If a customer is deceased
It is important to notify Wealth99 by submitting a request (Choose Exchange > Close account) as soon as possible if someone has deceased. Anyone can notify us but typically this responsibility would fall on the next of kin or the estate representatives. We may ask for identification from the person notifying us as well as a copy of the death certificate.
Upon notification that an account holder has deceased, the account will be locked/disabled until the relevant documentation from the executor is provided to us with the instructions for release.
Instructions
Wealth99 can take instructions about a deceased person’s accounts only from someone authorized to act on behalf of the deceased’s estate. As well, it can give information about the accounts only to those entitled to request it. That’s because a duty of care to customers does not end with their death.
This means next of kin and estate beneficiaries cannot give instructions or require us to give them information about a deceased person’s account. It also means we can rarely look into complaints about a deceased customer’s accounts from anyone other than the executor or administrator of the estate.
The legal process is usually to obtain probate or letters of administration from the Court. This allows executors or administrators to deal with the deceased’s property, including his or her accounts.
Having obtained probate or letters of administration, an executor or administrator will typically set up an account called “the estate of [deceased’s name]”. We will then transfer funds from the deceased customer’s nominated accounts to the estate account before closing the individual’s account. The executor will distribute funds from the estate account according to the terms of the will and then close the estate account.
If the deceased has no will and the estate is worth less than $15,000, the bank may forward money in the deceased’s accounts to his or her next of kin. Wealth99 must be satisfied the person is dead and that no application has been made to the Court to administer the estate. In such circumstances, we will probably want to see a copy of the deceased’s death certificate and information about the next of kin. Even then, the next of kin may not necessarily be entitled to information about the deceased’s account and may have to seek letters of administration from the court in order to access that information.
When a customer dies, all signing authorities on that person’s accounts and any power of attorney authority are no longer valid. Signing authorities may include accesses. A power of attorney is a wider power and enables someone to act on behalf of another person in specific areas or in all matters.