Anyone able to help with a will query?

[needhelpwiththisplease]

A family member has died and his will leaves everything to an ex girlfriend.
He has had no contact with her for 2 years and the only thing there is , is money in the bank that is less than £10k.
Some of this money will be needed for funeral costs.
Does anyone know how this will work?
The ex is executor and sole beneficiary

The residuary estate should be paid to the ex girlfriend in accordance with his will.

The residuary estate is the amount remaining after all bills on his name and funeral expenses have been paid out.

With only 10k to start with there could be very little left for her - depending on his debts and what funeral his NOK choose.

If the ex is the executor, then she will have to do all the necessary paperwork (or get a solicitor to do it) and pay final bills and expenses out of the estate. She will then inherit the remainder. So in theory the funeral expenses should be paid by her from the estate, and the bank will release funds for that purpose.

I'm guessing there is a problem here...?

@haddockfortea the problem is if we leave the 2k upfront for the funeral directors then would the ex have to pay me back?'
No funeral directors will help with the funeral without payment of £2k up front

Can you contact her and explain the situation. Unless you can afford to be £2000 out of pocket I wouldn't pay it up front.

Former crematorium manager here (assuming he is to be cremated, of course)... If she is the executor she should be the applicant for cremation by default. She has control of the estate and hence is able to pay for it from the estate. She may give permission to the nearest surviving relative to make the funeral arrangements, however, but the cost of the funeral remains the first call on the estate, so she should arrange payment. If you choose to pay upfront yourself, I suspect you may struggle to see your money refunded.

I've never heard of funeral directors wanting money up front!

Obviously they know that their bill is usually covered after probate when the estate is finalised.

If the ex is not a absolutely trustworthy I wouldn't pay anything. The deceased has made his choice and his ex should be dealing with everything.

Bank should release payment for funeral upon presentation of death certificate and funeral director invoice.

@BMW6 Nearly all funeral directors now ask for disbursements up front, and many even ask for the whole fee. Even so, the amount of bad debt that funeral directors carry is truly astonishing. People have no scruples. Once the funeral is over, they are none too keen to pay.

@BloodyAdultDC would that have to be presented by the ex or can next of kin do that ??

Hmmm. Not sure. I think anyone with the death cert and FD invoice.

The cheque will be made out to the funeral director and the invoice will have your deceased relatives name on it. I was NOK for my mum who didn't have a will and letters of administration (probate) hadn't been applied for, when requesting her funeral payment I took my ID and they issued the check - there was no question of who I was in relation to the person who had died, but they needed my ID to prove who had requested the payment. The bill is for a 'debt' owed by the deceased to the FD and is one of a few expenses that banks honor after a death. A quick call to their helpline or look on their website would be best?

Looks like the Halifax will just pay funeral costs - from their bereavement pages. I suspect other banks will do the same-

The ex is executor and sole beneficiary

She really needs to be involved with this, if possible, to manage expectations of the funeral if nothing else. Have you and/or other family members spoken to her?

If the ex doesn't want to be executor they can renounce being it by filling out a form. You can find it on gov.uk. Then someone else would have to deal with the estate.

@AutumnCrow yes we have spoken to her.
She has not been very helpful.
This isn't about her having any claim or anything.
The deceased mum just needs to be able to pay for the funeral.
She can have what's left .

The Executor should be paying the funeral bill, on his behalf, not his Mum!

She pays the FD from the deceased's bank account.

That's the whole point of being am Executor.

The ex will get what, if anything, is left after all debts are settled.

Why on earth did he appoint his ex to do this and be the only beneficiary? Most odd.

Normally the funeral director sends their bill to the executor, or to the solicitor dealing with the estate.

@BMW6 the Will was made in 2018.
They split up in 2022
And he died last week.
As he was only young, I'm assuming he didn't get around to changing his will

Ah I see, how very sad. I really hope she does the right thing by him and his family. I believe a pp has said she can relinquish the role of Executor without it affecting her rights as the Beneficiary, but obviously she then will lose control over the Estate disbursement.

Of course the right thing for her to do is surrender her inheritance also to his family as she's an ex.........