What to do before death
Pre death question:My 91 year old mother is unwell. She has made a will and my sister and I are the executors. I would like to know what to do with the will upon her death. She lives in West Sussex. ie. Who to phone and what steps to take. I would also like advice on what to do to as if she dies how do I pay for the outstanding bills and funeral from her estate because a friend has told me her bank account etc. will be frozen upon her death. I’m hoping I will understand this from the Probate Guide.Our answer:Hi JulieThe attached guides ought to answer most of the questions from the after death viewpoint. Why not watch the video on the home page? You can get a lot of infomation emailed to you as well from the form on the same page. You will also find more detailed help here.You could also contact our independent Estate Planning Department who can help to ensure that all the appropriate Legal Planning steps that can be taken have been. There are limits to what can be done where a person no longer has the ability to make their own decisions. At that point it may be necessary to ask the Courts permission to make any changes, so things are slower and much more expensive. If that is the situation, contact our Estate Planning Department urgently.The Estate Planning people have put together a 2 Minute Legal Planning Checklist – use the enquiry form on the home page and you get get a copy in minutes.You may wish to look at the possibility of prepaying for the funeral so all you have to do is ring the appointed undertaker when she dies and things will start off easily with the pre-arranged instructions kicking in.The death has to be registered within 5 working days, and the contact details of the local Registrar of Births Death and Marriages can be found here and there is much more information on our site about what needs to be done.If you do need any professional help, we are very flexible and relatively inexpensive! There is a great deal of planning which can be done both before death and after (see Deeds of Variation).