Non-motoring > Frozen bank account Miscellaneous
Thread Author: Ambo Replies: 18
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New Fri 30 May 14 15:25 
 Frozen bank account - Ambo
When a spouse dies their account is froze pending probate. What about a joint account, or a joint deposit account within their account?
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New Fri 30 May 14 15:28 
 Frozen bank account - Meldrew
death-duties.co.uk/content/banks-building-societies Answer re account freezing seems to be Yes
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New Fri 30 May 14 15:49 
 Frozen bank account - George Jones
Don't tell the bank: remove the money: tell them later! ;-)
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New Fri 30 May 14 17:17 
 Frozen bank account - Fursty Ferret
>> Don't tell the bank: remove the money: tell them later! ;-)

Joint account no problem - not that I can recommend it or admit to having done it personally, but on a hypothetical basis the above m̶a̶d̶e̶ I mean, might make the job a helluva lot easier, especially if the surviving partner needs money in a hurry.
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New Fri 30 May 14 16:13 
 Frozen bank account - Bromptonaut
>> death-duties.co.uk/content/banks-building-societies Answer re account freezing seems to be Yes
>>

My reading of that blink is that joint account will NOT be frozen but transferred into sole name of survivor. AIUI that reflects a general principle that shared accounts pass by survivorship unless there is agreement to contrary. Certainly, when Mrs B's father died the joint account contents passed automatically to her mother.

Our own planning is based on everything being in joint ownership and passing to survivor. Took a bit of discussion with solicitor about getting title to house in those terms as recommendation for unmarried couples is to protect their respective shares so they can pass separately.
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New Fri 30 May 14 20:37 
 Frozen bank account - Manatee
The long term partner (unmarried cohabitees) of an acquaintance of mine died recently. They were on perfectly good terms but had presumably made no proper determination as to what they wanted to happen if one of them should die.

It has all been extremely distressing for the survivor. His partner's family cut him out completely. He was not even invited to the wake though he went to the funeral ceremony and committal.

While his partner was very ill, they 'kidnapped' her preventing him from caring for her, and later prevented the hospital she was in from giving him any information.

None of this was foreseen, though possibly it could have been, and it came as a nasty surprise at a difficult time.
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New Fri 30 May 14 21:18 
 Frozen bank account - Armel Coussine
>> None of this was foreseen, though possibly it could have been, and it came as a nasty surprise at a difficult time.

Her family didn't approve of him initially (a very usual situation), and neither he nor the lady had mended his fences with them. Perhaps they thought there was plenty of time. But the family could have been nasty, possessive and difficult, as some are.

Indeed it looks from this account as if they were very nasty indeed. But one would have to know all the parties to be sure.
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New Fri 30 May 14 15:53 
 Frozen bank account - FocalPoint
My father suffered from dementia towards the end of his life. Anticipating problems, I was able to get him to add me as a joint name on the account.

After his death I informed the bank, but retained complete control over the account.

This was a few years ago - I don't know if things have changed.
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New Fri 30 May 14 16:28 
 Frozen bank account - R.P.
I didn't have a problem five years ago. My wife died without leaving a will. Even her ISA accounts were managed perfectly by the Co-Op Bank's excellent legal department without issue and the money made immediately available - Lloyds did the same - although their staff member was a total s***. All joint accounts were sorted there and then.
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New Fri 30 May 14 17:00 
 Frozen bank account - Falkirk Bairn
Joint names normally changed to the survivor without any issues.

If the deceased had an account in a single name it can be trickier to access the monies. One way around this is to ask for a cheque made payable to the Funeral Director / another company needing to be paid as part of the funeral. It may not be ideal but it releases funds to pay the immediate bill.

Over the next few weeks the more difficult accounts in Banks, B Societies can be tackled.

2 years ago handled an relative's estate - hassle from Virgin/Scottish Power/Council/Insurers - the RBS bank, 1 x insurer (LV) were excellent. In total it took 2 months for a very simple estate - the phone calls were long, often with a different person than the last one you spoke to.

Worst - Virgin Media - they sent an email to the deceased asking why she left!
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New Fri 30 May 14 17:19 
 Frozen bank account - Stuartli
>>One way around this is to ask for a cheque made payable to the Funeral Director / another company needing to be paid as part of the funeral. It may not be ideal but it releases funds to pay the immediate bill.>>

I did this and the bank involved (Halifax) proved supremely helpful as well as immediately releasing the remainder of the money in accounts once probate had been granted. It also offers excellent written advice on what to do with regard to financial and other matters after someone has passed away.
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New Fri 30 May 14 17:35 
 Frozen bank account - Cliff Pope
I managed my mother's bank account on-line for her. When she died I scrupulously tried to notify the local branch but they said they didn't deal with on-line accounts. I tried to phone the on-line number they gave me, but they refused to talk to me because I wasn't the account holder. I asked what I was supposed to do but they didn't know.

I wrote to the bank head office but got no reply. The solicitor wrote to the local branch but got no reply. In the end I just did an internet transfer to the solicitor's client account and emptied the account. The solicitor said it wasn't strictly correct, but couldn't think of anything else to do.

About a year later the bank finally closed the account.
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New Fri 30 May 14 17:46 
 Frozen bank account - FocalPoint
"I tried to phone the on-line number they gave me, but they refused to talk to me because I wasn't the account holder."

This sort of thing makes me furious. I simply do not believe that the bank (or whoever) has not considered the scenario of when an account-holder dies. In any large organisation there must be a constant stream of account-holders' deaths. There must, somewhere, be a protocol for dealing with it. If there is no such protocol, then we have the bank requiring a dead person to come to the phone and speak to them.

I can only assume that the training provided for staff answering the phone must be woefully inadequate.
Last edited by: FocalPoint on Fri 30 May 14 at 17:49
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New Fri 30 May 14 18:12 
 Frozen bank account - Fullchat
They often throw up "data protection' as a screen even when its not a DP issue. And that only applies to a living person.
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New Fri 30 May 14 21:09 
 Frozen bank account - CGNorwich
Have dealt with a number of banks following deaths in the family and have actually found them al quite helpful and they do indeed have bereavement departments to assist customers wiht the various issues. There will be no problems with a joint account - you will just need a death certificate to delete the name of the deceased. The account can still be used whilst this is being done.

Useful guide here form Barclays.

www.barclays.co.uk/Bereavement/SortingoutBarclaysaccounts/P1242633762759
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New Fri 30 May 14 23:31 
 Frozen bank account - Ted

I managed all MIL's money for a number of years having a POA and joint accounts. It was easy to have all her bills sent to me, she lived next door and I just asked Steve, our postie, to stick em through our door. She just stuffed them under the settee cushions.

She died 5 years ago in a care home and we had already sold her house and invested the money with the Leeds in a 3 year bond. The bond matured a couple of months after she died and I went into the branch to get the money out to re-invest it as we had a joint bond.

The manager asked how she was and I made the mistake of telling him she'd died. At that point he insisted that I took the will to probate even though I showed him that SWM was the sole beneficiary.

I suppose it was the amount that caused this......he might have let me have £100 or so in cash but not the thick end of a quarter mill.
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New Sat 31 May 14 10:22 
 Frozen bank account - Bromptonaut
>> The manager asked how she was and I made the mistake of telling him she'd
>> died. At that point he insisted that I took the will to probate even though
>> I showed him that SWM was the sole beneficiary.

That's job on line territory.

He needs the sealed grant showing the will has been 'proved' to satisfaction of the court. Seeing the will alone is no guarantee there's not another relative in the background with a 'rival' later version or an allegation of coercion, lack of testamentary capacity etc.
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New Sat 31 May 14 12:43 
 Frozen bank account - Cliff Pope
If it was a bond in joint names then ownership just passes by survivorship, doesn't it?
I inherited from my deceased wife's mother simply on production of my sworn statement that I would indemnify the estate if someone with a better claim ever showed up.
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New Wed 4 Jun 14 10:09 
 Frozen bank account - Ambo
May thanks for all of the above. This is obviously an excellent way to transfer funds to a partner at the end.
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