When someone dies · the bank account
What happens to a bank account
when someone dies?
A sole account is usually frozen once the bank is told of the death. A joint account usually continues, passing to the survivor. And funeral costs and inheritance tax can often be paid before probate.
It depends on how the account was held.
A joint account is usually the simplest case. It normally passes to the surviving holder by survivorship, keeps working, and does not need probate. Tell the bank so it can be moved into the survivor's sole name.
A sole account is different. Once the bank is notified of the death it is usually frozen — no card payments, no standing orders — until the person dealing with the estate provides either a grant of probate or, for a smaller balance, the bank's own paperwork.
Two payments are the common exceptions the bank will make from a frozen account before probate: a funeral invoice paid directly to the funeral director, and inheritance tax paid straight to HMRC under the Direct Payment Scheme (form IHT423).
A husband dies. The couple's joint current account keeps working — his wife notifies the bank and it is moved to her name. His sole savings account of £28,000 is frozen.
- Joint account: continues automatically — no probate needed
- Sole £28,000 account: above most banks' limit, so a grant of probate is usually required
- The funeral invoice is paid directly from the frozen account by the bank
- Probate application fee: £526 (estate over £5,000)
How much each bank releases without a grant.
Below its limit, an institution will usually release a sole account on its own small-estate forms. Above it, you generally need the grant of probate. Limits are provider policy and change — confirm before relying on them.
Provider limits last checked 5 Jul 2026. Banks and building societies set their own small-estate release limits and can change them at any time. These are provider policies, not government rates. Always confirm the current limit with the institution before relying on it.
Not sure which accounts freeze, or what to tell the bank first? A Valoren specialist reads your situation and writes the exact notification order — sole accounts, joint accounts, pensions — around this estate.
Get your executor's briefWhere the boundary is reached, Valoren refers.
Most frozen accounts resolve exactly as this page describes — the bank's own process, the funeral invoice, the thresholds. When the freeze is the first sign of a heavier estate — a balance above every threshold, tax due before the grant — you have two routes, and we are straightforward about which one is ours.
Informational, not advice. Bank limits are provider policy and change — confirm with the institution and against GOV.UK before acting. GOV.UK rule verified 21 Aug 2026; provider limits checked 5 Jul 2026.