
Bury
If there is a will it's contents can influence banks on the limit.

For instance, if an executor, who is also sole beneficiary, presents a death certificate the limit can be quite high.
 

d4109125

Registered User
Mar 25, 2016
54
0
Sorry to hear of your loss.

Did you Mother die intestate? I.e. Did she have a valid Will?

What was the value of her estate (money, property etc?)

Did you apply for Probate, are you the personal representative?
 

sonia owen

Registered User
I rang the local council this morning they understood why the bank account had been closed after mum's death. I said if I had known there had been a over payment on mum's services then I would have kept it open as my name was on the account. But as this over sight did not come to light till Feb, which is their fault not us. They are getting back to me in the next few days. She seemed to think the cheque should hopefully be made out to me. But her department did not issue cheques. Maybe it will simply be a case of sending something with my name on. Watch this space!!!!
Sonia xxx
 

LadyA

Registered User
Oct 19, 2009
13,730
0
Ireland
I rang the local council this morning they understood why the bank account had been closed after mum's death. I said if I had known there had been a over payment on mum's services then I would have kept it open as my name was on the account. But as this over sight did not come to light till Feb, which is their fault not us. They are getting back to me in the next few days. She seemed to think the cheque should hopefully be made out to me. But her department did not issue cheques. Maybe it will simply be a case of sending something with my name on. Watch this space!!!!
Sonia xxx

Oh, why are officials so dense sometimes? It makes things so much harder doesn't it? Six months after my husband died - and because he had died - I got a refund of prescription charges that I had over-paid for his medication during the time he had been the nursing home. The cheque was made out to my husband! :eek: So of course, the Bank couldn't deal with it, as by then, his name had been taken off the joint account. If they had even put our joint names on the cheque, seeing as I was the one who always paid the charges, the bank could have taken it - but no. So I had to phone, then write, and explain and return the cheque and wait for a new one. It took another six weeks to get a replacement, in my own name.
 

sonia owen

Registered User
Oh, why are officials so dense sometimes? It makes things so much harder doesn't it? Six months after my husband died - and because he had died - I got a refund of prescription charges that I had over-paid for his medication during the time he had been the nursing home. The cheque was made out to my husband! :eek: So of course, the Bank couldn't deal with it, as by then, his name had been taken off the joint account. If they had even put our joint names on the cheque, seeing as I was the one who always paid the charges, the bank could have taken it - but no. So I had to phone, then write, and explain and return the cheque and wait for a new one. It took another six weeks to get a replacement, in my own name.

It causes me more upset and no doubt you were upset too. Having to talk to them this morning about mum's death when it happened etc. Hope you are doing ok. Thanks for your reply to my mail.
Take care.
Sonia x
 

LadyA

Registered User
Oct 19, 2009
13,730
0
Ireland
It causes me more upset and no doubt you were upset too. Having to talk to them this morning about mum's death when it happened etc. Hope you are doing ok. Thanks for your reply to my mail.
Take care.
Sonia x

Sonia, I was so upset that by the time I phoned them I was FURIOUS! And I positively took pleasure in the obvious discomfort of the clerk on the phone, when I explained that the REASON they were sending the refund was because my husband had died. And that obviously, he could not cash the cheque - because he was dead. And the bank could not process the cheque because my husband, to whom they had made it payable, was dead andtherefore couldn't endorse it on the back.
I shouldn't have. But I was very annoyed!