A bereaved family is being forced to go through probate by holiday company Jet2 to recover more than £800 for a summer holiday.
Sharlene Bockross died suddenly from a heart attack just after Christmas leaving behind her 15-year-old son Tyler. Money from the 38-year-old's bank accounts and pension have already been passed on to her family.
But Jet2 has demanded her bereaved family go through probate to recover £815 Sharlene had paid for a summer holiday to the Greek island of Kos. The family has to appoint an executor of Sharlene's estate at huge cost to recover the money.
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The family's solicitor has advised them to get the money back they will have to pay out £500 to go through probate. There's no set level for when a bereaved family needs to go through probate, but it's usually for larger estates where lots of property or other assets are involved.
Sharlene's mum, Karen Gaze, told LeicestershireLive : "She died suddenly and unexpectedly on December 28 from a cardiac arrest. Her brother, Paul, found her and tried to resuscitate her. We are all devastated.
"We later learned she had a heart condition she wasn't aware of. She was supposed to be taking Tyler on holiday on June 25 to celebrate Tyler's 16th birthday.
"Sharlene was always a forward-thinker and she would pay a bit towards the holiday every month so that she could pay for it all in advance. She had paid about £815 of the £1,200 for the two of them."
Karen said there was nothing in the small print of the payment plan to suggest it would be so hard to get a refund. She added Jet2 were "very sympathetic" on the phone but have now told her she must have an executor for Sharlene's estate.
Karen said: "This money is for Sharlene's poor son and Jet2 is digging their heels in. I've sent the death certificate and even her birth certificate to prove that I'm her mum.
"But they'll only send the money to the executor of her estate. It's been hard for Tyler - he's only 15 and he's got his GCSEs coming up. He's being very strong but it's been hard, emotionally, for us all. I just don't want to be arguing anymore."
Jet2 confirmed it was not going to make exceptions to the rules for Karen. A spokesperson for the holiday company said: “We would like to extend our sincere condolences to Ms Gaze and her family at this difficult time.
"As the account used to make the original booking has been closed, we cannot refund that account. As such, we have requested for Ms Gaze to provide documentation showing her to be the named executor of her daughter’s estate so that we can refund her directly.
"As we have not received this proof of authority, we are unfortunately unable to do this. We sincerely hope to be able to complete the refund once this proof of authority is confirmed, and we have been in touch with Ms Gaze to explain this.”
