What happens with savings depends on the types of account held, the amount of money in the sole accounts and if there's a Will.
Once we've been told about someone’s death, payments from savings accounts held only in their name are frozen. If it's a joint account, control automatically passes to the other account holder(s) once we’ve registered the death.
Disclosure of information
We may need to carry out some checks to prove your identity before we can disclose any account information. To do this we might be able to perform an electronic search, instead of requiring original documentation. We'd need your permission first though, so call us on 0345 266 1209 to find out more. These checks are not necessary if you are already a Skipton mortgage or savings customer.
If you are named as an executor of the estate in the Will, we can tell you the account balance(s) and interest owed up until the date of death. If there is no Will, this is what’s known as being 'intestate'. In this situation, we can only give information to certain people. First, we speak to the spouse or civil partner, or the solicitor who is acting on behalf of the estate. If there's no surviving spouse or civil partner, we might be able to deal with adult children or parents.
So that we can release the information, we’ll need one of the following:
- Original or certified death certificate.
- Coroner’s interim certificate.
- Death certificate verification form administered by a Solicitor.
- 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 send this document to us by post, along with written confirmation of how you’re related to the person who’s died. Please also provide your contact details so we can get in touch if we need more information.
For savings accounts that total less than £5,000 or for mortgage accounts, we may accept a scanned and emailed copy of the requested document to skiptondirect-bereavementnotification@skipton.co.uk if we can verify the death via other external sources.
Transfer of ISA allowance
If the person who died was your husband, wife, or civil partner, you can use the tax-free allowance they had in their ISAs. This is called an Additional Permitted Subscription (APS). For more information, please call us at 0345 266 1209. Our Bereavement Team will be happy to help
If you would like to apply for a Legacy Cash ISA: