Q – My husband died recently leaving me details of all his current and savings accounts. Unfortunately we don’t have family and when I tried to withdraw the money from those accounts, I was told that I need to get in touch with the Revenue Commissioners before any money can be released. Is this correct and why so? Will I be liable for any outstanding tax bill of my husband’s which he may not have cleared before he passed away ? Mary – Wexford
A – Sympathies Mary on your recent sad loss. If the bank accounts were in your joint names then you should not have any difficulty in accessing the funds. Simply produce the death and marriage certificates and the details will be recorded, you can then access all monies. If however the accounts were in your husband’s sole name then a difficulty arises. If he left a will then all his assets, including bank accounts, form part of his estate and the banks will be obliged to “freeze” the accounts until the will has been admitted to probate and following its grant, the executors of the will given instructions as to the disposal of the monies. If there was no will – intestate – then you will probably have to apply for Letters of Administration to enable you to access the bank accounts. As part of this process you will get a certificate from the Revenue Commissioners clarifying your late husband’s tax position and if it is found that there is tax outstanding then this will have to be cleared. You will not be personally liable for any tax liabilities but the Revenue will have to be cleared before you can proceed to distributing the assets in the estate. If you have no experience of handling such matters, or if you have no close friend that could help then you should consult a solicitor or financial adviser who will take care of all the paperwork for you.