Moving money from a parent's account before probate

[basilbrush]

If a person dies and has accounts in their own name with more than £5k in, does that money automatically go to their surviving spouse or is probate needed?

My MIL had two or three bank accounts in her name only and the family assumed that following her death this money automatically went to her husband. They had a standard will where everyone goes to the surviving spouse.

My DH's brother had LPA for his Mum - when she died, he transferred the money to his Dad's account (to make sure there was enough to pay his care company).About 10k has already been spent.

My DH is now worried that he should have a) informed the bank of his mum's death before transferring any money b) possibly applied for probate as these bank accounts were in his mum's name only and held more than £5k.

Is he right - is there a problem? And if so, how do we fix it?

Thanks!

The LPA ceases on death of the donor so your BIL had no authority to transfer any money anywhere once MIL had died.

What would have happened is that the bank would have frozen the account once they knew of the death and then waited instructions from the executor or administrator of the estate. Even if the estate is simple you still have to trundle through probate unless the amounts are so small that the holders of the assets will proceed without it. If there was more than 10k then I think they would have asked for probate.

I have no idea what you do from here, presumably you can still apply for probate, value the estate etc so that HMRC can see you aren't evading taxes.

Your DH should not have moved the money. He needs to notify the bank immediately.

I know from experience with Barclays under £50K needed no probate but when we done the death notification, we had to sign a form that stated where the funds were going to was the intended beneficiary. They then duly transferred the funds to my Grandmother within a few days.