Probate and an interim death certificate

[Gingercar]

Has anyone done probate with one of these? My mum’s inquest won’t be until March. A couple of her banks (investment) won’t release funds until I have the real certificate after the inquest. If I have totals can I apply for probate? Her estate will be under £300k and should be straightforward.

My other question is how long is probate taking at the moment? I hear some things are coming through very quickly and I don’t want the house released if we aren’t allowed the bank funds to be able to pay council tax etc until it sells.

I don't think you can apply for probate without the death certificate, no.
We had a massive wait (six months +) before we got it for a parent (was also an inquest). We found different banks took different approaches to releasing funds without the actual death certificate. Could you ask the coroner to write to the bank on your behalf too explain the delay?

Yes, you can obtain probate with an interim death certificate, I have done recently (in the last 6 months). I have also obtained bank funds with the interim death certificate too, but they were low value. Ask if there is a reason why they won't accept it. The housing provider refused to accept it initially, until I spoke to them and turned out people in the past had used an interim death certificate to avoid paying, so I sent the full email I had received from the coroner which appeased them.

Probate was also granted quickly, about two weeks but it was a very straightforward estate.

That's good to know it's possible to get probate with an interim death certificate. Would it be possible to know what additional information you sent? I don't mean the original will, for example, but to explain the absence of the death being registered. Thank you!

Just the interim death certificate, nothing else provided. There was no will so technically not probate (grant of administration), but it is the same process. I assume if the probate service had any queries they can follow-up directly with the Coroner's Office. I guess it also depends on why there is an inquest, in my case it was to establish cause of death, there was no concern over date of death, but I guess if there is a query over date of death it may become more tricky and that would probably impact release of funds from any financial institutions and additional information may be needed.

Lots of councils and water companies wave council tax for a year in bereavement instances, sorry for your loss

Thanks everyone. Sounds like I need to speak to the banks again.
Yes the council tax gets waived until probate is granted and the house is inherited by someone. The water co has said they waive bills for three months. I just want to make sure the money comes through first before my brother inherits the house, as he doesn’t earn a lot and will have new bills to pay until the house is sold. There isn’t a lot of money but it will hopefully tide him over.

Thank you! Good to know

Probate was very quick for us, I think 2-3 weeks.

When my daughter in law died, the coroner issued a statement of the fact of death, doing the tell us once thing was tricky but the local authority registrar issued a special number to enable us to do this. Her inquest was over a year from her death, complex failings by GP, walk in centre and 111, the information gathering took a while. We got probate sorted out with what the coroner issued.

My father died at the end of 2023. We still haven’t got a death certificate (inquest cannot happen until a court case happens and that isn’t scheduled for ages yet) but got probate using the interim certificate). Banks were happy to accept it. Nobody questioned it.

It took us a year after we applied to get probate through. There was a huge backlog at the time. Ours was also a simple case no inheritance tax etc.

Big hugs to you! My DH died in Feb 2024 and the death certificate is dated 4th March. Probate was granted 2nd May. Bureacracy moving at its own pace ...

As PPs say, banks and other businesses vary greatly regarding what info they want. Some only want a little, some want crazy amounts of documentation.
Some will release funds to reimburse for funeral expenses if you have receipts.

If no one has mentioned it, investigate APS (additional permitted subscription) for ISAs if your DM had any.

In resolving DH's estate, I have found that most of them will give you final figures, interest earned and such like if you have enough info to go through security questions with them.

(Also, if you haven't notified them to freeze the account, you can use her passwords - if you have them - to log on and see balances, etc.)
I found that 'tell us once' was not very useful since it only covers a limited number of entities. Mostly, I had to ring anyways b/c I needed to transfer the account (utilities and suchlike) into my name.

@tarheelbaby unfortunately APS can only be used for spouses or those in civil partnerships.

the cost of maintaining the house should come out of the estate until such point it’s either sold or the beneficiary decided they want to keep the house. If it’s the former, Transfer of ownership will be sorted during the purchase process and the executor is responsible for selling the house.

Why does the executor have to sell the house? It will go to my brother, not me. He will sell it when he inherits it, but I (the executor) won’t be involved.

And how do I pay the bills/maintenance if the banks haven’t released her money? Her current account looks like it will release the funds, but that will all go on the funeral costs. It’s her investment accounts that are being awkward. She hasn’t got a ridiculous amount in them. But we can’t afford to pay for anything without that money.

Probate sounds like it could go quickly or slowly! Hard to decide when to do it. My dad’s estate was very complicated and over the IHT levels as it’s a farm (not working), but that went through in two months in 2022. Then a month after that they changed their minds and sent a HMRC valuer out to reassess. The solicitor said she’d only had one other estate that happened to in 20 years of doing probate.

I think I need to chase these banks up again.

Thank you everyone for the help.