To ask what happens re joint accounts when one party dies

[LakieLady]

My DP died very suddenly this morning.

My BIL has rather freaked me out by telling me that the joint a/c will be fozen. This will make things really a bit difficult, and I was under the impression that the other party just takes over the account and that there's no need for probate or anything.

DP has about £10k in savings in his own account, and I'm sure that's below the threshold for probate, but I don't know if I'll need letters of administration or anything.

Any advice much appreciated.

So sorry for your loss

I’m not an expert but when my DF passed away, my DM had full access to the joint account with no issues. She rang the bank to let them know and sent the death certificate when she had it, but it was never frozen.

I’m so sorry for your loss, I hope you’re ok

I’m so sorry to hear this
When my dad died, my mum had full access to their joint account throughout. We made an appointment with a bereavement person at her local branch and they sorted everything out.

Sorry for your loss @lakielady, what a shock for you.

My mum died recently and we either closed the account and got the cheque made out to dad or just removed her name from it. Each bank dealt with it slightly differently, they had credit card accounts which were also different plus savings and building societies.

Are you an executor?

Some banks require probate for over a certain amount, my brother has dealt with most of the detail but all of the banks have been very helpful.

Thank you. That's what I thought.

And thank you for your kind words, too.

Sorry for your loss, OP.

The joint account will not be frozen, his name will be taken off of it but you will be able to carry on using it.

The sole savings account is above the £5k limit (but banks play loose and fast with the rules nowadays - I have had £100k out of a bank with no Grant) but you will be able to use it to pay for his funeral - do not settle the invoice yourself but take it into the branch and they will issue a cheque/ transfer the money to the funeral director.

Did he have any other assets? Property? Are you in England/ Wales?

So sorry for your loss. Joint accounts should become sole accounts now. Did your partner have a will? If not, any money in a sole account will go to his next of kin, who would be his children if he has any, or his parents.

@GooseWhiskers

I’m not an expert but when my DF passed away, my DM had full access to the joint account with no issues. She rang the bank to let them know and sent the death certificate when she had it, but it was never frozen.

I’m so sorry for your loss, I hope you’re ok

This happened the other way round when my DMum died. It's one of the pluses of a joint account.

So sorry for your loss.

Sorry for your loss. If its a joint account then it should just become your sole account and not frozen.

Accounts in his sole name may be frozen.

If he hadn't got a will then Letters of Administration (intestacy) will need to be applied for by next of kin I think.

It should just come to you but don't be alarmed if se banks ask to see a copy of a death certificate before transferring the money into an account of yours and then they'll probably close the joint account xx

sorry for your loss
when my dad died, me and my mum went to the bank with the death certificate and they removed his name from the accounts
as it was joint there was no need for it to be frozen as my mum had full rights to it

You don’t have to take his name off or notify the bank it you don’t want to. If there’s no will then just keep using the account as normal - my uncle never informed the bank after my aunt passed, and now seeing her name on statements etc brings him comfort. So don’t feel like you must do anything.

This is one of the reasons to have a joint account, the surviving partner has full access and the deceased name is removed, whereas if all the money is in the name of the deceased it much more difficult.

I am so so sorry for the loss of your husband. It’s such a shock when you lose suddenly.

I lost my husband suddenly last year, we didn’t have wills but did have joint accounts, none of them were frozen. My biggest regret was informing the bank as they removed his name from the account and like the poster above, I love seeing his name on letters, it somehow brings me a small thrill so regret losing that one.
Surround yourself in your family for support. Don’t be rushed into anything, you’re in shock and it will take a long time for things to settle. Sending much love 💐

Joint accounts are not frozen - the money reverts to the surviving account holder.

Any accounts held in your DP's name alone will be frozen.

I'm sorry for your loss.

Sorry OP

When mum was widowed, she had to to take the death certificate into the bank and then the account was put in her name. It wasn’t listed for probate if I recall correctly.

Depending on how you feel, you might want to see if the bank will give you a private appointment. The local banks here have closed the consultation rooms. So rather than talk through a mask in front of others, you may wish to write down what you need.

There was no transfer, it was just the accounts reverted to mum’s name only.

I’m so sorry. 💐

So sorry for your loss.

If this happened to me I would move the funds to my own account immediately so that I could still pay bills/buy groceries and then deal with the legal side of it.

Your bank might have a central “bereaved” service who will make sure you are ok. My parent was able to keep their plastic, direct debits etc on their formerly joint account when widowed. No problems at all.
Parent was the 2nd driver on the car insurance and that was also ok for the rest of the year, transferred to them.
The credit card weirdly didn’t go as smoothly and stopped working. for you.

I’m so sorry for your loss. When dad died, mum just got lots of copies of his death certificate-please do this-to show places like the bank. Their joint account wasn’t frozen at any point. We’re you married? It seems to make everything easier re telling people/obtaining documentation. Look after yourself.

Sorry for your loss LakieLady, I've seen you give very kind responses on here so hope you are on the receiving end of a lot of kindness at this difficult time 💐

Sorry I don't know how the bank account works but I don't expect that the bank would know immediately about your DP's death if you did need to transfer some to your account to tide you over.

I'm so sorry OP.

I work for a bank. Obviously I don't know if its the same one but I would assume all banks follow a fairly similar process.

The joint account will become a sole account in your name. Any sole accounts in your DP's name will indeed be frozen, but likely only until you complete a form detailing where the funds should be released to. The bank can also pay any funeral costs from the estate, but will need copies of invoices etc as these will need to be paid directly to the undertaker. If your DP had an ISA, you can "inherit" the allowance, meaning you can pay the funds into an ISA in your name without it affecting your annual 20K allowance.

You will probably not need to visit a physical branch, as your bank will in all likelihood have an online bereavement notification service. Go to the website and search "bereavement". You will need a scanner or a smartphone capable of taking photos of the death certificate and a will if your DP left one. Though I've heard that many councils are issuing digital certificates anyway. If they had accounts at multiple banks/building societies there is a government page you can go to and that will notify all of them in one go.

The savings would not require probate at my bank, but yours will have a bereavement centre who deal solely in estates who will be able to confirm this one way or the other. Again, check the website for their details.

Hope this has helped, the last thing you need at this time is to be worrying about bank accounts, but rest assured they are there to help.

When my husband died I took a copy of his death certificate to our bank and our joint acoustics was transferred to my sole name. It was not frozen in any way and the usually direct debits and standing orders went out as per usual.

I’m very sorry. As others have said the account won’t be frozen. I hope this means you have one less thing to worry about

I’m so so sorry @LakieLady, what a terrible shock for you

I am so sorry @LakieLady, what an awful shock for you .