O/T...BUT...cld be important.....16 Apr 2022 16:18
'My wife died and I'm living out of a suitcase because Hargreaves Lansdown locked her £200k Isa'
When a reader’s wife died in her native Norway, Hargreaves Lansdown would not accept Norwegian documents as proof of her death
Katie Morley
Consumer Champion
10 April 2022 • 5:00am Katie Morley
Has a company treated you unfairly? Our Consumer Champion is available to help. For how to contact her click here.
Dear Katie,
I’m living out of a suitcase because I can’t access my late wife’s £200k Hargreaves Isa.
My wife of nearly 30 years died of cancer at the end of May last year. In spite of the pandemic, we had made it to her homeland, Norway, so she was able to see her children one last time.
Because my wife died in Norway, was a Norwegian citizen and, at the time of her death, was registered as living in Norway, all aspects of her death were dealt with by the Norwegian authorities.
I was handed something called an Uskifteattest (certificate of undivided estate), a financial document which stated that I, her surviving spouse, had taken over her estate.
This allowed me access to her Norwegian bank account. However, I am having terrible trouble getting access to her Hargreaves Lansdown Isa in Britain.
It is blocking me from the account – which contains around £200,000 – money that I desperately need. But it has not said exactly why. Since August last year it has put obstacles in my path and has lost various documents I have sent it. Now, as I approach the anniversary of my wife’s death, I am no further forward.
Hargreaves Lansdown keeps changing its mind about what it wants from me.
Now it is insisting on seeing an original death certificate, but this does not exist in Norway. More recently, it has asked to see a Norwegian grant of probate; this does not exist either.
There seems to be a complete lack of willingness to accept the documents I have provided. On March 1 I got so desperate that I sent the company a letter with a picture of my wife’s gravestone enclosed. Perhaps they don’t believe she is dead?
In October 2020, before we knew that my wife had cancer, we had sold our house in Britain and put our things into storage.
Our plan had been to move back to Norway and retire there. Unfortunately, her illness took over at such an alarming rate that the plan never took shape. Practically all our things are still in that storage unit.
After my wife’s death I ended up staying at my sister-in-law’s house, living out of a suitcase. Then I returned to Britain for a while and lived in a hotel. I am currently in an Airbnb let.
I cannot afford to buy a new home without my wife’s Hargreaves Lansdown money and I desperately need to move on with my life.
– LG, via email
Dear Reader,
You were in your early 40s when you met your wife on a rambling weekend while she was teaching English as a foreign language. For three decades you were inseparable, but then she was ripped away from you by cancer. Losing her is the hardest thin
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