Married but no joint account - what happens if DH dies?

[user1486071876]

Married for 30 yrs. We have individual accounts and I pay over a sum to his account for bills etc. All bills are paid from this account.

What happens if DH dies will his accounts be frozen or will the money be automatically passed over to me his wife?

his will all be frozen until probate complete
get a joint account now - even if its largely dormant

Thank you for replying that was what we thought

Sorry to hijack.
In this situation, once the bank is informed of the death does freezing the account mean no SO or DD's will be paid?
I'm assuming so but forgot to ask when I rang to tell them. I'll call and check tomorrow but just wondering if 1st of the month payments will have gone through.

Would a will need to be made? We have wills but they were drawn up in another European country ? Tia

When my DH died, I quickly had all accounts such as utilities put in my name. They mostly had special departments dealing with bereavement, as did his bank. His bank account only had about three thousand pounds in it, and as he had no other assets (we rented), they released the money to me under their small estates policy, so I did not have to obtain probate.

Similar situation apart from we both pay some bills each. Our bank told me in that event his account would be frozen, they inform the organisation that the DD will not be paid due to the death of the account holder but also inform them of the next of kin so they can contact you to ensure the bill is paid.Of course, you can also contact them to pay. Just need to make sure you have enough to pay bills until probate is granted.

My parents had separate finances as both worked and chose to do it that way. However both of their bank accounts were "joint" accounts but in name only. It meant that one one passed away the other could legitimately access the account to continue to pay bills or funeral expenses etc. My dh and me have joint finances and everything goes in to one pot (which I manage!). This requires trust that the other isn't going to fo anything rash, but does make it a bit awkward when my dh is buying me a birthday present because i know exactly how much he has spent.