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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 thing you have ever been through and, thanks to Hargreaves Lansdown, this mourning period has been made even more unbearable.

The thought of you lugging your cases from hotel room to Airbnb lets while grieving is completely horrific. I’m so terribly sorry for what you have been through. 

Rarely have I seen such hapless incompetence as Britain’s biggest investment broker has displayed here. And the timing? Well, it could not have been worse. You provided everything it should have needed to grant you access to this Isa from the beginning, yet Hargreaves Lansdown simply could not get its head around the Norwegian processes.

When I contacted the firm it admitted that it had not exactly covered itself in glory. 

It said your case was “highly complicated”, as your wife’s Norwegian documents didn’t directly align with its normal requirements. 

While it might have been challenging for the company to get to grips with foreign documentation, it should have been capable of figuring out what a Norwegian financial institution would have accepted as proof of your wife’s death and used that.

Happily, following my involvement and in acknowledgement of the time it has taken to get to this stage, it has agreed to make a departure from its usual requirements for when a customer dies. 

It will accept the Norwegian documents along with a certified copy of your wife’s will, which you can easily obtain. This is instead of a UK grant of probate, which it would usually require for an estate of this size.

In addition, the firm has promised to conduct a full review of its actions and will ensure you are not financially disadvantaged in any way. So you will be suitably compensated for the delays and errors on its part and for the additional stress that this will have caused.

As you have been living out of hotels and Airbnbs for the past few months I would expect the bills to now be paid by Hargreaves Lansdown, as well as compensation for investment losses suffered while you have been unable to trade. 

Ahead of its full review, the firm has already waived the £667 account fee that would have accrued on your wife’s account since it was notified of her death. 

All told, I would expect your compensation to run into the thousands, which is the very least you deserve after this sorry fiasco.

I’m so glad, dear reader, that your money is finally on its way. When you get it you say you plan to settle in a beautiful town in the north of England, where you will buy a house. 

Although life will never be the same without your wife, I hope that in time you will be very happy there. I wish you all the best.