My dear husband passed away Sunday last. At this harrowing distressing time, I have found that all the official departments that my son and myself have contacted have been so understanding and helpful.
The Bank, his occupational pensions office, the DHSS state pensions office etc have all accepted a scanned copy of his death certificate. Then the fun started with the solicitor. Bearing in mind that I have a LPA and that I am the executor of my husband's will, I thought that all I had to do was to request it as I had done previously with my parent's wills, but no. The wills were made when we lived 200 miles away from where we live now, but left with the solicitor. I rang them to request the will three times before anyone helped me, the first response was that they couldn't find it. I did give them the address where we had lived previously, but they denied having it. When I insisted that they had it, and I had the copy, and invited them to check their accounts, they found it !
All good, no, now they wanted to see a certified copy of the will, ok we could send a scanned copy, no I had to go into their office with the copy and proof of my identity. I did explain that I lived two hundred miles away. So they said that I should post everything to them. On the basis that they denied having the will, I was doubtful that I would ever see the death certificate again. I then asked if my daughter could collect it, yes with the certified copy, proof of her identity and mine. What I couldn't understand was that they also said that I should go to a local solicitor, take the original certificate with me, and have it certified. I explained that the original stays with the registrar, and I only possess certified copies from the registry office, but they insisted that I would have been given the original. In the end I lost it and put the phone down.
My question is how can they be so obstructive, we paid them to draw up our wills, we left them in good faith, no-one told us that we would have to jump through hoops to get them in the event of a death. Is what they are doing/requesting even their legal right to do ?
The Bank, his occupational pensions office, the DHSS state pensions office etc have all accepted a scanned copy of his death certificate. Then the fun started with the solicitor. Bearing in mind that I have a LPA and that I am the executor of my husband's will, I thought that all I had to do was to request it as I had done previously with my parent's wills, but no. The wills were made when we lived 200 miles away from where we live now, but left with the solicitor. I rang them to request the will three times before anyone helped me, the first response was that they couldn't find it. I did give them the address where we had lived previously, but they denied having it. When I insisted that they had it, and I had the copy, and invited them to check their accounts, they found it !
All good, no, now they wanted to see a certified copy of the will, ok we could send a scanned copy, no I had to go into their office with the copy and proof of my identity. I did explain that I lived two hundred miles away. So they said that I should post everything to them. On the basis that they denied having the will, I was doubtful that I would ever see the death certificate again. I then asked if my daughter could collect it, yes with the certified copy, proof of her identity and mine. What I couldn't understand was that they also said that I should go to a local solicitor, take the original certificate with me, and have it certified. I explained that the original stays with the registrar, and I only possess certified copies from the registry office, but they insisted that I would have been given the original. In the end I lost it and put the phone down.
My question is how can they be so obstructive, we paid them to draw up our wills, we left them in good faith, no-one told us that we would have to jump through hoops to get them in the event of a death. Is what they are doing/requesting even their legal right to do ?