Ok so here is a morbid post.
Today at 11:25am my mum passed away. She was comfortable and calm and left this world as me and my wife held her hand.
Now that I have had a small time of reflection I have read her last will and testament, the details of this I won’t be making a public matter. I do however have questions and hope the good people on here can help.
She has her own house, she has house insurance but I need to know if this remains active after the event or if it is now void. I don’t want to leave such a large part of her estate unprotected.
As much as this may seem materialistic I need to ensure everything is in place and that I, as executor to her will, protect her wishes, and I will execute her wishes to the letter with one exception, she has left a sum of money to her friends child to help with college fees, this friend had a second child after the will was written so I wish to double this amount and take that money from my portion to ensure that they both get this assistance, she so loved children and I know she would approve, especially as she was such a good friend to my mum.
It’s been a rough day.
Any advice is welcome I feel like I am in a mine field.
Sent from my iPhone
My condolences.
It should remain active for 60 or 90 days in my experience, buy the house must nut be unoccupied for more than 28/30 days, i.e. you must visit/check on it. When my mother in law passed away the policy continued long enough to get probate and sell the property
Her policy may vary though so best to speak to the insurers asap.
I've no advice to add here other to pass on my condolences and to wish you and your family all the very best. Take care.
Sorry to hear and condolences
If her insurance is paid up up. Shouldn't terminate or as long as payments are being made.
Should speak to the insurance company and transfer ownership of the home to you/other beneficiaries over and continue with payments as needed
All bills on my mothers house passed over to me. I dealt with the insurance company and transferred payments. All other bills came out of an account I was a co-signer on. The account transferred over to me. Didn't bother emailing the companies. They don't know as these are pre-paid through the account
My condolensces on the loss of your mum.
I was executor for an uncles estate recently. As said above, speak to the house insurance company - they should transfer the policy to you and keep it in force until the renewal date. After that you will need an ‘unoccupied property policy’, which should include any possessions if they remain in the property.
As regards additional payments, all executors and any potentially affected beneficiaries need to agree to it and a Deed of Variation completed within 2yrs of the death (form available online). The beneficiaries of the residue of the estate will have lower payouts so need to agree (in writing) to your proposal.
If its any help, I found the whole process relatively straightforward but very slow. Financial institutions all seem to have different processes to follow but their bereavement departments were generally very helpful.
Simon
I'm very sorry to hear about your mum - my condolences to you and your family.
As for house insurance, I got this from the web:
Contact the property’s existing home insurance company as soon as you can. The company will need to be informed of the homeowner’s death and may require a copy of the death certificate. Some insurance companies may extend the homeowners current policy until the expiration date. However, others may only continue to cover the property for 30 days, or may cancel the policy with immediate effect.
From https://www.intelligentinsurance.co....diate%20effect.
As for changing the will, it might be worth getting professional advice about using, say, a deed of variation, particularly if the sum involved is significant.
Condolences to you and the family.
WRT "...so I wish to double this amount and take that money from my portion to ensure that they both get this assistance" I don't see any need for a Deed of Variation in order to do this, it's simply you choosing to do something with your own inherited money.
And what a decent thing it is too.
R
Ignorance breeds Fear. Fear breeds Hatred. Hatred breeds Ignorance. Break the chain.
Sorry to hear this, my condolences to you, your family and Mum’s friends.
I went through this recently and everyone was very sympathetic - just contact insurers and explain the situation and will probably transfer policy to your name until expiry. There may be stipulations that house has to be visited every week (if unoccupied), heating to minimum temperature during Winter etc.
As for the will, don’t see that a deed of variation is needed as the sum will be coming from your ‘share’ and no-one else is affected. Only issue I can see is could be considered ‘deprivation of assets’ if you were to die or need social care.
My sister is doing something (not sure what it’s called) with solicitor so that part of her share goes to her son as if from will and won’t be considered a gift if she were to die in near future but may only be applicable to children but it’s not a variation and other beneficiaries are not involved.
Last edited by Kingstepper; 26th August 2023 at 09:37.
My condolences and respect to you for looking to do what your Mum would have wanted.
I've been an executor a couple of times and you can do it yourself, it does take time but there's plentiful advice on the web etc. That said, if the estate was significant and money is not a major issue then I'd recommend the estate pays for some legal assistance, especially in the early stages as they can help with the steps required and you could undertake whatever parts you wanted to. I only did it because funds were limited, I was interested in what was involved and it's not dissimilar to my day job.
Good luck with everything.
Contact the Council , they have a bereavement dept with one of these “ one call systems” . That should provide you with a six month council charge holiday. Crack on with changing any energy bills to your email address. Your mum could well have been in credit so the reduced demands should lower the monthly payments.
The tv licencing boys can be a pain if and when her licence lapses, just remove any tv’s from prying eyes. They are the least sympathetic of all providers in my eyes.
Re insurance as others have said it will continue to run, just advise them and listen to any additional things they want doing eg weekly checks , more locks etc.
Lovely gesture on the will, as others have said, meet the terms of the will to the letter so no one can criticise or challenge, then bequeath some of your sum when the first child has theirs.
Its a terrible thing to say , but often houses are burgled on the day of the funeral as the scroats know everybody will be at the funeral. If you can ask a friend or neighbour just to sit in on the day it will put your mind at ease on what is a tough day.
I'm sorry about your mum, I've experienced the same and it's a hell of a rough time.
I really am very sorry, I have no idea about the house insurance. Whilst I'm on the subject of apologising, I'll apologise profusely if this is out of line but I think it's a beautiful thing both what your mum is doing, and what in turn you're doing for her friend’s children. No matter what people's beliefs are, I think she'd be very proud of you right now.
Sorry to read this, my condolences for your loss.
We had this when I lost my mum last year. I rang the insurance company who were great (they had a team that just deals with this kind of thing). They transferred the cover into my name as the executor and the only condition was the property was visited regularly to check all was well (as it was unoccupied). The 'regular' visits were once a once as a minimum, which I did.
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
My condolences too. It's a sad time to get through but you will.
My best friend has just lost his mum too and both of us are sorting/clearing his mum's house out.
Next Wednesday should be the last day to empty it. Sad day for me too as my visits to her were frequent and she was a lovely lady.
Sorry I can't offer any advice regarding insurance etc.
Sorry to hear about your mum.
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My condolences. I'm going through the same as my father died on 27 June. I called the house insurance company, explained the situation and they were fine. They asked how often the house was visited and checked on which is more or less weekly by either my sister or me as we're both within just a few miles. Solicitors wanted an obscene amount of money to handle Probate which is actually a straightforward process as long as the estate is reasonably straightforward, it just takes time to get valuation statements from various places.
The sale of the house, which was started before my father's death, is now on hold while I first, submitted the Inheritance Tax forms (done) and then wait the mandated 20 working days before applying for Probate, that takes us to 13 September.
My condolences, I hope that fond memories of your Mum will ease the pain over time.
At this time it's hard to concentrate on practicalities, but it's a must. My suggestion is to talk to her insurer/s as soon as possible and make whatever changes to her policies, (like moving them into your name), as they advise to ensure the house, and any contents, are fully covered.
Last year my next door neighbour sadly passed away. Her son apparently cancelled both her house and contents insurance and put the bungalow on the market. But during the winter there was a burst pipe in the loft which completely flooded the house before anyone discovered it. The bungalow had to be completely gutted, new walls, new ceiling, much new woodwork, new bathroom, new kitchen - you get the picture, everything was ruined. Fortunately family members pitched in and did a lot of the physical work themselves, but it still cost them a fortune to put it right both in terms of materials and professionals, then there was the significant delay in being able to put it back on the market to be able to recover their outgoings. An absolute nightmare they did not need.
Had they continued the insurance things would have been so much better, and cheaper.
Best Regards - Peter
I'd hate to be with you when you're on your own.
Condolences, from my own experiences, and as mentioned above, all companies and services that you will have to contact are very well versed in the practicalities you are facing and have procedures in place to help. Make a folder with documents and a checklist and tackle them one at a time with dates and contact details, it will help.
Cheers..
Jase
Condolences, it’s approaching the first anniversary of my mums passing, not an easy time. Inform the insurance company and they’ll advise of the steps you need to take, not all companies are the same.
Nice one with the college fees for the second child, I'm sure that it will make a big difference to them.
Don't just do something, sit there. - TNH
That may depend on the sum involved and with respect to any inheritance tax implications from OP's own estate (though hopefully that won't be relevant)?Originally Posted by ralphy
My condolences on your loss.
My only advice is to ring the insurance company and explain what has happened, I'm sure they will be as helpful as possible given the circumstances. It must be a regular enquiry for them.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
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