Amount banks will hold before they require Probate to release funds

CheeseSpreadButties

About 10 years ago, myself and my wife dealt with my wife’s godfather’s estate.  He had a few thousand pounds in his HSBC bank account and a few thousand pounds in a Skipton Building Society savings account.  We went into the branches with the necessary documents and they closed the accounts and transferred the funds to us without any delay because the amounts involved were not too great for them to require Probate.

I’ve recently had to deal with my wife’s mother’s estate.  Her house had been sold prior to her death so all her funds (over £200k) were in her various Natwest accounts.  Natwest wanted Probate to be granted before they would release any funds.  Probate took about 8 weeks then another 4 weeks before Natwest finally released the funds.  Fortunately, some tax refunds and pension payments were made directly to me so I had the means to settle any expenditures.

The rule about how much can be held before Probate is needed seems to apply to the total amount held by an institution, not per account.

I realise that if I die first, my wife, who would inherit, would have access to my funds and visa versa.  Our savings are shared more or less equally so there wouldn’t be any financial hardship for either of us anyway.

So in planning for myself and my wife’s future I am considering putting £5k - £10k each in a different provider’s savings accounts so that when our daughter has to deal with her surviving parent’s estate, she can have access to some funds fairly quickly.

Is there a list anywhere detailing what the limit is before each bank or building society requires Probate to be granted before releasing funds?

ss2020jd

I’m not sure how up-to-date this list is but it was accurate in the case of my mum who was executor of my stepdad’s estate. As the amount was under the bank’s probate limit and the house was owned as joint tenants with no other assets, there was no probate required. 

https://www.co-oplegalservices.co.uk/media-centre/articles-may-aug-2018/bank-limits-for-probate/


This may also be worth reading:

https://www.co-oplegalservices.co.uk/media-centre/articles-sept-dec-2018/do-bank-accounts-have-to-go-through-probate/

noitsnotme

I’m currently executor for an estate and Santander paid out £20k very quickly without requiring probate.  They will actually pay up to £50k without probate according to the emails I received.

toomuchinfo

I was executor for my uncle’s estate in 2022.

Nationwide transferred £33000 within two days into an account I opened with them the day that I took the death certificate, Will and my ID into his branch.

NatWest needed probate for £2500

CheeseSpreadButties

Thanks for your comments and information.  The link in ss2020jd's post to the list supplied by Co-op was really useful.  I'll probably open cash ISAs after April with one of the High Street names so that business can be done in branch in the future.  It won't be Natwest though.  The service from Natwest that my wife's eldest sister got when acting as Power of Attorney for my mother-in-law was appalling, but that's another story.

born_again

Usually banks will pay expenses such as funeral costs when presented with the bill. Although it could be a direct payments to the undertaker, as there is a system in place to cover this.

Spendless

Depends on the bank. I was surprised to find when we went to register my Nan's death that the registrar told us there's no national set limit. The financial institutions set their own. Natwest where my Nan's account was was one of the highest, she had around £21k in the bank when she died - no other assets and probate wasn't needed.

retiredbanker1

My biggest bug bear is National Savings!! 
Their paltry limit is £5k before probate was required.

In addition to this the DWP scour probate records to see if anybody on pension credit has substantial assets not declared. We had an 18 month battle with them before they backed down!

Most high street banks have quite high limits - during the pandemic the bank I worked for increased the limit to £100k.
These days also have Bereavement departments which can deal  with customer affairs much more efficiently than in branch (if you can find one and get an appointment!)

SevenOfNine

CheeseSpreadButties said:

Thanks for your comments and information.  The link in ss2020jd's post to the list supplied by Co-op was really useful.  I'll probably open cash ISAs after April with one of the High Street names so that business can be done in branch in the future.  It won't be Natwest though.  The service from Natwest that my wife's eldest sister got when acting as Power of Attorney for my mother-in-law was appalling, but that's another story.

CheeseSpreadButties said:

Thanks for your comments and information.  The link in ss2020jd's post to the list supplied by Co-op was really useful.  I'll probably open cash ISAs after April with one of the High Street names so that business can be done in branch in the future.  It won't be Natwest though.  The service from Natwest that my wife's eldest sister got when acting as Power of Attorney for my mother-in-law was appalling, but that's another story.

I wouldn't touch NatWest with a forty foot bargepole if you want a loved one to be able to access any funds at all pre probate!  We've dealt with 4 deaths over the years involving Barclays, Santander, NatWest & Lloyds. Natwest was in Nov 2020, my elderly mum's account & she'd died.

They proved incompetent even with freezing her account, let alone allowing the release of any of her £20k, though they had sight of the death cert, original will (I was executor & beneficiary with my 2 brothers) & I was named on the a/c (she'd been noted as vulnerable) & had PoW though that ceases on death..

Every simple task in branch, on phone, on-line was just made as difficult as possible as they bounced me around. In the end I just demanded the account be frozen & said as they needed her money so badly, they could keep it!

I paid everything required myself (didn't even trust them to handle funeral invoice), did a formal complaint when I'd got probate & they finally released her £20k & a couple of hundred pounds 'compensation'.

The other 3 banks over the years were great, sensitive & efficient. 

Spendless

SevenOfNine said:

CheeseSpreadButties said:

Thanks for your comments and information.  The link in ss2020jd's post to the list supplied by Co-op was really useful.  I'll probably open cash ISAs after April with one of the High Street names so that business can be done in branch in the future.  It won't be Natwest though.  The service from Natwest that my wife's eldest sister got when acting as Power of Attorney for my mother-in-law was appalling, but that's another story.

CheeseSpreadButties said:

Thanks for your comments and information.  The link in ss2020jd's post to the list supplied by Co-op was really useful.  I'll probably open cash ISAs after April with one of the High Street names so that business can be done in branch in the future.  It won't be Natwest though.  The service from Natwest that my wife's eldest sister got when acting as Power of Attorney for my mother-in-law was appalling, but that's another story.

I wouldn't touch NatWest with a forty foot bargepole if you want a loved one to be able to access any funds at all pre probate!  We've dealt with 4 deaths over the years involving Barclays, Santander, NatWest & Lloyds. Natwest was in Nov 2020, my elderly mum's account & she'd died.

They proved incompetent even with freezing her account, let alone allowing the release of any of her £20k, though they had sight of the death cert, original will (I was executor & beneficiary with my 2 brothers) & I was named on the a/c (she'd been noted as vulnerable) & had PoW though that ceases on death..

Every simple task in branch, on phone, on-line was just made as difficult as possible as they bounced me around. In the end I just demanded the account be frozen & said as they needed her money so badly, they could keep it!

I paid everything required myself (didn't even trust them to handle funeral invoice), did a formal complaint when I'd got probate & they finally released her £20k & a couple of hundred pounds 'compensation'.

The other 3 banks over the years were great, sensitive & efficient. 

And yet when my Nan died last year, Natwest was where all her money was (around £20k and didn't need probate)  and my Mum had a totally different experience. The bank acc frozen when Mum took the will and death cert into them. Mum had also been PoA for Nan. No money was needed out of Nan's account because Mum had paid for a funeral plan for Nan some years earlier and the bit not covered my parents paid for, then took back out once the account was unfrozen (for want of a better/correct word). The only thing the branch couldn't do was produce a statement because a different amount seemed to have gone in after Nan's death. That had to be done by a request to their bereavement team and turned out to have been a further payment of Nan's state pension. Either they've learnt from your case or it very much depends on what staff member you get as to the experience you receive.   

retiredbanker1

Spendless said:

SevenOfNine said:

And yet when my Nan died last year, Natwest was where all her money was (around £20k and didn't need probate)  and my Mum had a totally different experience. The bank acc frozen when Mum took the will and death cert into them. Mum had also been PoA for Nan. 

This is the correct procedure - the bank freezes any sole bank account upon seeing the death certificate.
Any Power of Attorney stops at date of death.