Sole director/shareholder death - Wages due

Any way of getting wages paid or any support schemes that could bridge the gap

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A client who is sole director and shareholder of a client company has died. The death certificate has not yet been received but the wages are due today. As sole director/shareholder, the deceased was the only one on the bank mandate. Bank is Barclays. There are more than sufficient funds in the bank to pay the wages. (up to date bank feed in accounting software)

Is there any way of getting funds released to pay wages now? If not, are there any schemes that can provide bridging funds for wages until the death certificate and will can be presented to the bank?

Replies (15)

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RLI
By lionofludesch
30th Jun 2020 10:23

No.

It can be a big problem.

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Replying to lionofludesch:
Stepurhan
By stepurhan
30th Jun 2020 10:45

Pretty much the only answer I was expecting. Thought it worth asking just in case.

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paddle steamer
By DJKL
30th Jun 2020 10:53

I have never understood why people who say take out house insurance without blinking an eye operate companies with no alternate cover, as if they were immortal.

I used to be a trustee of quite a few trusts not because I was expected to do very much but because when my father retired his partner was then a sole practitioner and I was added in case his partner went under the wheels of a bus, my role then being to appoint another solicitor as trustee.

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Replying to DJKL:
Stepurhan
By stepurhan
30th Jun 2020 13:28

I'm not going to deny that my heart sank when I checked the registers and saw that was the position. This is just the first problem to arise. I know others will be waiting in the wings.

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By SteveHa
30th Jun 2020 13:29

As a matter of interest, who is beneficiary of the estate? If anyone at all, surely they become the majority shareholder with the power to appoint a new director, who can then contact the bank accordingly.

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Replying to SteveHa:
Stepurhan
By stepurhan
30th Jun 2020 13:35

I don't know for certain at present. Likely to be his partner (not wife). One of the things we are trying to find out working with his second-in-command.

Would the beneficiary actually have that right now? Surely the will would actually have to be executed (post death certificate) for that to be the case. More of a legal question I know.

I spoke to a local business support group and they have suggested that the solicitor holding the will should be a trustee until the executors are properly appointed. They MIGHT be able to work with the bank on that basis. Not holding my breath on that one though.

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Replying to SteveHa:
RLI
By lionofludesch
30th Jun 2020 13:53

SteLacca wrote:

As a matter of interest, who is beneficiary of the estate? If anyone at all, surely they become the majority shareholder with the power to appoint a new director, who can then contact the bank accordingly.

That's the answer.

Or the executors could act - once they have probate.

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Replying to lionofludesch:
paddle steamer
By DJKL
30th Jun 2020 15:13

That will , if in Scotland, be weeks- presume there are other staff to be paid here.

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Routemaster image
By tom123
30th Jun 2020 14:01

I am sure the Queen could pop down and do the mandate if there are no beneficiaries?

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Replying to tom123:
RLI
By lionofludesch
30th Jun 2020 15:06

tom123 wrote:

I am sure the Queen could pop down and do the mandate if there are no beneficiaries?

Doubt it.

She'll be shielding.

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Replying to tom123:
Stepurhan
By stepurhan
30th Jun 2020 15:07

Does she have the necessary ID to satisfy a bank? Would a bank note suffice?

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Replying to stepurhan:
paddle steamer
By DJKL
30th Jun 2020 15:22

That or a stamp or a coin. Catch is they are profile views, not sure they would be acceptable.

Also her credit rating must be awful, not on electoral roll, no HPs taken out etc.

HM would be really tricky to take on as a client. Wonder what name is on her birth cert, it certainly will not say "Her Maj......." yet the Buck House utility bills will likely say that, nothing will match.

My Grandmother actually worked for her Grandparents at St James's Palace, cooking pastry, she was a dab hand at a steak & kidney pudding. (My Gran not the Queen)

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Replying to DJKL:
RLI
By lionofludesch
30th Jun 2020 15:39

DJKL wrote:

That or a stamp or a coin.

It'd have to be a stamp.

The Queen never carries cash.

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Replying to DJKL:
Stepurhan
By stepurhan
30th Jun 2020 16:15

DJKL wrote:

HM would be really tricky to take on as a client. Wonder what name is on her birth cert, it certainly will not say "Her Maj......." yet the Buck House utility bills will likely say that, nothing will match.

Should be all in the name of Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor.

If she has the bills in her name that is. What if they all have Philip Mountbatten (of the House Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburg) on them?

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Replying to stepurhan:
paddle steamer
By DJKL
30th Jun 2020 16:44

Phil owed my Dad some cash.

He came up to Edin with HM in the 60s and visited Claverhouse (The RNR depot in Granton where my father was one of the numerous Commanders (Commander E)). Phil was surplus to HM's agenda for part of the day so treated all officers in the mess to a drink but my father, who at time was responsible for the mess accounts, did not feel it appropriate to send the palace a bill so the round ended up out of the mess funds to balance the books.

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