End of Life admin

[yorkshirelad1]

Just an FYI:
What to do when someone dies ...

Most people have heard about the government's Tell Us Once Service (which covers councils, DVLA, HMRC etc)
https://www.gov.uk/after-a-death/organisations-you-need-to-contact-and-tell-us-once

There is also the Death Notification Service (which covers banks)
https://www.deathnotificationservice.co.uk/

There is an article in today (Sun 5 July) Times about Settld
The article is here (paywalled): https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/money/halifax-adds-to-the-hell-of-bereavement-593zjx0qh
and says: "Utility companies met last month to discuss how they could make the process simpler for families. The event was organised by Vicky Wilson, co-founder of Settld, a free service due to start this month that will automate the process of closing accounts with utility companies."
I Googled for a bit of info on Settld, but didn't find much, but did find Vicky's twitter page which may be of interest
https://twitter.com/VickySettld

[Lootman]

My first thought on this is that I may not want all interested parties to know about a death at the same time.

There are some I might want to notify immediately, some maybe after a few days, and some at a time of my choosing. As an example entities which are paid by the deceased may be a higher priority for notification than entities that pay the deceased.

I'd rather customise the notification than have one size fits all.

[JohnB]

And utility companies will be looking for someone to take on the service, but need to be told before the direct debits stop. I'd want to contact a house insurer carefully if a property would be left empty.

I think I'd want manual timing for such things, rather than an automated rush

[Dod101]

I think we need to acknowledge that they at least recognise that it is something that can be improved upon. The Tell Us Once service is good but even there there are flaws such as simply cancelling road tax on any car registered in the name of the deceased without putting anything else in place. How much more inconvenient would it be for your electricity to be cut off in the middle of winter? However, if it does nothing more than make staff more aware of what needs to be done that would help.

Dod

[Wuffle]

From recent personal experience.
'Tell us once' is not a fire and forget.
A conversation I had went along the lines of..... 'Yes, I can confirm that you did inform us of your father's passing but no, we did not upgrade your moms pension by 4 grand a year. We are very sorry.'
Check everything, though they got everything else right.
Everyone on here probably would check but it felt suspiciously wilful when it happened to us and others might be more naive.

W.

[didds]

A conversation I had went along the lines of..... 'Yes, I can confirm that you did inform us of your father's passing but no, we did not upgrade your moms pension by 4 grand a year. We are very sorry.'

W.

without meaning to derail the thread, was the oversight restrospectively paid up? Not that that would have helped your mum at a time earlier when she may have needed the extra cash etc ...

just intrigued.

cheers

didds

[Wuffle]

hi didds,

yes, corrected instantly with backdate.
As with all of my experience dealing with HMRC over years, the govt are the most straightforward to deal with in this respect when there is a 'situation' as opposed to the cut and thrust of modern business.

W.

[AF62]

I used the Tell Us Once service a few months ago when my father died - it seemed to work well. I have yet to check the pension situation as my mother went into a residential home on the day of lockdown and I would sooner do it sat with her.

I thought about using the Death Notification Service, but was put off by the caveat that it might disrupt service even though the two accounts my parents held were both joint accounts. So I left it a few months before getting around to calling Santander and Lloyds.

Both banks (and I don’t say this lightly) deserve full marks from the efficiency which they dealt with things. Both were able to verify that I was who I said I was through the separate accounts I held with them (Lloyds through my Halifax credit card), and very simply were able to convert the accounts into my mother’s sole name. Lloyds even prompted me about my father’s MBNA credit card which falls under their umbrella of brands, which I had forgotten about.

It does seem slightly odd that the utilities are creating a new service, rather than simply join the Tell Us Once or Death Notification Service, and although it might not meet everyone’s needs, if it is voluntary and available then it seems a good thing to me.

[yorkshirelad1]

Adding to this thread as I saw something on HL's website that might be useful and it's something I've done, but others may find it useful. I have a feeling this type of question gets posted here from time to time, and I have a feeling I contributed to another thread previously, but can't find it, so adding to this one

Register of assets

Article: https://www.hl.co.uk/news/articles/introducing-our-asset-register-take-more-control-of-your-finances
pdf of booklet (linked to in above article, but url separately here as well): https://www.hl.co.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0012/16879341/Asset-Register-0121-INTERACTIVE.pdf

I'm not saying the booklet is perfect, but it's a good starting point or template and may prompt further thoughts. IMHO, everyone with a few assets should do something like this, it would save your executors (which is probably a friend/relative doing you a favour as some may have done already, or saving a solicitor's time/fees!) a fair bit of footwork.

[Lootman]

Adding to this thread as I saw something on HL's website that might be useful and it's something I've done, but others may find it useful. I have a feeling this type of question gets posted here from time to time, and I have a feeling I contributed to another thread previously, but can't find it, so adding to this one

Register of assets

Article: https://www.hl.co.uk/news/articles/introducing-our-asset-register-take-more-control-of-your-finances
pdf of booklet (linked to in above article, but url separately here as well): https://www.hl.co.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0012/16879341/Asset-Register-0121-INTERACTIVE.pdf

I'm not saying the booklet is perfect, but it's a good starting point or template and may prompt further thoughts. IMHO, everyone with a few assets should do something like this, it would save your executors (which is probably a friend/relative doing you a favour as some may have done already, or saving a solicitor's time/fees!) a fair bit of footwork.

I think the idea of having a register of your assets can be very helpful, as it makes your executor's job very easy.

However, I do not like the idea of having a broker like HL having that information at all. I would worry that it would be used for marketing purposes, to try and persuade you to bring into HL assets that you currently hold elsewhere.

More generally, I think there is a privacy concern with any third party having this information. It should instead be a private document shared only by yourself (and spouse), your executor, and your beneficiaries/next-of-kin as appropriate.

[swill453]

I think the idea of having a register of your assets can be very helpful, as it makes your executor's job very easy.

However, I do not like the idea of having a broker like HL having that information at all. I would worry that it would be used for marketing purposes, to try and persuade you to bring into HL assets that you currently hold elsewhere.

More generally, I think there is a privacy concern with any third party having this information. It should instead be a private document shared only by yourself (and spouse), your executor, and your beneficiaries/next-of-kin as appropriate.

I don't think there's a suggestion you actually submit the information to HL, is there? It's just for your own use.

Scott.

[Lootman]

I think the idea of having a register of your assets can be very helpful, as it makes your executor's job very easy.

However, I do not like the idea of having a broker like HL having that information at all. I would worry that it would be used for marketing purposes, to try and persuade you to bring into HL assets that you currently hold elsewhere.

More generally, I think there is a privacy concern with any third party having this information. It should instead be a private document shared only by yourself (and spouse), your executor, and your beneficiaries/next-of-kin as appropriate.

I don't think there's a suggestion you actually submit the information to HL, is there? It's just for your own use.

I don't know as I didn't read the whole thing. I just noted their reference to "our register".

I have had brokers and banks ask me about external assets and total worth, under the guise of "know your customer" requirements, but I am circumspect about what I reveal.

[swill453]

I don't know as I didn't read the whole thing.

Would have saved you a bit of time

Scott.

[Lootman]

I don't know as I didn't read the whole thing.

Would have saved you a bit of time

On the contrary, I saved time by not reading it. It would have saved your time though, evidently.

[ten0rman]

Interestingly I have done much the same as the HL document and have it on my computer (plus a few copies elsewhere) and have notified my three children of it's existence and where it will be found. My reason for doing it is to make things as easy as possible for my children when acting as executors as my wife has refused to have anything to do with it. The major problem is that of keeping it up to date which is why it is held on my computer.

I have also attempted to simplify matters as much as possible, no life insurances, only three pensions (state & works for me and state for my wife), and am currently consolidating my S&S ISA's onto one provider. Plus I have indicated where documents, such as car registration, car insurance may be found.

I did do the probate for my parents, and other than the sheer boredom involved, found it reasonably easy, and in that I found that all the financial institutions I dealt with had very helpful, if occasionally inefficient, departments dealing with the affairs of the deceased. It has to said though, that since then, there have been changes in the IHT procedures which will make things somewhat more awkward.

One point which I haven't seen mentioned was that when my brother registered the first death, the registrar made the point that if the institutions required a death certificate, then it was possible, and here he mentioned one particular institution, that an original certificate would not be returned. The registrar then suggested that we obtain 10 copies of the death certificate on the grounds that it was considerably cheaper to obtain them on the initial application. As it happened, he was quite correct about the institution he mentioned - we never did get the death certificate returned. Please note, it is 15 years since those events took place and the institution concerned may have improved, hence no names, no pack drill.

Regards,

ten0rman

[Lootman]

Interestingly I have done much the same as the HL document and have it on my computer (plus a few copies elsewhere) and have notified my three children of it's existence and where it will be found. My reason for doing it is to make things as easy as possible for my children when acting as executors as my wife has refused to have anything to do with it. The major problem is that of keeping it up to date which is why it is held on my computer.

Yes, I don't think that anything that formal is needed, as long as one's affairs are fairly simple. A simple Word document listing the assets, with account numbers, should suffice. No need for anything fancy, nor for any third party involvement. And paper printouts of course.

The same document could list any gifts made, with dates, to make things even easier for one's executors who would normally be one's children and beneficiaries anyway.

Another approach is to give a power of attorney to one's children, at the right moment. In that way they will become familiar with your financial affairs anyway.

[ten0rman]

Lootman,

A Word (actually Wordpro since I'm on Linux) document is exactly what I have done. And here is a list of the various sections I have covered:

Index Page 1
Introduction & Reason for Document Page 2
Death, Funeral, Probate & finances thereof Page 3
Information & Document Locations Page 6
Computer/Internet Access & Information Page 7
Computer Data which may be of use Page 9
Internet Access Page 11
Pensions Page 12
Income for XXX (my wife) after my death Page 15
Financial Information Page 17
Electronic Test Equipment Page 21
Engineering Equipment Page 22

The reason for the last two items is because these are basically hobby equipment, some of which is old & obsolete, and some is of poor quality.

I would take issue with you over the use of paper copies: these can get lost damaged, and out of date. This is why I have advised of the documents whereabouts on the computer, along with five software backups. I must admit that there is a possibility that in the event of a majot catastrophe, eg fire, then the document and its copies could be irretrievably lost, but I think that would be the least of my worries in that event.

Regards,

ten0rman

ps It seems that the formatting goes to pot when submitted. Sorry about that.

[88V8]

A simple Word document listing the assets, with account numbers, should suffice. .... give a power of attorney to one's children, at the right moment.

Even though we have anti-virus, I would hesitate to keep such a thing on the computer. Although it might be OK under some innocuous title, such as How to Empty the Septic Tank. And without passwords, which I certainly will not commit to the computer, I think it would be of limited use.
T'was all so much easier when everything was on paper.

The right moment.... what do you do, a weekly run through the tarot cards?

Which publish a useful book What To Do When Someone Dies. https://www.which.co.uk/later-life-care ... meone-dies
I see there are a lot of used copies on eBay, but if one is going to use a reference work, really I think it should be the latest edition.

V8

[Lootman]

A simple Word document listing the assets, with account numbers, should suffice. .... give a power of attorney to one's children, at the right moment.

The right moment.... what do you do, a weekly run through the tarot cards?

Ha, fair point. I actually set up POAs for my children to act on my behalf some 15 years ago, when they were still teenagers. But that was obviously not a suitable time to actually give the documents to them.

I didn't mean that I can predict my own demise, although that would be handy as I would then just transfer everything to my kids the day before. Rather I meant when I have decided that my kids are mature and established enough to understand and handle the responsibility. They are getting there.

[AJC5001]

Which publish a useful book What To Do When Someone Dies. https://www.which.co.uk/later-life-care ... meone-dies
I see there are a lot of used copies on eBay, but if one is going to use a reference work, really I think it should be the latest edition.

V8

Unfortunately Which haven't published that (or any other) book for a few years now. Your link just goes to information on their website.

Adrian