Am I able to request AMP to freeze my late father's account without Probate?

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stevejfb

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25 March 2020
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I am frustrated because, as the executor of my father's will, I have notified AMP that he is deceased and since have been trying to get them to freeze his AMP super account to stop it from being affected by the stock market. Meaning I'd like them to leave it in their care and not administer it but to turn it into cash and not stocks.
Reason being is so that it wouldn't lose money.
They said that I needed to provide probate in order to administer the money. I said I didn't want to administer it I just want to have it frozen so that it can't be affected by the market.
They kept saying I needed probate.

Well probate is in the process but it has been delayed by a number of reasons , including because the coronavirus has rocked the world, the courts are delayed.
This has meant that due to the coronavirus, we have so far lost $250,000 of my dad's hard earned money. He sacrificed a lot and lived very cheap all his life so that he would help provide for his offspring. Now a huge chunk of it is gone and is still going!!

My questions are..
- Have I been incorrectly informed by the AMP staff in that I can't freeze this money without probate?
- If not, then why? As they have frozen the ability to get his financial advisor to even reposition his stocks. Why can they freeze that ability to do anything? It doesn't make sense. Its not their money so they shouldn't have the right to choose for it to continue being manipulated by the stock market!
- If I have been misinformed by the AMP staff, then can I take action to get that loss money back?

Thank you for your help in advance.

S
 
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Tim W

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28 April 2014
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Let's be clear about one very important fundamental thing.
Until the Grant of Probate is made you are not, at law, the executor.
Just saying you are in his will doesn't count.


The executor is appointed by the Grant of Probate.
Even if you held a properly executed Power of Attorney,
that expired at the moment of his death.
A Power of Attorney Holder does not automatically become the executor,
and has no right to become the executor.
They don't even have to be the same person.
- Have I been incorrectly informed by the AMP staff in that I can't freeze this money without probate?
What they've told you sounds more or less right.
Probate is the legal basis of your authority to act in respect of this money.
Without it, they have no reason, and no basis, to take any notice of you.
- If not, then why? As they have frozen the ability to get his financial advisor to even reposition his stocks. Why can they freeze that ability to do anything? It doesn't make sense. Its not their money so they shouldn't have the right to choose for it to continue being manipulated by the stock market!
Two reasons. The first is that the money, being in a super fund, is almost certainly not part of the estate.
Super is typically a trust. The legal owner is the trustee.
It's not estate property in the same way that his savings account or his boat is.
For super, there will be instructions left by the client (the deceased) with AMP about what to do with the funds upon death.
They have to do that, and don't have to take any notice of you until you are appointed.
The second is that without probate, you are nobody to them.
Without probate, you have no authority to transact on the account, receive any money, or do anything.
- If I have been misinformed by the AMP staff, then can I take action to get that loss money back?
You haven't been, so, no.
 
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