Bereavement

You need to do this at a Register Office. See gov.uk/register-a-death for more details. Legally, you need to register a death within five days in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and within eight days in Scotland, unless the Coroner is investigating it. You’ll be issued with a death certificate.

It’s a good idea to ask for several certified official copies of the death certificate as you may need them for different financial institutions. There’s a small charge for this but it is often more cost effective to ask for copies at the time of registration rather than later on.

To notify us of a death you can use the email address above, or call us on 0345 266 1209. These are the quickest ways to let us know, but if you'd prefer you can write to us our address is:

Bereavement team
Principal Office
The Bailey
Skipton
North Yorkshire
BD23 1DN

When you write to us by post, please provide details of the deceased person: their name, address, whether there is a will and any Skipton account numbers (if known). Please also provide us with details of the informant: their name, address, relationship with the deceased person and contact details. Please enclose the relevant document we will need to register the death, as explained in step 3 below.

The person dealing with the estate will have a personal contact every step of the way, who will try and make things as easy as possible.

Once you've told us about a death, even if its not officially registered with us, payments out of savings account are frozen.

We’ll need one of the following documents to register the death:

• The original death certificate or an official copy from your local register office
• A death certificate verification form (directly from your solicitor). Please note, we can accept this for customers who had savings accounts and/or a mortgage with us only. We can’t accept it for customers who had investments through Skipton because product providers need to see the original death certificate
• Original coroner’s interim death certificate (if the cause of death hasn’t been determined).
• A Grant of Representation if already available – this can include a Grant of Probate, Letters of Administration, or Certificate of Confirmation in Scotland.

You can post your document to:

Bereavement team
Skipton Building Society
The Bailey
Skipton
North Yorkshire
BD23 1DN

We will return the documents to you, once we have processed them.

We'll write to the personal representative or the solicitor acting for them to request any further information we need. We'll also ask for certain forms to be filled in and returned to us.

The process of sorting out savings depends on the types of account held, the amount of money held in the accounts and if there's a Will. Once we’ve been told about a death, payments from savings accounts held in the sole name of the deceased are frozen. If it's a joint account, once the death is registered, control automatically passes to the other account holder(s).

If there's a mortgage, the personal representatives should carry on making the monthly payments while we make our inquiries, so the loan doesn't fall into arrears and cause complications (the mortgage is a debt of the estate). If this is difficult, our Credit Management team can talk you through your options. You can call them on 0345 850 1766.

Based at head office in Skipton, our team supports bereaved next of kin and personal representatives. They'll guide you through our process of notifying us of the death of a customer and closing the accounts. You can call the team directly on 0345 266 1209 between 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday.

When you call, you'll need to answer a few security questions but you'll only need to go through the details once per call. There might be a limit on the amount of information we'll be able to give you at this time, unless you can prove you're an executor (if there is a Will) or legal next of kin (if there is no Will).

If there's a Will, we'll be able to provide account information to the named executor(s) or the solicitor acting on their behalf. We might ask to see the Will to make sure we're giving information to the right person. If there isn't a Will, see the FAQ below, 'What if they didn't make a Will?'.

If it was written using Skipton's Will-writing service, please contact the Bereavement team, who will be able to find where it is being stored. If you're sure the deceased made a Will via Redstone Wills Ltd, our specialist partner, please get in touch with them on 0808 168 2560. Please note, only the executor is entitled to receive the Will.

If someone hasn't made a Will, this is called being 'intestate'. In this case, we can only give information to certain people. First we speak to the spouse or civil partner, or the solicitor appointed to act on behalf of the estate. If there's no surviving spouse, we might be able to deal with adult children or parents.

A GOP gives the appointed executor permission to distribute the assets of the estate. Any total balances held with Skipton Building Society worth over £30,000 will need a GOP (or letters of administration if there is no Will), which is issued by your local District Probate Office. If total balances are £30,000 or less, you'll need a Letter of Indemnity and/or a Statutory Declaration.

These documents have particular requirements (See 'What documents do I need if the total held with Skipton is £30,000 or less?"). If you can't meet the requirements for any reason, even if the estate is worth £30,000 or less, you'll need a GOP. 

You can apply to the Probate Registry yourself. Please note, the government website also uses the term 'Grant of Representation' for GOP. 

Alternatively, you can pay a fee for someone to handle this for you, like a solicitor or other professional. Our partner, 1825 Estate and Trust Administration, can do this for you. You can read more about 1825 on our Partnerships page, or call our bereavement team on 0345 266 1209 who can refer you to them.

If the balance is £1,000 or less, we can accept a Letter of Indemnity, as long as the beneficiaries are the ones solely entitled to the funds held with us and are the spouse, civil partner, child or parent of the deceased.

If the funds are between £1,001 and £4,999, we can accept a Statutory Declaration form that has been completed in the presence of a solicitor, as long as the beneficiaries are the ones solely entitled to the funds held with us.

If the balance is between £5,000 and £30,000, we can accept a Letter of Indemnity, as long as the beneficiaries are the ones solely entitled to the funds held with us and are the spouse, civil partner, child or parent of the deceased. This must be provided along with a Statutory Declaration form that has been completed in the presence of a solicitor. 

In all cases, there must be no assets held elsewhere that require GOP.

Beneficiaries who don't have accounts at Skipton Building Society will need to provide identification along with the above documents. View or download 'Proving your identity' to see what you'll need.

Yes, we can release funds to pay for funeral expenses once the death has been registered with us. We'll need the invoice from the funeral directors so we can issue a cheque, made payable to the funeral company. We can also release any amount that's on an HMRC inheritance tax calculation form, subject to the balance of the account, even if this means closing the account. This is called 'withdrawal before probate'.

• Withdrawal before probate form

Please complete and take this document to your nearest branch or post them to:

Bereavement team
Skipton Building Society
The Bailey
Skipton
North Yorkshire
BD23 1DN

If the deceased arranged a prepaid funeral with our partner Dignity, please call them on 0808 301 7743 or visit the Dignity Funerals website.

Once the death has been registered, if you are the personal representative of the deceased we can talk to you about what will happen next, which depends on the type of mortgage it is. In the meantime, it’s important for the personal representatives to make the monthly mortgage payments and pay for buildings insurance. If making payments is difficult, please call our Credit Management team on 0345 850 1766. They can talk through the options open to you. Find out more on our Bereavement mortgage page.

Bereavement Advice Centre
0800 634 94 94
www.bereavementadvice.org

Citizens Advice Bureau
www.citizensadvice.org.uk

The Bereavement Register
Reduce the amount of unwanted marketing post being sent to people who have passed away
www.thebereavementregister.org.uk

The General Register Office
(includes links to the Scottish and Northern Ireland register offices)
www.gov.uk/general-register-office

Applying for Grant of Probate, Letters of Administration or Confirmation:

England & Wales
www.gov.uk/applying-for-probate

Scotland
www.scotcourts.gov.uk
0131 444 3300

Northern Ireland
www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/applying-probate
0300 123 1072

Find a solicitor on the Law Society's website
www.lawsociety.org.uk/for-the-public/using-a-solicitor/find-a-solicitor
020 7320 5650

Fraud Prevention - CIFAS
A not-for-profit organisation working to reduce fraud and financial crime.
www.cifas.org.uk

Cruse Bereavement Care
www.cruse.org.uk

UK Government
www.gov.uk

Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC)
0300 200 3300
www.hmrc.gov.uk

HMRC Probate and Inheritance Tax Helpline
0300 123 1072

Tell Us Once Service
(report a death to most government organisations in one go)
0800 634 94 94
www.gov.uk/after-a-death/organisations-you-need-to-contact-and-tell-us-once