shelley748

Hi
So I am in Ontario, under full lockdown.

IF my Father passes away in the UK and I cannot travel because of lockdowns, plus talk of vaccine passports, and I have not been vaccinated- no family in the UK- how would I be able to deal with this from Canada, has anyone any suggestions?
My concern would be the cremation, getting death certs, probate, stopping Royal Navy and UK State pension.... like I have none of the details, its all in the house in UK.

Thanks

Danny B

International flights between Toronto and UK are still happening, Canada is not on the red list YET. The biggest PITA is that you need to quarantine for 10 days when you arrive. If you cannot leave the house in the UK, you are better off staying put in Ontario.

https://www.gov.uk/uk-border-control...hen-you-arrive

Jerseygirl

When my MIL died a local solicitor was appointed to sort out most of what you have mentioned. Not sure what you can do about gaining access to the house to retrieve various items.

Revin Kevin

I think you can cut the self isolation period down by getting another test.
"Entering the UK: Ending self-isolation early through Test to Release - GOV.UK" https://www.gov.uk/uk-border-control...est-to-release

shelley748

thanks everyone!!

Tony_Tiger

Hey Shelly,

My sister in the UK lost her fight with Cancer last November. We did not travel, but my dad died in March this year (non covid). I did travel. I can give you a breakdown and hopefully this might act as a template.

You can still travel. You just get a pre-flight covid test. Its done 72 hours before your flight and its pretty easy. We paid about $150 at Dyna Labs in Calgary.
Before you fly you need to book your covid test and register where you will be staying in the UK. The Covid test pack was about $380. It gets delivered to where you are staying.

You will have to quarantine when you get to the UK. Take the two covid tests that are in the test pack. The hospitals will not allow you to come(again depending on restrictions).

In terms of the funeral home and funerals. They are still happening (with limited numbers).
We got the death certificate after the cremation. The paperwork is all done online with the local council. Banks accounts got shut down right way. My sister was managing this part over the phone and online. But she was POA and not the executor. This caused problems and delays. I had been telling my parents for years to get this part sorted in the Will. But as parents are they don't listen.

If you are the nex of Kin. Then I don't see why you would not have access to the house.
But what I would recommend is getting as much info as possible to where your dads accounts are. Have you dad update the will with executor and POA. These rest should not be that hard. As others have said, you can appoint a solicitor.
I would recommend getting a skype subscription and a number. Its about $10. You might spend a lot of time on the phone. So if you go to the UK, do the funeral and then need to come back. You can do stuff around the accounts, pension over the phone and internet. You don't actually need to be present in the UK for that. The Skype number will make your international calls super cheap.
I had to make multiple calls back to Canada and the skype number was godsend.

Coming back is whole other game. You have to quarantine.