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Dealing with bereavement – how to manage savings accounts held with us

Written by Ipswich Building Society

17 Oct 2018

Tags

Bereavement

3 min read

Dealing with a death is never easy, so we want to do our bit to make the process as stress-free as possible. And while the last thing you might want to talk about is money, it’s important that you take care of the practical matters.

You may also wish to look at our Bereavement guide pages which provide more information about what to do when dealing with the death of a loved one.

Register the death with us
In order to manage any accounts the deceased held with us, we will need a certified copy of either the death certificate or Grant of Probate. We will also require an acceptable form of personal identification and, where possible, any passbook(s) relating to the accounts.

How we can help make things a bit easier
We can help with inheritance tax as this is usually paid before the Grant of Probate is issued. We can release funds held in the account(s) of the deceased to help pay for any taxes due in the form of a cheque payable to HMRC or a direct payment to HMRC themselves. We can also release funds to help with other costs such as funeral bills or outstanding care costs.

ISAs and tax-free savings
A spouse or civil partner can invest an additional tax free allowance equivalent to the value of the balances held in any ISAs by the deceased on the date of their death. We don’t currently offer an account for these funds but the allowance can be transferred to another provider – contact them directly to start the process.

Any ISAs held by the deceased can also remain open for a period of up to three years as a continuing ISA. This means that any interest gains by the ISA remain tax free. The continuing ISA remains effective until the administration of the deceased’s estate (usually through Probate). If the account has not been closed after three years from the deceased’s date of death then the account will cease to be a continuing ISA at this point and will be subject to tax.

How to manage the accounts of the deceased
If the account is held jointly with another person, the funds will transfer automatically to the surviving account holder. If the surviving holder wishes to close or transfer the account then we can lift any withdrawal restrictions for up to 60 days.

Where to get more help
If you are a member of ours dealing with bereavement, or need help in sorting out the affairs of a deceased member, please talk to us or call into any of our branches for a chat and a cuppa – we’ll do our best to help.

This article was published under our previous name of Ipswich Building Society. We changed our name in 2021 – find out more.

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