Practical Guidance

Affinion Bereavement Services recognise that there are a number of things that need to be done after the loss of a loved one. To help with these matters we provide free practical guidance to help you through the things that everyone needs to consider following a bereavement.

The topics below are the core areas of responsibility that need to be considered following a bereavement.

What to do when someone dies:

Registering the death

• The death must be registered within 5 days in England & Wales at a local Register Office in the district where the deceased lived
• In order to register the death, you will need to obtain a medical certificate which shows the cause of death signed by a GP or hospital doctor
• If possible have the following deceased’s information ready for the appointment – birth certificate, marriage certificate, passport, council tax bill, proof of address
• You will receive the following documents once the death has been registered – Death Certificate, Certificate of burial or cremation and Certificate of Registration of Death or BD8 form
• If you attend the local office to where the person died to register the death, you will receive the documents you will require on the same day

Arranging the funeral

• The funeral can only take place after the death has been registered. Most people use a funeral director, although you can arrange a funeral yourself (if you wish to do this you need to contact the Cemeteries & Crematorium Department at your local council authority)
• If the death occurs at home or in a nursing home a funeral director will need to be contacted to move the deceased to a Chapel of Rest
• It is advisable to use the services of a funeral director who is a member of a recognised organisation
• Funerals can be very expensive however there are various ways by which you can pay for those costs such as - the deceased’s bank or building society, money from a life insurance policy/ pension scheme or a pre-paid funeral plan
• You or the personal representative may need to pay the costs personally and then recover the money from the deceased’s estate later
• If you are the person who is responsible for organising and/or paying for the funeral it is best to keep a record of any expenses incurred and the supporting paperwork

Who to inform

There are a number of government and financial institutions and other organisations that must be informed of the deceased’s passing and these include among others:

• DWP, HMRC, Local Authority, DVLA and UK Passport Office
• Banks, Building Societies, Mortgage provider and National Savings & Investments
• Insurance companies and Pension Providers
• Utility companies
• TV licence

Tell Us Once Service

This service is provided by the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP). This is a very helpful service that lets you report a death to most Government organisations in one go rather than ringing around and sending letters.
This service is available in most areas in the UK but the Registrar will let you know if it is available in your local authority.

You can either complete the Tell Us Once service at the registrar appointment, call them on 0800 085 7308 or go online at www.gov.uk/after-a-death

Financial companies & institutions

You should contact any companies or institutions that the deceased had relationships with as soon as possible following a bereavement and upon receipt of a Death Certificate, as they may owe money to the deceased or were owed money by the deceased.

Notifying them will allow them to ‘freeze’ accounts to ensure the deceased’s accounts and assets cannot be accessed by anyone who does not have the authority to do so.

You can notify the company by visiting the local branch (for banks or building society), visiting their website, or by calling them direct.

Affinion Bereavement Notification Service

The ‘Tell Us Once’ service is very helpful for informing Government organisations about a bereavement, however there is still a lot of work to do around informing the commercial organisations the deceased dealt with such as banks, building societies and utility companies.

Affinion offer a Bereavement Notification Service where we contact commercial organisations on your behalf to inform them of the bereavement. This enables accounts to be frozen so that the deceased’s identity and assets can be protected.

Once the companies have received the notification they may contact you to request further information as part of their process.

Safeguarding assets

It is the responsibility of the Personal Representative of the deceased to ensure any assets that were left behind are safeguarded.

Property

If the deceased owned or rented a property, it is critical that the following steps are taken as a matter of priority if the home will be left vacant or unoccupied:

• The property is securely locked – if required, locks may need to be changed
• All valuables and or possessions of a sentimental nature are removed and secured for safekeeping
• Contact the Insurance Companies who provide cover for the buildings & contents – this is particularly important if the deceased paid for cover by Direct Debit as the bank account may have been frozen.
• Consider maintaining the water, electricity & gas supplies to the property
• Re-direct Post to one of the Personal Representatives
• Where possible inform neighbours that the property is unoccupied and if they are amenable leave them your contact details in case they need to get hold of you in an emergency

Other important institutions to contact regarding the property, whether the property is vacant or not, are:

• If the deceased had a mortgage in place the mortgage provider needs to be informed
• If the deceased lived in rented accommodation, inform the local authority, housing association or private landlord
• Where the deceased lived in rented property, ensure that contents insurance is still in place particularly if it was paid for by direct debit from the deceased’s bank account which may now be frozen
• Utility companies, arrange transfer of account details or stoppage of services if necessary
• Satellite and Internet service providers

Motor Vehicles

If the deceased owned a vehicle:

• Contact the insurance provider so they are aware of the change in circumstances and to confirm they will continue to insure the vehicle as the deceased’s insurance often lapses on death and any named drivers may no longer be covered under the lapsed policy and claims could be rejected if the insurer is not kept up to date
• If the vehicle is not being used, try and take it off the road wherever possible so it is not damaged and if applicable register it as a ‘Statutory Off Road Notification’ (SORN). You’ll get a refund for any full months of remaining tax. You can’t use the vehicle on the road until you tax it again
• Inform the DVLA and return the deceased’s driving licence to them to have it cancelled
• Return the V5 car registration certificate to DVLA to register any change of ownership.

Wills, Probate and Estate Administration

It is the responsibility of the Personal Representative to ensure any instructions left by the deceased are carried out in accordance with their Will, and all legal and tax responsibilities such as probate and Inheritance tax are adhered to correctly.

Wills

A Will is a document which allows a person to decide on what they would like to happen to them and their possessions when they die. The person writing the Will is called the Testator.

A Will allows the testator to:

• Appoint executors to administer their estate (ie all money, property and possession) on their death
• Ensure that any property or possessions pass to the people they wish to inherit them – these are called Beneficiaries
• Record any specific wishes for their funeral
• Appoint guardians for their children – people trusted to bring up the testator’s children to adulthood.

Essentially a Will gives the testator absolute control over who administers and who benefits from their estate, when they die.

When a person leaves a Will, they normally would have chosen at least one person to act as the executor of the will. The executor is normally a relative or a friend, or sometimes a solicitor or a bank and is often a beneficiary of the deceased’s estate also.

If you are an executor, you are responsible for administering the estate of the deceased in accordance to their wishes as they have set out in their Will.

Following a bereavement one of the first tasks that needs to be completed is to find the deceased’s Will.

Where to find the Will

Wherever the death occurred, it is important to find out if the person who has died left a Will or not and, if so, who the executor is. If a Will has been left by the deceased the process of administering the estate can be less complex than when there is no Will present.

As an executor, you may not necessarily know where the deceased kept their Will however one of your duties is to find it so you can then begin
the estate administration process. There are a number of places a Will could be kept:

• In a safe place at the deceased’s home
• In storage at the deceased’s local bank or building society branch
• In storage at the deceased’s Solicitor

When looking through the deceased’s papers, look out for a receipt or certificate stating the Will’s location.

You may only be able to find a copy of the Will and not the original, if you require a Grant of Probate you should still be able to apply with a copy of the Will.

Estate Administration

When someone dies, the Personal Representative has to administer the estate of the deceased.

The duty of the Personal Representative is to carry out all of the legal, tax and administrative work necessary to administer the estate and finalise the deceased’s affairs, including;

• Valuing and gathering the estate assets
• Applying for Probate (if required)
• Completing the inheritance tax returns, final personal income and capital gains tax returns (if required)
• Paying the debts and charges against the estate
• Distributing the remainder of the estate in line with the terms of the Will or the Rules of Intestacy if there is no Will to those who are due to inherit

Probate

Probate is a security measure and a legal process applied via a Court of law. It allows the deceased's assets to be released to one or more people who have the legal authority to act and administer the estate. It proves to the asset holders that they are releasing the assets to the correct and authorised people.

The word Probate is derived from the Latin term for “proof” and the Personal Representatives of the deceased must “prove” their identities and that they are the appropriate people to deal with the deceased’s affairs.

When Probate is required, the assets of the estate are essentially ‘frozen’ to safeguard them against an ‘incorrect distribution’ to the wrong people this means that without the Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration:

• Property cannot be sold
• The deceased’s bank accounts and other financial assets cannot be accessed
• A common misconception around Probate is that it is not required if the deceased made a Will.
• If there is a valid Will it is called a Grant of Probate
• If there is no valid Will (Intestacy) it is called Letters of Administration

How do I know if I need Probate?

Probate is likely to be required in the following circumstances:

• There is property held in the deceased’s sole name which needs to be transferred or sold. The property cannot be sold without a Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration. This includes complete sole ownership, or part sole ownership known as Tenants in Common
• Savings or shares were held in the deceased’s sole name and the financial institutions holding those savings ask for a Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration to release the funds

Each organisation sets its own rules on when it requires a Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration to release the funds to the Personal Representatives. The lowest limits are around £5k so if there are any savings above that amount it is worth checking with the relevant financial institution to understand whether it will require a Grant of Probate to release the funds.

Who can apply for a Grant of Probate?

If there is a valid Will, the application for the Grant of Probate is made by one or more of the Executors named in the Will.

If there is no valid Will (Intestacy), the application for Letters of Administration is made by one or more of the next of kin referred to as Administrators, following the order of priority set out by the Rules of Intestacy.