Question about DIY probate.

[Cherubneddy]

Hi, DB and I are going to look at applying for probate for mums estate ourselves, rather than using a solicitor. It’s a pretty straightforward estate: there’s a will, it’s uncontested, under IHT thresholds, only 1 small property.

I have a specific question: I’m aware one of the first things we need to do is pay any outstanding bills, arrange any money owed etc. However, do I not notify the bank of her death until after this has been completed? As I’m presuming her bank account will be frozen once I tell them? I’ve already used her bank account to pay for funeral expenses, as was reassured by the funeral directors that this was ok.

Also, has anyone used one of those services that will notify all utilities/ banks/ subscriptions etc of her death for a small one off fee? Sounds like it would save a lot of time?

You inform bank immediately and provide death cert
id use a sol in your shoes

Yes tell the bank
I did probate for my dad, similar to your situation. It was faff but easy enough. Better than spending ~£10k on a solicitor.

You don't need (and shouldn't) to pay outstanding bills before you inform the bank - you should have done that immediately.

Assuming it was her sole bank account, not joint with either of you, then using it to make payments after her death would be fraudulent.

The outstanding bills may have to wait until probate is granted.

Funeral expenses are the one specified expense which can be paid directly from the bank account of the deceased.

In my experience a lot of providers wrote off bills if they were pretty small.

Freezing the bank account is a nice easy way of figuring out what you have forgotten to cancel because you will soon find out. Just make sure house insurance is paid for especially if it’s an empty house.

£10k??

Straightforward estate….. a grand

1. notify her bank, utility providers, anyone else she has direct debits with - it might be tricky if you can’t access her bank statements anymore. They may need copies of death certificates. Let them know who the executor is and when you ring them ask for the bereavement team.
2. get a notebook and make notes of everyone you’ve contacted and what they say.
3. any outstanding bills can be paid once probate is granted.
4. the first bill which can be paid directly from her bank account will be the funeral expenses - the undertakers will send the invoice direct to her bank for payment, you don’t need to pay up front (assuming theres enough money in her account to cover it)
5. if you haven’t told the bank about the death but have used her account, that’s not great TBH but as long as you’ve not accessed it for anything else I wouldn’t worry.
6. make sure her house is insured - contact the insurance company she used and they should be able to arrange cover but you may need to pay this yourself (I paid £200 for my mums house insurance)

But ultimately, for a simple estate applying for probate yourself is easy. Once sorted the house can be sold but it can be put on the market now whilst waiting. You don’t need to change the names of the house deeds any time, when it’s sold the conveyancing solicitor will sort this.

You can't do anything with the bank - the account has to be frozen from date of death. If you want to pay funeral costs out of the deceased's bank account, you send them the bill and complete their authorisation form and they'll need the death certificate to action the bill payment.

Until you have probate, you can't do anything else with the bank account - it's basically fraud to pay bills etc with it as it's not your money and you shouldn't have access, i.e. you can't use the deceased's online banking logins and can't use their credit/debit cards even if you have their pin number.

You just need to tell everyone owed money that the person has died and you'll be in contact once probate is granted to pay the debts.

Unless there's a large amount in the account (i.e. 10s of thousands) the bank will usually transfer the funds to the next of kin without needing probate.

you are meant to inform the bank immediately. We did DIY probate for a family friend (no immediate relations). My dad had LPOA prior to her death and full access to her bank account but on her death everything was frozen.

as PP said, most banks will authorise funeral expenses.

I have just completed probate for a relative. Never done it before but found it straightforward. She banked with Barclays. Because the current account balance was below£30K they transferred it to my account.

Sorry for your loss.

I did Df's probate and it was v straightforward. My aunt had nominated a solicitor for hers but by the time I had found all of the paperwork i could have easily done it myself.

Dads bank, Lloyd's, were really helpful, gave me a statement of how much was in his account on the day of death, closed his account and transferred the funds - not a lot - to an 'executors account' for me to use, if needed.

Re the house. I made sure that I got 3 valuations in writing from different estate agents. Some charge for doing a probate valuation, but I found 3 who would do it for me without charging.

I was also advised to put a notice in a local paper announcing the death. This is apparently in case there are unknown children, who may have a right to claim against the estate - though my df was the least likely person to have skeletons in his cupboard as it were.

Hope that helps.

@Pixilicious1 Who spends £10,000 on a solicitor? For a simple estate it’s not that!

Just checked - fee for DM was £1300. So worth it!

rhere are sometimes assets which can be used before probate (specific types of life insurance, ISAs etc). Worth checking. Paying the fee to a solicitor is worth it. We waited 10 months for the grant of probate for my DDad, it was an absolute nightmare (although the situation was more complex than yours) and the isa which helped us pay the bills we couldn’t have done it without that.

We got probate within 3 weeks of applying in 2024! Death late May, all payments made from the estate by early Sept with house sold. If there are sticking points (I’m looking at you Aviva) then a solicitor seems to sort things when POA has gone. I closed other accounts myself so work needed wasn’t onerous. Paid extra for conveyancing but you would expect that.

I I’m aware one of the first things we need to do is pay any outstanding bills,
You are not supposed to pay any outstanding bills until everything is settled. We have a bill of £70,000 owned to the council for home fees they just have to wait until funds are available after the house is sold.

@Iloveeverycat You can if you wish - from your own funds but you don’t have to close bank accounts immediately. I paid a number of bills and invoiced the estate. Didn’t have care fees outstanding that had to wait for a house sale. Certainly smaller bills csn be dealt with because leaving them for months or longer isn’t acceptable. Just causes issues.