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Two Together: Save £100!
Save £100 when you purchase two funeral plans together. Call us for more details.
Buy now, pay in January
Buy your funeral plan today and pay in January for peace of mind this Christmas. Click here for full T&Cs.
10 minute read
One of the first things we tend to realise when someone close to us dies is that it generates a very large amount of admin. These admin tasks can be frustrating and bewildering, with one of the main ones being how to close a bank account after death. If you’re in a position of wondering how to do that yourself, this article has been written to help you.
We’d also just like to say that, if you’ve found us here, it’s likely that you could be facing a tough moment in your life. We recognise the potential difficulty of your situation, and want you to know that we are here to help. Aura is the UK’s top-rated provider of ‘Cremation Services’ on Trustpilot, with a score of 4.9/5 stars. We offer our funerals to those seeking to organise a direct cremation in the near future, or those considering a prepaid funeral plan for their own future funeral.
When faced with all the admin that comes our way when someone close to us dies, it can be tempting to simply leave it to the side and forget about it. Closing the bank account of a recently deceased loved one is an important part of our funeral checklist, though, and it will need to be taken care of as soon as possible.
Closing the bank accounts of someone who has died is important for a number of reasons. Firstly, it should prevent regular communications from the bank from continuing as normal. Many families find this useful for coping with grief, as it stops any awkward or jarring reminders from arriving at the house at a bad moment.
Closing the bank accounts of the person who has died will also help to protect their money from fraud, and it will stop any regular subscriptions that they may have set up, such as to Netflix, Amazon Prime, or iCloud, for example, from continuing to take money from them for services they can no longer use. This could be more important for you depending on whether or not you intend to pay for a funeral using money within their bank account.
Before you can get to the point of asking their bank to close their account, you will need to have gone through some other administrative tasks beforehand. You will need to register the death, first and foremost, which, among other documentation, will generate their Death Certificate. Most financial institutions will need to receive a copy of the Death Certificate before they will consider handing over control of their former client’s accounts to their next of kin, or closing them altogether.
In all likelihood, you will need to apply for probate, which is one of the most
important things to do when someone dies should you be their named executor. Probate, as we shall see, is the legal right to administer the estate of someone who has died, and the named executor in that person’s will needs to apply for it before anything can be done with the estate.
There are a number of key steps that you will likely need to go through before you can close the bank account of a loved one. Please bear in mind that they have the capacity to vary depending on the bank.
Head to the website of the bank providing your loved one’s account and look for a section about probate, or about what to do when someone dies. This should hopefully explain in some English their process for closing the bank account, as well as a description of the different pieces of paperwork they’ll need to see from you. If you can’t find anything on their website about this, that’s when you should attempt to contact their customer-service team, who will hopefully know the right direction in which to point you. The bank should also be able to let you know whether the person who has died has multiple bank accounts, and whether they have any investments, which could all be useful when it comes to paying for the funeral.
Each bank is different, and, depending on the amount of money within the account, they may not require you to submit any documentation proving that you have been granted probate. Instead they may simply be content with evidence that the death has occurred and that it has been registered, as well as of your status as next of kin. Make sure you understand what the particular bank will need before proceeding, or before worrying that you may need extensive documentation, as this isn’t always the case.
The bank will likely request bank details from the executor for the purpose of sending the remaining funds in the account of their former client onwards. Please bear in mind that, if the person who has died has an outstanding overdraft or any credit debts, these may need to be seen to first, with the bank automatically paying them down out of any remaining funds.
Of course, it could be the case that you are unable to apply for probate. When someone dies without a will, it won’t be possible to apply for probate. Instead, you will need to apply for something similar called a ‘grant of letters of administration’.
When someone dies without a will, it can make things more complicated, as there isn’t a nominated executor, and it may not be fully clear what assets the person is leaving behind. The state of dying without a will in place is referred to as ‘intestacy’ or as ‘dying intestate’. When a loved one dies without a will, it means that someone in the family will have to unilaterally take on the responsibility of the administration of their estate, and, in all likelihood, organising their funeral. This is a big job, which is why choosing an executor is normally a very considered process.
Instead of applying for probate, the executor will need to apply for something called a ‘grant of letters of administration’. It’s a similar administrative process that will allow the government to verify that you are the next of kin of the person who has died, and to give you the required legal power to oversee their estate, settle their debts and disburse their assets among the other beneficiaries.
A bank may not require you to have gone through this process where the sum of money within the account of their former client is not particularly large. Each bank will have a different process where this is concerned, so make sure to check with the bank for more information about what is required.
There could be certain particulars to consider when you are closing the bank account of a parent, or a joint account associated with the person who has died.
It can be hard enough figuring out how to cope with the death of a parent without having to also consider the large amount of admin related to their funeral and the end of their life. However, as may not be surprising, it is often the children of those who have died, that require to put everything in order, by closing the account. If you are in the position of needing to do this, remember to take time, where you can, to look after your mental health, in order to avoid being overwhelmed by the difficulty of the situation.
Normally, when one party to a joint account dies, the account will need to be closed. If you are the other party to the joint account, it means that you will need to divert all of your scheduled payments, standing orders and direct debits away from there to a new account. You will also need to move the remaining funds from the account elsewhere. Typically, joint bank accounts are used by a household in order to handle the paying of bills, so this could potentially turn into a more drawn out process, especially if multiple different companies need to be notified.
Naturally, when faced with gathering documentation together for submission to big, bureaucratic organisations like banks, there could be bumps in the road, or delays.
If the financial institution you are dealing with, whether a bank, or a life-insurance provider which covers funeral costs misplaces the copy of the death certificate you have provided them, or you yourself lose it, you can secure copies for a reasonably low fee from the government.
Documents relating to the personal information of the person who has died could potentially be hard to find. Check to make sure that they didn’t store the information on a computer, or that they didn’t note down any important passwords somewhere special at home. Check also to see whether they have a filing cabinet or storage place at home containing copies of the key information. There is also the possibility that they may have entrusted their solicitor with keeping their documents safe, so it could be worth contacting the firm which helped them to draw up their will.
Occasionally, the customer service of banks and other institutions can fall short of what is expected of them. Make sure to communicate with them clearly about what you need, preferably in writing. This will help to minimise delays, and provide a paper trail which will be useful should it need to be referred to later. Such institutions will each have a minimum-service-level guarantee which they will have to adhere to, and, if they run over this time, a complaint will likely be upheld against them.
You can log a complaint with any financial institution at any time. They will then attempt to resolve the matter through their own internal complaints process. If you feel that this has not resolved things to your liking, or that they have, again, taken too long to resolve matters, you may be entitled to refer the matter to the Ombudsman, who can look into things on your behalf.
We hope this article about how to close a bank account after death has been useful to you. We know that it can be a difficult time, so we are ready to provide any support we can. If you are currently looking to organise a direct cremation funeral at short notice, our industry-leading team of Aura Angels is ready to help you. Not only are they experts in funeral arranging, but they can lend a listening ear, too, should you want to talk about what you’re going through.
