Sad Loss and Legal question
Discussion
Sadly my longest serving driver was killed in a parachute accident last week which has yet again brought home our mortality and the need to "do what you want to do while you can" feeling. He was just 37!
As an aside, what is the legal position regarding some money I have (cash) which is due to hime for a couple of weeks work?, as he was VAT registered I was wondering if I might get into trouble for giving the money to his mother if they ever investigate what has has been paid to him and therefore due to the VAT office.
Anyone got any ideas? I would like to just give the money to the familly ASAP.
Cheers Nick
As an aside, what is the legal position regarding some money I have (cash) which is due to hime for a couple of weeks work?, as he was VAT registered I was wondering if I might get into trouble for giving the money to his mother if they ever investigate what has has been paid to him and therefore due to the VAT office.
Anyone got any ideas? I would like to just give the money to the familly ASAP.
Cheers Nick
Unfortunately, death does not obviate the deceased from their VAT liabilities. In fact, the raising of the original VAT invoice by your late driver would have triggered the VAT liability in the first place. Your debt to his business still stands and still needs to be paid.
Is there an official "ececutor" of his estate? The money could be paid to him, advising him specifically what it is for.
He may (should) have had an accountant acting for him so maybe the first port of call would be to contact thie accountant to see if there are any procedures that should be followed. The accounant should be assisting in the completeion of any final VAT returns and getting the VAT registration cancelled.
Is there an official "ececutor" of his estate? The money could be paid to him, advising him specifically what it is for.
He may (should) have had an accountant acting for him so maybe the first port of call would be to contact thie accountant to see if there are any procedures that should be followed. The accounant should be assisting in the completeion of any final VAT returns and getting the VAT registration cancelled.
Pretty much as said above - any money owed to him prior to death continues to be owed to his estate. Therefore his executor or administrator of his estate should be paid the money direct (contact his solicitor/accountant).
If you paid the money to his mum but his estate had been left to someone else, eg. his wife, then theoretically the wife could come after you for payment notwithstanding that you had paid his mum. Of course, if it turns out that all his estate was left to his mum then this is fine but its just easier to do it via the executor.
Edited to add that if you owed money to the company he worked for (rather than to him as an individual) then of course the money is still payable to the company.
>> Edited by NickD on Friday 11th April 11:39
If you paid the money to his mum but his estate had been left to someone else, eg. his wife, then theoretically the wife could come after you for payment notwithstanding that you had paid his mum. Of course, if it turns out that all his estate was left to his mum then this is fine but its just easier to do it via the executor.
Edited to add that if you owed money to the company he worked for (rather than to him as an individual) then of course the money is still payable to the company.
>> Edited by NickD on Friday 11th April 11:39
Having just gone through all this executor shite last year (at the ripe ol' age of 24 
) i can tell you that the very easist thing for you to do and propbably the most legal thing....
... is to write a letter addressed to "The Executor of the Will of the Deceased, Mr....." and send it to either his company address, or his most suitable home address.
Explain that you have outstanding monies to be paid into his accout and that the executor should contact you with further details. Technically his bank accounts will be frozen from the day he dies and so you may have trouble paying in, however the executor will hold the power to collect and distribute money where appropriate. All monies held and owed (both by him and to him) will need to be accounted so that the executor can go through the venomous cretins that are the tax office and sort out inheritance tax etc.....
It sounds a nice thing to do, to just give the relatives teh cash and sod the tax etc, but at the end of the day its probably easier and safer for you to do it as legit as possible.
HTH
Buff
This reminds me i still have to contact some people, best get on with it i suppose....
) i can tell you that the very easist thing for you to do and propbably the most legal thing.... ... is to write a letter addressed to "The Executor of the Will of the Deceased, Mr....." and send it to either his company address, or his most suitable home address.
Explain that you have outstanding monies to be paid into his accout and that the executor should contact you with further details. Technically his bank accounts will be frozen from the day he dies and so you may have trouble paying in, however the executor will hold the power to collect and distribute money where appropriate. All monies held and owed (both by him and to him) will need to be accounted so that the executor can go through the venomous cretins that are the tax office and sort out inheritance tax etc.....
It sounds a nice thing to do, to just give the relatives teh cash and sod the tax etc, but at the end of the day its probably easier and safer for you to do it as legit as possible.
HTH
Buff
This reminds me i still have to contact some people, best get on with it i suppose....
Thanks for the advice chaps,
I suppose I will have to go thru the correct channels.
Forgot to mention that he had no wife or kids and only worked for me as a sub-contractor with no company address, I presume his mother will be appointed executor so will advise her of the situation and hope she gets probate soon.
Nick
I suppose I will have to go thru the correct channels.
Forgot to mention that he had no wife or kids and only worked for me as a sub-contractor with no company address, I presume his mother will be appointed executor so will advise her of the situation and hope she gets probate soon.
Nick
Aside from the fact that this has all been posted on a public forum 
If you have an invoice, presumably you'll just have to pay it as you would have done ordinarily in order to keep your records straight. The fact that the cheque won't get cashed for a while is neither here nor there, the IHT forms allow for uncashed cheques to be treated as part of the estate.
If there is no invoice and no paperwork to mess things up, presumably you could do the (non-legit) friendly thing and bung the cash to his mother, essentially tax free. Might cause a hiccup in your books, though.
Bear in mind that if his estate doesn't add up to more than £250k, there'll be no tax liability anyway.
If you have an invoice, presumably you'll just have to pay it as you would have done ordinarily in order to keep your records straight. The fact that the cheque won't get cashed for a while is neither here nor there, the IHT forms allow for uncashed cheques to be treated as part of the estate.
If there is no invoice and no paperwork to mess things up, presumably you could do the (non-legit) friendly thing and bung the cash to his mother, essentially tax free. Might cause a hiccup in your books, though.
Bear in mind that if his estate doesn't add up to more than £250k, there'll be no tax liability anyway.
pdv6 said:[/i
If there is no invoice and no paperwork to mess things up, presumably you could do the (non-legit) friendly thing and bung the cash to his mother, essentially tax free. Might cause a hiccup in your books, though.
We worked on him supplying the invoice after checking that we had listed all jobs correctly hence nothing has been issued yet, also forgot to mention that we paid cash hence the reason why I thought it would be of use to his familly.
Nick
Gassing Station | General Gassing [Archive] | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff