Step-by-step guide to notifying banks and building societies, freezing accounts, and accessing funds.
This guide is part of ProbateHelp's Notifications guide cluster. Estimated reading time: 10 min.
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Not necessarily. The Death Notification Service (DNS) lets you notify multiple banks at once online. It is free and covers most major UK banks and building societies. For banks not in the DNS, you will need to contact them directly — but the DNS is the best place to start.
Often yes, for limited expenses such as funeral costs and probate fees. Many banks will pay a funeral director's invoice directly from the deceased person's account before probate. You normally need the final invoice, the death certificate, and your ID. Ask the bank's bereavement team before paying personally.
Once a bank is notified of a death, it will normally freeze sole accounts and stop outgoing payments such as standing orders and direct debits. If any payments need to continue, such as buildings insurance on an empty property, arrange them from an executor or estate account.
This is very common and genuinely upsetting. Banks prepare correspondence weeks in advance, so letters may continue to arrive for a while after you have notified them. If it continues beyond a few weeks, call the bereavement team directly and ask them to confirm the account has been flagged.
Debts do not disappear when someone dies — they become a liability of the estate. The bank will usually freeze the account and deal with any overdraft as part of the estate settlement. You are not personally liable for the debt unless you were a joint account holder or guarantor.
There is no single statutory deadline for notifying banks, but you should do it once you have the death certificate or interim death certificate. Early notification protects the account, stops unsuitable payments, and starts the bank's bereavement process.
Start with paperwork, statements, post, and email notifications. You can also use the free My Lost Account service to search for dormant accounts across participating UK banks, building societies, and NS&I. Executors can use HMRC interest records as another clue where tax information is available.