How to Find All Accounts and Assets After a Death in the UK

Before valuing or distributing the estate, build an asset list you can support with records. Missed accounts, policies or liabilities can force the personal representatives to reopen work and explain corrected figures to beneficiaries or HMRC.

Why assets go undiscovered

People can collect accounts over a lifetime. A building society account opened before online banking, a pension from a job held in the 1990s, an ISA moved between providers, a life policy that stopped sending paper statements, or Premium Bonds bought decades ago can all disappear from view.

Take reasonable, recorded steps to identify the estate. Start with the records available to you, use the relevant free tracing services, then consider a paid search where its coverage and cost are justified.

Step 1: Start with the physical paperwork

Before using any online service, go through the deceased's papers. Look for bank and building society statements, payslips, P60s, pension letters, insurance policy documents, share certificates, Premium Bond holder numbers, dividend vouchers, tax returns, and correspondence from financial institutions.

If you have lawful access to the deceased's email, search for terms such as statement, account, policy, pension, investment, ISA, dividend, premium, bond and platform. Treat messages as clues and confirm the account or asset directly with the provider.

Step 2: Use My Lost Account

My Lost Account is a free service run by UK Finance, the Building Societies Association and NS&I for tracing lost or dormant UK bank, building society and NS&I accounts.

It is useful where you think an account may exist but you do not have current details. You can search as executor, administrator or next of kin. You normally need the deceased's full name, date of birth, date of death, addresses, and any account clues you already have.

My Lost Account says executors and next of kin should contact known banks or building societies first, because those accounts may not be classified as lost. Use My Lost Account for dormant or forgotten accounts. If you have no clues about which providers were used, it suggests searching the five largest banks — HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds, NatWest and Santander — and using the regional search option for building societies.

Step 3: Register with Gretel

Gretel is a free tracing service that searches a wider range of assets than My Lost Account, including bank accounts, pensions, life insurance, shares, investments and Child Trust Funds. If you are an executor, you can register the person who has died as a third party and view their matches where you have the legal authority to act.

Gretel says it rescans for new matches every two weeks and emails users about fresh matches, so a match can appear later as providers join its platform. Its coverage differs from My Lost Account, so one search does not replace the other.

Step 4: Check NS&I and Premium Bonds

Use the NS&I tracing service if the deceased may have held Premium Bonds, savings certificates, Income Bonds, an Investment Account or other NS&I products.

If the person has died, use NS&I's bereavement route as well as the lost-investment route. Ask NS&I to confirm the total holding, the evidence it requires, whether Premium Bonds remain eligible for draws and whether there are unclaimed prizes. Our June 2026 NS&I bereavement update explains why this check matters even when the family has only partial paperwork.

Step 5: Use the Pension Tracing Service

The free Pension Tracing Service gives contact details for pension schemes. Search by employer or scheme name, then contact each scheme and ask what evidence it needs to check membership and any death benefit or dependant's pension.

This service does not confirm that a pension exists and it does not provide values. It gives you the administrator to contact. Work through every employer you can identify from payslips, P60s, CVs, tax records and bank statements.

Step 6: Ask HMRC what records can be shared

HMRC can hold useful records about employment, pension income, Self Assessment, business registrations and bank interest. Once HMRC has been notified of the death, contact the HMRC bereavement team and explain that you are the personal representative administering the estate.

Ask what information they can provide to help identify income sources and financial accounts. This is especially useful where the deceased was self-employed, had multiple pensions, received bank interest, or filed tax returns.

Step 7: Consider a deceased person's credit report

A statutory credit report can show many credit-linked accounts, such as current accounts, credit cards, loans and mortgages. It is a cross-check, not a complete asset register. It will not reliably show pensions, NS&I products, life insurance, shares held through a registrar, cryptocurrency, overseas accounts or physical possessions.

Experian's third-party data access route requires proof of authority and identity before it discloses information about a deceased person. Its current instructions list a copy of the Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration, a photocopy of the applicant's passport, birth certificate or full driving licence, and two original address documents dated within the last three months. If you do not have the grant, Experian says to contact it so it can help you through the process.

Step 8: Consider a paid professional search if the estate justifies it

Providers such as Estatesearch offer paid asset and liability searches to private-client practitioners. Consider the provider's coverage, authority requirements, price and report limitations before ordering one.

Start with the free checks. Consider a paid search where missing paperwork, complex finances or the risk of an undiscovered liability justifies the cost.

Step 9: Use the Death Notification Service

The Death Notification Service lets you notify multiple participating banks and financial institutions of a death in one online notification. It is mainly a notification tool, not a tracing service, but responses from institutions may reveal accounts you did not know about.

It does not close accounts or release money by itself, and it only reaches active accounts — My Lost Account notes that dormant accounts still need a separate search. You still need to follow up with each institution's bereavement team and provide whatever documents they require. If a live account is located, the service says notifiers can expect communication from the member organisation within 10 working days, including postal time, from the initial notification; if no account is held, that organisation will not write back.

Assets that need separate checks

Your practical checklist

Start the free checks early and run them in parallel. Keep a simple log of what you searched, when you searched it, what reference number you received, and what came back.

Common questions