SALLY SORTS IT: Apple won’t hand over the Pin for smartwatch my late daughter left to her sister

One of my daughters sadly passed away earlier this year. Some time later, her husband gave her Apple Watch to my other daughter. 

Unfortunately, she found she was unable to use it as no one knows the Pin number. She contacted Apple to ask what needed to be done to enable her to use it.

She provided the company with her sister’s death certificate, a receipt for the purchase of the watch and a letter from my late daughter’s husband explaining that he had passed the device on to her as a gift.

Apple supplied a case number, then came back and denied the request. She went back to Apple again but got no reply. Please help.

P.K., Essex.

Useless: Apple denied a request to unlock a smartwatch that was given to a reader’s daughter by the husband of her late sister

Sally Hamilton replies: Gadgets have become so integral to our lives that, when we pass away, it is inevitable we will want to pass on tablets, computers and smartwatches that others can make use of. 

However, this can often make for a more complicated procedure than bequeathing something like a traditional timepiece or photo album.

The reason is that such items can be bulging with personal data and photos, often stored in remote data centres, known as ‘the Cloud’, and protected by stringent rules and regulations.

Your daughter was pleased to receive the smartwatch, which holds sentimental value. But it was useless to her without the means to access it. She asked Apple to restore the watch to factory settings so she could use it but, as you stated in your letter, her request was denied.

On my intervention, the company re-examined your daughter’s request. After a couple of weeks, it confirmed, without explanation, that the device was now unlocked. 

Your daughter heard nothing directly from Apple but once I alerted her, she checked the watch again and found she could reset it for her own use.

Apple claimed that for security reasons it would not comment on the sticking point in your daughter’s original request.

Apple’s guidance for others who need access to late relatives’ devices is to make a request by calling 0800 107 6285 or going online at support.apple.com. 

They usually need to provide a death certificate, as your daughter did, and possibly a court order.

Her experience with Apple was a lot less rotten than that of Rachel Thompson, a widow from London who spent three years chasing the company through the courts before winning access in 2019 to her late husband’s hundreds of photos and videos stored on Apple’s iCloud. 

Since your daughter was only wanting to use her sister’s physical watch rather than access any personal data, I suspect the process was deemed less complex.

Anyone who needs to go down the court order route to access a loved one’s device should complete a claim form known as a ‘civil procedure route part 8’ — available on gov.uk — and pay a court fee of £332. As part of this process, they will need to add a witness statement spelling out what they are asking the court to do.

Barrister Peter Causton says tales such as yours highlight the challenge of dealing with people’s digital estates on death. 

During probate — the process of proving that a will is valid (if there is one) and confirming who has authority to administer the estate of the person who has died — many people will experience problems with managing online accounts. 

He says: ‘This is why it’s becoming increasingly common to construct a digital legacy at the same time as writing your will. With some social media accounts, it is also now possible to set up a legacy contact who can manage your account if you pass away.’

Angharad Lynn, partner at legal firm VWV, says that because the ruling in the Thompson case was made in a county court, it has not changed the law for others. 

However, perhaps in light of the case, Apple recently introduced a legacy contact option. 

The contact is issued with a key — a kind of password — that can be presented to Apple when someone dies, along with a death certificate, enabling them to access data. 

Find out more about how to set up a legacy contact at support.apple.com.

No licence or passport for tax break claim

I recently found out I could claim marriage tax allowance and backdate it over several years, which could earn my husband and I a tax rebate of about £1,200.

I filled in the forms online but at the end of the process I was asked to provide extra information to prove my identity. 

One option was a driving licence, but I have never held one. The other was an up-to-date passport, but as I’m well into my 70s and no longer want to fly, my passport is out of date and I won’t be applying for a new one.

I have tried to contact HM Revenue & Customs to resolve the matter, but after two lengthy calls I got cut off each time without things being sorted. I am at my wits’ end.

M.R., Bridgwater, Somerset.

Sally Hamilton replies: With the wedding season in full swing your case is a timely reminder that the taxman offers one or two perks for couples tying the knot.

You and your husband are among the two million or so couples that HMRC estimates are missing out on the marriage tax allowance, which is worth up to £252 a year for those eligible.

Your efforts to put that right hit a brick wall over the ID required to process your application.

I asked HMRC what could be done to make your application simpler. The next day, an official telephoned you to talk through the process.

He explained that the ID requirement is essential for online applications. But the good news is that the process can also be completed by printing and posting a form from the gov.uk website or getting help over the phone on 0300 200 3300. Neither of these options require a passport or driving licence. A National Insurance number should suffice.

By the end of the call from HMRC, you were well on the way to having the allowance applied for the 2023-24 tax year, worth £252, as well as having a rebate processed for the previous four tax years. You should soon be up to £1,242 better off.

I hope by printing your letter it will encourage others to check if they could benefit. To make the allowance work, one of the pair must be a non-taxpayer and the other a basic-rate taxpayer.

The lower earner (as in your case) needs to make the application and to benefit must typically have an income below the personal allowance of £12,570 in this tax year April 6, 2023, to April 5, 2024. Both partners must have been born after April 5, 1935, as there are other arrangements for older age groups.

The allowance works by the lower earner transferring 10 pc (£1,260) of their own unused personal allowance to their partner, allowing the spouse to have more tax-free income.

Couples should do their sums carefully before applying as reducing the lower earning spouse’s personal allowance can in some cases land couples with a higher tax bill overall.

This could happen if one of you is a non-taxpayer earning just below £12,570 and the other is a basic-rate taxpayer earning just above that. But if your partner earns comfortably above £12,570, there should usually be a gain.

An HMRC spokesman says: ‘We want every eligible couple to benefit from marriage allowance tax relief. Couples can easily find out what they are entitled to at tax.service.gov.uk/marriage-allowance-application. The quickest way to apply is on gov.uk, but customers can also apply using our print and post form.’

It is free and easy to apply, so steer clear of third-party websites offering to make a claim for you.

• Write to Sally Hamilton at Sally Sorts It, Money Mail, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT or email [email protected] — include phone number, address and a note addressed to the offending organisation giving them permission to talk to Sally Hamilton. Please do not send original documents as we cannot take responsibility for them. No legal responsibility can be accepted by the Daily Mail for answers given. 

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk