Bank statements for the deceased

bobster2

user1977 said:

Keep_pedalling said:

The bereavement department will provide statements going back quite a long way, but they may not let you have them until you have probate.

At the very least they need to tell you the balance as at the date of death, otherwise how do you put together the inventory to apply for probate?

Yes.

But surely it's important to know about gifts etc from bank statements to do an IHT return in some circumstances?

poseidon1

user1977 said:

Keep_pedalling said:

The bereavement department will provide statements going back quite a long way, but they may not let you have them until you have probate.

At the very least they need to tell you the balance as at the date of death, otherwise how do you put together the inventory to apply for probate?

Absolutely, and further still if there are savings accounts accruing interest, the executor will also need to know accrued interest to date of death, since if IHT is in point, accrued income is taxable.

Bank statements also might help identify the existence of other online assets such as investment platforms, isas etc for which no paper documentation maybe evident. Same could be said for debts (loans etc). 

For people who have largely migrated to an online financial exsistence, accessing their primary bank account statements can be the only way to build a proper picture of their financial assets and liabilities at death.

user1977

bobster2 said:

user1977 said:

Keep_pedalling said:

The bereavement department will provide statements going back quite a long way, but they may not let you have them until you have probate.

At the very least they need to tell you the balance as at the date of death, otherwise how do you put together the inventory to apply for probate?

Yes.

But surely it's important to know about gifts etc from bank statements to do an IHT return in some circumstances?

Yes, but I don't think the bank (or anybody else who might hold such records) are obliged to help you pre-probate if there's a lack of records among the deceased's paperwork.

But given they haven't actually refused the OP's request (and I'm not aware of banks being particularly awkward about providing statements) this seems more of an academic question.

herbily

Just to update, and to say thank you for the advice - I phoned the bank's bereavement team and they are posting out bank statements. Guess I was just overthinking the issue, so many thanks to everyone who responded.