What happens to my bank account savings if I die?

Ruger22

Sorry if this is a bit morbid.

I'm curious to know what will happen to all my savings in my various bank accounts if I die.
I have my savings in cash, Premium Bonds and Royal Mint DigiGold.

Most of the cash is in banking app accounts such as Chase, Revolut, Raisin, Moneybox, etc., that only I know about, on my phone, which only I can access, and I do not get paper statements.

Dizzycap

I'm, assuming that you've made a will.

Probate should be able to find accounts held in your name & address, but in my experience, not always!

To prevent any such difficulties, personally, I've written down all my bank account details / numbers & Reference Numbers etc for online and App accounts on a seperate piece of paper which my solicitor holds with my will & I update any accounts when needed. I also update anything immediately it's changed on a copy of everything at home in case I don't manage to update bank accounts before I get to my solicitors.

El_Torro

Whoever is administering your estate should tell the banks of your death and once proof has been sent the money gets moved to your estate to be distributed to your inheritors.

Of course if the person administering your estate doesn't know these accounts exist that makes things more difficult. The banks that your money is with won't actively search for your inheritors. 

PennysIntoPounds

It will depend what is in your will and if there are costs to be taken from your estate, and if there are savings left if you've needed to move into a care home.
If you haven't made your wishes clear to someone I would very much recommend writing down where your money is and approximate amounts, and putting that in a designated safe space and with a solicitor.
If you mean where does the money go if it's just left in the ether, as it were, with no claims on it, it goes to the crown to do with as they see fit.
Hopefully you'll have much more life to enjoy in the meantime!

Robin9

Many years ago I was offered redundancy and I had to sit down and work out what effect it would have on my family so I sat down and established a spreadsheet. This has developed and now includes all the account numbers. Alongside this I have a folders for all the accounts. statements etc.

I have recently now established details of all the various sign-ons and  passwords.

All with my will -  and instructions what type of funeral I might want

We don't know the circumstances of our death but we can try and lighten the burden of those who have to administer our estate.

MarkFromCornwall

Ruger22 said:

what will happen to all my savings in my various bank accounts if I die.

if ?                  

surreysaver

I suppose if you're given advance notice of your death, you could consolidate your accounts down to a smaller number to make it easier on those dealing with them 

jimexbox

I don't think it's morbid, it's reality. If you're in a relationship, one will die before the other. My wife is happy for me to manage our savings/pensions. Men usually die before women, so it's prudent that she has information on all accounts, as I move cash around in eachothers names. 

badger09

surreysaver said:

I suppose if you're given advance notice of your death, you could consolidate your accounts down to a smaller number to make it easier on those dealing with them 

I haven’t been given advance notice, but having reached 75 I realise my financial affairs are unnecessarily complicated. For many years I’ve chased interest rates, switched accounts, used multiple Regular Savers & left accounts open with minimal balance in case of ‘loyalty’ offers. I’m now culling most of them. The reduction in interest won’t affect my lifestyle, HMRC will get less, and it will be so much easier to administer my Estate. Everything is documented on a password protected spreadsheet. My husband wouldn’t have a clue what to do with it, but my son can access it. 

nottsphil

MarkFromCornwall said:

Ruger22 said:

what will happen to all my savings in my various bank accounts if I die.

if ?                  

OP the only other certainty in life is taxes...

paul235

MarkFromCornwall said:

Ruger22 said:

what will happen to all my savings in my various bank accounts if I die.

if ?                  

Follow you to where you end up.