Contacting us is just one of many things you’ve got to think about, so we promise to try and make the process as quick and easy as possible for you when you’re ready to get in touch.
Below, we’ve explained exactly how the process works once you’ve let us know that a loved one has passed away. We’ve also included some FAQs that you might find useful. Information on where you can get extra support can be found here.
Notifying the bank
Once you’re ready to start letting organisations, like us, know, there are four stages to the process.
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Let us know
One of the first things to do is tell us. We'll let you know exactly what information we'll need and walk you through the process.
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Making changes
We'll need to make change to the person's account and we'll ask for some information, like a death certificate, to help us do that.
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Security checks
Depending on the amount of money that's in the account, we might need to do some extra checks - like seeing the grant of probate. We'll let you know straight away if we need to see this.
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Releasing money
You can use money straight from the account to cover expenses like the funeral, or inheritance tax. You'll then let us know where we should pay the rest of the money
Get in touch with our savings team
If you’d like to let us know that someone’s passed away, you can get in touch with our team who’ll guide you through the process of what happens to a savings account when someone dies and the next steps. You can choose whether to call us on 0800 028 3746, or email us below – it’s completely up to you.
![Women in call centre](https://hodgebank.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Change-in-circumstance-2-1-scaled-1.jpg)
FAQs
Our friendly team are here to help make the process of closing an account as smooth as possible. For more support, find answers to some of the most commonly asked questions
You can learn more about inheritance tax and what to do if someone has passed away in our inheritance tax blog post.
Usually, the executor or personal representative can access a bank account when someone dies. This person may need to obtain probate or letters of administration to be able to access the account, depending on the bank’s process and the account balance.
If you think the person held an account with Hodge and you’re the executor of their estate, you can get in touch with us and we’ll carry out some checks to find their information. You’ll need their death certificate, address, date of birth and National Insurance Number.
If their accounts weren’t with Hodge, you can use online services to try to find their accounts, such as My Lost Account or The Death Notification Service.
In most cases, the money from the joint bank account will go to the surviving joint account holder. They can take ownership of the bank account and the money in it. The surviving joint account holder will need to contact their bank to let them know what’s happened.