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Process after demise. Please help!

neel

TF Premier
Hello community,

Recently my father passed away less than a month ago. While i deal with grief I also need to figure out ways to handle his bank accounts and transfer
He has two accounts in a major public sector and major private sector
Luckily my mother is a joint holder.

The problem is i have taken enough time off work and dont have time to visit banks.

My questions:
1. Can i call the RM's home for paperwork? He had accounts that gave these banks good business
2. For tax purposes, should i wait to strike off my fathers name in the joint account? I'm expecting some refund.
Also, he passed away in april, so for next year what should i do for those few days in terms of tax returns?
3. What are common pitfalls or traps i should look out for when dealing with banks in this case?

Any other advice you have for me

I will indebted

thank you
 
I'm deeply sorry for you loss. This is an unfortunate event. You must remain strong in keeping your family strong as well as dealing with vultures (banks, relatives etc who might run after your money).

The first step is to get a death certificate for uncle. Photocopies will be required as a verified document everywhere you go.

Then, all other documents that you have with you - Bank passbook, FD statements etc.

Finally, I can strongly advice you to do a google search "Reddit India finances after death". Many Reddit posts like this one a re immensely helpful -

You can also delegate this task to a friend/cousin or anybody who you trust completely. They can create a checklist and share with you.
 
1. First thing to do - take about 15-20 original death certificates from your local govt body. You need them very often.

2. Submit one original death certificate for each bank n ask them to delete his name in ALL Accounts - SB, FDs.... Some banks insist on closure n transfer of balance to another account (mother's single or another joint account with you/your sibling).

3. If he had any physical assets (land, building, farmland....), get it transferred to the eligible hier. If it is a house, property tax, water connection, electricity connection n UDS connection also need to be transferred.

4. Any shares/bonds.... Also needs to be transferred like wise.

5. Any money due to him/her (LIC policies... Company FDs,....) must also be claimed.

6. Any loan/due owed by him must be repaid (ideally).
 
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One more thing.

CAREFULLY n THOROUGHLY check each n every piece of paper he left behind. However, unimportant it may look like, this is very important.

When my FIL passed away, we found that a few share certificates were lost n the RTA did not issue duplicates. Only a divident warrant counterfoil was there - thru which we came to know about those shares - which are valued at over 8L. It took us 2 years to claim them.
 
Sorry about your loss..!! But above points important.
1. 10-15 original death certificate should be there or take good scan of original and make color print on thick paper. I done print at home and it worked for me in 2021 (Father-in-law death).
2. Get Legal heir document from Registar etc, which is also important for property dealing
3. Check CDSL, NSDL reports to get information about all saving, accounts and MF etc against particular PAN
4. If father's accounts are joint with mother. Then no issue in removing name. Just submit name removal form and death certificate (You can do it on Saturday itself). And now make sure to have nominee name in all accounts/FD/MF etc
5. DMAT account needs to be closed (Little time consuming process). Or sell all shares and leave balance 0
6. For Property, legal heir can take the property rights (Mutation)
7. For home loan etc, check if loan is covered against such death case through group insurance (especially in SBI case) i.e. don't need to pay loan.
 
Thank you everyone

My father has a pension account so I'll change the name to my mother only for pension related processing

But the other account I'll keep as it is until I have the tax refund otherwise it will get stuck

Also thank you very very much for the advice. I'm visiting municipal office every few days. Once to apply for 5 (max) copies of originals and then another 4-5 days later to collect. Then again 4-5 days to apply.
What a harrowing process.

I am wondering if it's possible for bank or RM to visit home for paperwork.

Because we are defence folks my dad has kept every small paperwork and receipt from last couple of decades.
 
I'm deeply sorry for your loss! May God give you and your family the strength to get through this phase.
I could understand how it feels to lose a father as my father passed away too in Jan this year.
Please take care of your mother and yourself. She needs you now more than ever, but she won't say that.

Folks have mentioned excellent checklists and points to complete. That's what I did too. I will suggest some additional points that could be helpful.
From my experience, I could say that first you need to find out what all was/is in his name. My father wrote these things down in a diary (Accounts, RD/FD, LICs, policy numbers, bonds, etc.), so that was helpful. But still I had to go through all the financial documents that he kept in home, online records of gov entities, ITRs etc.to get the complete list of his assets, liabilities, etc.
Same way, you would need to check each and every paper he has left behind. And then figure out the actionable items.
This could be time consuming (but no need to take off from work for this task; do it after working hours and over the weekends), but once this part is done, rest will be easier. You will need to take out time for this task.
This is the planning part. You could make an excel sheet and list down all the items category-wise.

I would suggest NOT to involve or delegate this task to anyone else. Because you are the son, you will do the due diligence.

Based on the action items, you would be able to figure out for which task you need to visit the institution/office and which are possible via online means.
1. Can i call the RM's home for paperwork? He had accounts that gave these banks good business
Now, you can call the RM or any other branch representatives to home for paper works. However, in case of demise of an account holder, the bank staff wants to see the other joint account holder or nominee by their own eyes before transferring anything.

2. For tax purposes, should i wait to strike off my fathers name in the joint account? I'm expecting some refund.
Also, he passed away in april, so for next year what should i do for those few days in terms of tax returns?
These days folks get death certificate, and you would be required to submit it in almost every institution where your father held any asset or liability.
You would be required to submit this certificate in the bank too, and the bank will take action based on the date of demise of uncle. Same goes for tax calculation and refund.

Now, some points in addition to the excellent suggestions given by the members above:
  1. Some banks ask to close the account in this case: Your father and mother have a joint account. Your father was the primary holder or your father's name is the first one in the account records. Bank will ask to close the account as the primary holder is not alive. I faced this with Union Bank. They didn't allow to remove my father's name from primary holder, and make my mother the primary holder.
  2. Some banks allow to retain the account in this case: Your father and mother have a joint account. Your father was the primary holder. You could ask the bank to remove your father's name and make your mother the joint holder. PNB agrees to do this.
  3. Before closing any account, be 100% sure that the account is not receiving any dividend, LIC pension, or any monthly interest payout from any other scheme/policy/account. If it is receiving, then first you would need to update any other account details in that scheme/policy/account, and then close this one. Make sure that there is no SI or monthly deduction or any premium deduction are set in the account that you want to close. You would need to take care of those first, before closing the account.
  4. You would need to keep the phone numbers (and email IDs) alive (keep recharging the SIM) that he was using as the registered mobile numbers and email IDs till everything is settled. These would not be needed much, but still keep these alive.
  5. If your father had updated nominee in everything that he held/own, then things would be a lot easier to transfer. But if he had missed to update somewhere, then you would be needed to do some work. It would be done, but it's just that you would need to work for it.
  6. Some LIC policies or any other policies set a deadline of 90 days or less (it may vary, please check) to notify them about the demise of the policy holder. So, please do this sooner and do not procrastinate.
  7. Basically, if something is getting credited to any account/policy that is owned by your father, then you would need to notify the institution to stop it, otherwise you may be required to return/refund the credit (with interest) as the person has passed away but credit was disbursed. This becomes very important in case of pensioners. Even if there is a provision of family pension, one needs to notify the Treasury Office to stop the pension first. And then resume it after submitting the necessary documents. Not sure if uncle was a pensioner and your mom will get the family pension. Let me know if that's the case and you need any more info about this topic.
  8. Any FD/RD that was owned by your father alone, needs to be discontinued. Check with the banks. Anything jointly held, can be continued.
  9. Since uncle is no more, try to minimize the number of accounts now that your mom will hold from now onward.
  10. Do not forget to update the nominee details wherever your father's name is mentioned as the nominee. These could be bank accounts/policies/RD/FD etc. held by your mom or you or anyone else. For example, I had kept my father's name (and at some places with my mom's name) in almost everything (e.g. company's PF, gratuity nominees) as the nominee, so I had to update the nominee details. Emotionally, that was a difficult thing to do, deleting his name...
  11. You would be needed to share uncle's Aadhaar card copies a lot at various places. So, keep his bio-metrics in Aadhar app/website locked. Do not share any Aadhaar or his bank OTP with anyone over phone.
I will be adding more points as and when it comes to my mind.
 
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Keep the phone active for next 1-2 years at least and don't be in hurry in closing the accounts. Accounts can be closed in next 4-5 years. Important is that you know all account and fund details for future usage.
 
I'm deeply sorry for your loss! May God give you and your family the strength to get through this phase.
I could understand how it feels to lose a father as my father passed away too in Jan this year.
Please take care of your mother and yourself. She needs you now more than ever, but she won't say that.

Folks have mentioned excellent checklists and points to complete. That's what I did too. I will suggest some additional points that could be helpful.
From my experience, I could say that first you need to find out what all was/is in his name. My father wrote these things down in a diary (Accounts, RD/FD, LICs, policy numbers, bonds, etc.), so that was helpful. But still I had to go through all the financial documents that he kept in home, online records of gov entities, ITRs etc.to get the complete list of his assets, liabilities, etc.
Same way, you would need to check each and every paper he has left behind. And then figure out the actionable items.
This could be time consuming (but no need to take off from work for this task; do it after working hours and over the weekends), but once this part is done, rest will be easier. You will need to take out time for this task.
This is the planning part. You could make an excel sheet and list down all the items category-wise.

I would suggest NOT to involve or delegate this task to anyone else. Because you are the son, you will do the due diligence.

Based on the action items, you would be able to figure out for which task you need to visit the institution/office and which are possible via online means.

Now, you can call the RM or any other branch representatives to home for paper works. However, in case of demise of an account holder, the bank staff wants to see the other joint account holder or nominee by their own eyes before transferring anything.


These days folks get death certificate, and you would be required to submit it in almost every institution where your father held any asset or liability.
You would be required to submit this certificate in the bank too, and the bank will take action based on the date of demise of uncle. Same goes for tax calculation and refund.

Now, some points in addition to the excellent suggestions given by the members above:
  1. Some banks ask to close the account in this case: Your father and mother have a joint account. Your father was the primary holder or your father's name is the first one in the account records. Bank will ask to close the account as the primary holder is not alive. I faced this with Union Bank. They didn't allow to remove my father's name from primary holder, and make my mother the primary holder.
  2. Some banks allow to retain the account in this case: Your father and mother have a joint account. Your father was the primary holder. You could ask the bank to remove your father's name and make your mother the joint holder. PNB agrees to do this.
  3. Before closing any account, be 100% sure that the account is not receiving any dividend, LIC pension, or any monthly interest payout from any other scheme/policy/account. If it is receiving, then first you would need to update any other account details in that scheme/policy/account, and then close this one. Make sure that there is no SI or monthly deduction or any premium deduction are set in the account that you want to close. You would need to take care of those first, before closing the account.
  4. You would need to keep the phone numbers (and email IDs) alive (keep recharging the SIM) that he was using as the registered mobile numbers and email IDs till everything is settled. These would not be needed much, but still keep these alive.
  5. If your father had updated nominee in everything that he held/own, then things would be a lot easier to transfer. But if he had missed to update somewhere, then you would be needed to do some work. It would be done, but it's just that you would need to work for it.
  6. Some LIC policies or any other policies set a deadline of 90 days or less (it may vary, please check) to notify them about the demise of the policy holder. So, please do this sooner and do not procrastinate.
  7. Basically, if something is getting credited to any account/policy that is owned by your father, then you would need to notify the institution to stop it, otherwise you may be required to return/refund the credit (with interest) as the person has passed away but credit was disbursed. This becomes very important in case of pensioners. Even if there is a provision of family pension, one needs to notify the Treasury Office to stop the pension first. And then resume it after submitting the necessary documents. Not sure if uncle was a pensioner and your mom will get the family pension. Let me know if that's the case and you need any more info about this topic.
  8. Any FD/RD that was owned by your father alone, needs to be discontinued. Check with the banks. Anything jointly held, can be continued.
  9. Since uncle is no more, try to minimize the number of accounts now that your mom will hold from now onward.
  10. Do not forget to update the nominee details wherever your father's name is mentioned as the nominee. These could be bank accounts/policies/RD/FD etc. held by your mom or you or anyone else. For example, I had kept my father's name (and at some places with my mom's name) in almost everything (e.g. company's PF, gratuity nominees) as the nominee, so I had to update the nominee details. Emotionally, that was a difficult thing to do, deleting his name...
  11. You would be needed to share uncle's Aadhaar card copies a lot at various places. So, keep his bio-metrics in Aadhar app/website locked. Do not share any Aadhaar or his bank OTP with anyone over phone.
I will be adding more points as and when it comes to my mind.
Excellent guidance by point by point
 
Extremely sorry for your loss. May God give you enough strength during this time of grief and sorrow.

Most of the people have made excellent check list here.

My first question is whether he had registered will? If yes, it will make things easier for you in future and no legal hassles from relatives or other family members.

Last year, my cousin lost her mother in accident and she was left alone as from her own family side no one was left. Father and brothers died before and mother was the last one she had. She knew nothing about her assets and mostly clueless on how to get things done. So I helped her out to the maximum possible levels I can. It is time consuming but work needs to be done.

1. You can have info. about all his account by looking at AIS from last year 23-24 and this year 24-25 (will update by July 15th max. for all account) on IT Portal if you have password for same. If you don't know use email ID and mobile number to reset them.

It will have information of all bank account where PAN was registered, any dividend payout, shares etc.

2. As your mother was joint holder in both accounts, transferring money online to her individual accounts won't be a problem here. In single account if family members transfer after death of a person, it is deemed illegal. But with your case, it is allowed. Also before that check whether mode of operation is Either or Survivor. Keeping account intact won't be a problem too. Just get the name removed and make mother primary holder and update her PAN for future tax assessments. But not all banks allow it. In that case close it down but your mother can withdraw the money first.

3. If you want to close FDs, bank accounts, you have to visit bank with death certificate, legal hier cerificates, NOC from other legal hiers if they dont want share of anything. You can also keep them till renewal and then make fresh ones.

4. CDSL/NSDL eCAS will help you with stocks, bonds, insurance policies etc. eIA helps for other insurance.

5. Come to Insurance Policies. You have to claim these policies now. If Nominee is available in those policies then no problem at all. Nominee can claim them easily but can't keep them as it needs to be divided among legal hiers if no will present. It can take time upto months and a lot of paperwork if nomination not there.

6. Property and land, house etc. You can get it transferred later when you have legal hier certificates.

7. A succession certificate will be required too. Apply for it at local body, RO.

8. At the pension department, get the pension stopped at earliest. If you have persion credited after death, all this needs to be reversed from the date of death. Once you submit death certificate they will calculate themselves and debit the same account where it was credited.

Now come to tax part. As he left this world in April, all his tax dues or refunds can be claimed by filing ITR for AY25-26 which you can do yourself later till July.

After that make sure he has nothing left for which TDS can be deducted as to claim that you will have to again file ITR next AY.

Keep asking here if any query and we will help you with whatever support we can.
 
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