West Brom Building Society

I'm sorry you're having problems, but when someone dies, dealing with the estate is not a quick matter. It can take up to 18 months to finally get sorted out, possibly even longer because of covid deaths.

If memory serves, you can still apply for probate even if you don't have a final figure, you can supply this at a later date when you know more.

Have you spoken to the Probate office about this?

I think that’s a tricky one. Presumably you are the executrix of your mothers will, and, I’m guessing beneficiary. If I remember correctly from my own mother’s death the only account I could access was the one on which I was a third-party signatory even though I was executrix. Also, I suspect that the account will be accruing interest while there is still money there. It’s possible that if you’re doing the probate yourself, you have the right to know how much is there, but otherwise the official body handling probate for you will have priority. These things are hideously slow as I recall, and I usually found it best to go into the various institutions in person & try the personal touch - but then we lived in the same town. Sorry, I’m really not being a lot of help, but you do have my sympathy both for the loss of your mother and for the frustration of trying to deal with her affairs. Best of luck!