Introduction
The following blog outlines the experience of two Town Close clients who have recently lost people close to them. Part of the Town Close Legacy series, it details the experiences of Mel and Tony Hirst and is written in the hope that it will be useful to others who experience loss and have little idea as to what happens next.
Losing someone is difficult and can be overwhelming. And particularly at this difficult time, some of the associated bureaucracy with death can seem never ending, unsympathetic and is expensive in terms of money, time and emotion.
By being forewarned about some of these things, we hope that people suffering bereavements of their own will cope just that little bit better. We also hope it may encourage people to better prepare for their own end-of-life, thus making it a little easier for their own executors when the time comes.
The following document lists things in rough chronological order and further guidance and explanations can be found here.
Immediately after death.
By law, you must register the death within five days (unless there is a Coroner’s investigation). You do this with the local Registrar’s office which you can find here.
When the registrar has all the information that they need and this has been entered in the register, they will give you a certificate for burial or cremation (the ‘green form’) which you’ll need to give to the funeral director.
Death Certificate
This is a certified copy of the death entry in the register and proves that the death has been registered. These have to be purchased.
It is important to ask for additional copies of the death certificate. Even if you do not need probate, you will need to have a copy of the death certificate for each asset holder, e.g. for each bank or building society where there are accounts, each pension or insurance policy. Without a sufficient number of death certificates, sorting out the estate takes longer and extra certificates are more expensive to purchase at a later stage.
Registering a death is free, but death certificates are not. The cost of certified copies of the death certificate at the time of registering the death vary from one country to another. The cost per copy is: £11.00 in England and Wales, £8.00 in Northern Ireland and £10.00 in Scotland.
Photocopies of the certificate are not normally accepted for legal, financial and insurance companies and are a breach of copyright. Do not assume copies will be returned by organisations as some may not.
When you register the death, the Registrar will give you a code to use the Government’s ‘Tell Us Once” service. Tell Us Once is a service that lets you report a death to most Government organisations in one go. These include HMRC, DWP, DVLA, Passport Office and the Local Council.
Contact a register office to register the death. You can contact any registry office, but it will be quicker if you use the one in the area where the person died.
The Funeral and beyond
One of the biggest costs you’ll face is the funeral. Even a simple funeral can cost over £4,000, though you can claim the cost of this back from the deceased’s estate. If you do not have sufficient cash to pay for the funeral in the first place you can ask the deceased’s bank to do so directly.
Next is the cost of the wake. A wake is optional and can cost anything from a few pounds for a cup of tea and a sandwich to several thousand for an end-of- life blowout for hundreds of friends and family!
Next you need to apply for probate. This can be done by yourself if the deceased’s affairs were simple, in which case budget for less than £250. Mel & Tony chose to do it themselves and found the gov.uk website to be very helpful. For large or more complex estates, it is safer to get a solicitor to do it, though this will likely cost you upwards of £2,000, and significantly more if the estate is large and/or complex. A good filing system and using the Town Close Legacy suite of documents will help your survivors save time and money.
You may wish to order additional copies of the grant of probate, in the same way as you do the death certificate, as some organisations will ask for these as well.
Depending on the estate there might be inheritance tax to pay. This becomes clearer as probate progresses and any tax due must be paid before probate is granted. Note that executors may not be able to access funds from the estate until probate has been granted.
Where inheritance tax might be payable, it is advisable to get a formal property valuation from a surveyor. HMRC can question the value but may be less likely to do so than if you just get valuations from estate agents. However, this is another cost of several hundred pounds.
Expenses can mount up too. For example, Mel & Tony needed to send letters and paperwork by post (signed for) as well as costs of sending mementos to friends and family. Also factor in the costs of travel and accommodation if you are dealing with an estate that is some distance away.
Note too that the cost isn’t just financial, it’s time and the emotional cost as well.
Closing Financial Accounts
Rules seem to vary by organisation; some needed to see a copy of the grant-of- probate, whilst others closed on production of the death certificate. The more money in the account, the more likely proof of probate may be required – in general it seemed that if there was £50,000 or more with an organisation (can be in more than one account) then pay-out would only be done with grant of probate. Note also, overpayment, say, of care fees will often only be reimbursed with grant of probate.
Note that some repayments may be required. For example, typically it may take a few weeks for pension payments to cease, and so the deceased’s estate may owe the pension provider monies for overpayments.
Payments due e.g., credit card bills, need to be paid, as will any mortgage payments until the property is sold.
TOP TIP!
Check the deceased’s bank account for direct debits and standing orders for the past few months so you can quickly see what needs to be cancelled.
Property
In Mel & Tony’s case, there was a property involved which then remained empty for a long period. The existing insurances provider would only provide cover for 90 days after the death. After that, you may need specialist insurance to cover an empty property.
For empty properties, you should consider setting up a postal redirection to ensure any important documents, including bills are dealt with promptly. There is a cost for this and note that not all post will be correctly redirected.
Notifying all organisations can take a long time. Governments “Tell Us Once” service deals with most Governmental departments but most commercial organisations, (banks utilities, phone companies etc.) will need to be dealt with individually and service levels vary enormously. Some organisations have special bereavement teams and are well organised, many don’t.
Remember that these days many people don’t have paper bills, so you’ll need to consider how the executors would identify the necessary organisations.
Utility bills need to be paid until the property is sold. Even with nobody living in the property there are still standing charges for gas, electricity, and water. Another point, it helps to know where the meters are to take readings.
Think about whether you need to leave any existing landlines/broadband packages in place and remember to cancel the TV license/cable contracts (unless you are likely to watch it).
Council tax – this is not payable for 6 months immediately after probate is granted but will then be payable at the full rate if the property remains unsold, even if it is empty.
Any applicable Service Charge – this continues to be payable, again until the property is sold.
Other costs may arise like window cleaner, gardener etc.
House clearance – Mel & Tony made many trips to a local charity shop and cleared smaller items. For furniture and the remainder, they employed a house clearance firm. The clearance firm took everything, some of which was sold by them at auction, reducing the cost to just over £800. This included fees for disposing of items at the waste recycling centre/tip, like fridges and freezers. Don’t underestimate the amount of stuff people own and the work and time required to review it all. It is emotionally and physically draining. They found many personal items like photos and cine films tucked away. Again, some personal organisation and decluttering as you get older will be helpful to those who will be dealing with your things.
Cleaning/redecorating – Mel & Tony paid to have the flat fully cleaned before putting it on the market, about £120. They took advice not to redecorate as new owners would normally want to do this.
Selling a deceased’s property
All in all, it took around seven months after the death before Mel & Tony could put the property on the market. This is relatively quick compared to others where it wouldn’t be unusual for the elapsed time to be 18 months or more. Remember there will be a cost for selling (Estate Agent & Solicitor fees etc).
Don’t underestimate the time taken for the sales process, especially if the property is leasehold where you’ll need to liaise with the freeholder & management company as well as the buyer. Additional fees may be involved here too.
A Word about Digital assets.
We live in digital times, but the law has yet to catch up. At the time of writing, there is no UK law that requires companies such as Apple, Meta (Facebook), Google or other platforms to hand over passwords or pin codes to your devices or accounts, even if such a request is included in the will. Indeed, most will refuse to do so. For example, you cannot ‘leave’ your Apple Music library to someone else.
You should therefore encourage those around you to leave full details of how to access their various ‘digital accounts’ (including phone pin codes) with their Will or other legacy documents.
List of potential expenses (not exhaustive)
- Death certificates
- Funeral
- Probate
- Inheritance tax
- Surveyor valuation
- General expenses e.g., postage
- Travel, accommodation, food etc
- Repayment of pensions
- Payment of outstanding bills e.g., credit card bill
- Property insurances
- Postal redirection
- Utility bills – electricity, gas, water, landline, tv licence, other (cable tv, broadband, mobile phone)
- Council tax
- Service charge
- House clearance
- Cleaning/decorating
- Estate agent fees including Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)
- Conveyancing fees
- Management Company fees (for leasehold properties) when the property is sold
The Town Close Legacy Documents
Town Close FP have created a series of online documents (Town Close Legacy Documents) that should be completed by all clients and their relatives as soon as reasonably possible.
These encourage you to list all aspects of your life in one place that can be shared with your executors or partners upon your death. When complete, these documents can be extremely helpful to your surviving relatives, friends, and executors as they will contain all details of a person’s financial and other affairs, from details of their mobile phone provider to their bank accounts, to advanced wishes for treatment to the songs desired at the funeral.
If you are a Town Close client, you will find copies of our legacy documents in your portal document set.