Bereavement admin, assets and contracts

A Building Society Passbook and No Idea What It's Worth An old passbook proves nothing about the balance. Trace the account through mergers using free searches, and see why the total often disappoints. → A Help to Buy ISA and a First Home That Won't Happen Now The bonus is only ever paid on completion, so a death before the purchase changes everything. What the savings become, and what a partner is left with. → A Lifetime ISA When the Saver Dies Before Buying Death is one of the few exits from a LISA with no withdrawal charge. How the account closes, how the bonus is treated and what a pending purchase means. → A Password Manager and No Master Password No master password means no back door. Compare emergency access in the managers used most in the UK, the waiting periods, and what stays shut. → A Seller Account With Money and Orders Still Open Orders arrive and money sits in the account. Who answers for unshipped items and refunds on eBay, Etsy or Vinted while nobody can act for the estate. → A Storage Unit, a Lock-Up and Rent That Keeps Running Rent runs on after a death. What the storage company does when payments stop, the notice before contents are sold, and how an executor gets inside. → An ISA Keeps Its Tax Shelter for Three Years After Death An ISA does not lose its tax shelter the day the holder dies. How the continuing account works, when the shelter ends, and what tax follows for the estate. → An Overseas Bank Account and a UK Death Certificate A UK death certificate rarely satisfies a foreign bank alone. What apostilles, sworn translations and succession papers add to the wait for the money. → Are Gift Cards and Vouchers Still Valid After the Owner Dies? Vouchers in a drawer belong to the estate, but the retailer's terms decide who can spend them. Which shops honour them, and what expiry dates settle. → Avios, Air Miles and Holidays Booked in a Dead Name Points and a booked holiday raise different questions. Household account rules for Avios, refunds on a ticket in a dead name, and where insurance sits. → Bank Admin After a Death in Scotland: What Differs Scottish banks ask for confirmation, not probate. See how release limits work before it is granted and when the sheriff court small estates route helps. → Burgled During Probate: Will the Claim Be Paid? Your mum's empty house was broken into. How unoccupancy exclusions defeat theft claims, and what an executor risks personally when one is refused. → Buying Unoccupied Property Insurance as an Executor Who buys cover on an empty house before the estate is unlocked, who funds the premium in the meantime, and how an executor claims the cost back later. → Can Wages or a Pension Still Be Paid Into a Frozen Account? Money still arrives after the account is frozen. See which credits the bank holds for the estate, which bounce back to the payer, and what to expect. → Cancelling Sky, Virgin or BT for Someone Who Has Died Sky, Virgin and BT each run their own bereavement route. The right contact for each, the kit they want back, and why bills land until you use it. → Cash Found in the House: Whose Money Is It Now? Cash in a drawer is an estate asset, not a windfall. How executors record it, whether it can pay for the funeral, and the arguments it starts. → Children's Savings When the Registered Parent Dies Junior ISAs and Child Trust Funds need a registered contact, and nobody can withdraw before 18. How the role transfers, and who carries the costs. → Claiming the ISA Allowance a Widow Inherits Losing a husband or wife brings an extra ISA allowance most never claim. What it is worth, how long you have to use it, and what providers ask for first. → Clearing the House Before Probate: Insurance and Records Emptying the house early affects an already restricted policy. What to photograph before anything moves, and which items lose cover the day they go. → Closing a Monzo, Starling or Revolut Account After a Death No branch, no passbook, nothing in the post. How Monzo, Starling and Revolut bereavement teams work, and what they will accept as proof instead. → Continuous Payment Authorities Nobody Can Cancel Recurring card payments are not direct debits and outlive the account. Which survive a cancelled card, and the wording that makes a bank stop them. → Credit Union Savings After a Member Dies A nomination can put credit union savings in a named person's hands without probate. How the form works, its statutory cap, and the death benefit. → Crypto With No Seed Phrase: Is the Money Simply Gone? An exchange will release a holding to an executor; self-custody without the seed phrase opens for nobody. HMRC still values it for the estate either way. → Do You Pay an Exit Fee on a Dead Person's Phone Contract? Some networks waive early termination charges on a death certificate; others bill the estate. Compare them, and see how to keep the number and voicemail. → Do a Kindle Library and Amazon Account Pass to the Family? Digital books and films are licensed, not owned, so a lifetime of buying may not pass on. What Amazon closes, when, and what Prime charges meanwhile. → Does Car Insurance End the Moment the Policyholder Dies? Cover normally falls away the moment the policyholder dies, leaving named drivers uninsured. How an estate insures a car it still has to move or sell. → Domain Names, Hosting and a Website Nobody Can Renew A domain is an asset that dies with a missed renewal. How UK registrars transfer one to an estate, and what a website is worth once it goes dark. → Every UK Bank's Bereavement Limit Before Probate Is Needed There is no legal limit, only each bank's own. A maintained table of what every major UK provider releases without a grant, with each page linked. → Getting Into an iPhone and iCloud After the Owner Dies Photos on a locked iPhone are reachable two ways only. Apple's Legacy Contact, the digital legacy request that needs a court order, and the limits. → Ghosting: Stopping Identity Fraud in a Dead Person's Name Fraudsters read obituaries and public probate records. How credit is taken out in a dead person's name, the registration that blocks it, and what to shred. → Home Insurance on a House Left Empty After a Death Standard policies cut cover once a home stands empty for 30 or 60 days. See what protection survives and how the biggest estate asset ends up exposed. → How Many Certified Death Certificates Should You Buy? Some organisations keep a certificate, others only sight it. Build your number from that split, and see what each extra certified copy costs to buy. → How Many Weeks Until the Family Can Touch Dad's Money? The realistic answer is weeks, not days. A tracked timeline built on official probate figures, from the death to the first money reaching the family. → Reading a Year of Statements to Find Accounts Nobody Mentioned Standing orders and interest credits give away accounts nobody mentioned. Combine the free dormant account search with an audit of a year's statements. → Is a £25 Unclaimed Assets Search Worth Paying For? Before paying for a search, run the free ones. What the paid register holds, what it misses, and an honest verdict on whether it is worth paying. → Keeping Receipts for the Bills You Pay Before Probate You paid your mum's bills yourself. Which costs the estate repays, the records that justify each one, and what happens if it cannot pay you back. → Klarna and Catalogue Accounts With No Bereavement Team Buy now, pay later firms often have no bereavement team. How to reach a human at Klarna and the catalogues, and how to stop collections restarting. → Memorialise or Delete: A Facebook Account After a Death Memorialising changes who can post and what stays visible; deleting is final. Compare both, and see how a legacy contact decides it for the family. → Money Sitting in a Betting Account After a Death A bookmaker balance is estate money like any other. How UK operators verify a family's claim, how open bets settle, and what the history reveals. → Nectar Points and a Clubcard Balance After a Death Some schemes move points to a spouse; others cancel them on notification. Compare the main UK cards, and see what is written off because nobody asks. → Netflix, Spotify and the Subscriptions That Bill for Months Netflix, Spotify and the rest bill on for months. The cancellation route for each usual culprit, and why killing the card does not stop them all. → No Paperwork: How to Find Out If There Was a Life Policy No UK register of life policies exists, so the trace runs on evidence. Work through statements, employer and mortgage files, then adviser records. → Notifying Everyone After a Death in Northern Ireland Northern Ireland has no Tell Us Once, so the notifying falls to the family. See what the Bereavement Service handles and the GRO NI steps that stay yours. → PayPal, Wise and the Balances Nobody Knew About E-money sits outside the protection a bank account has. How PayPal and Wise release funds to an estate, and where evidence of the account is hiding. → Putting the Energy Account in Your Name After a Death Putting the gas and electricity in your name takes a final reading and a closing bill. What happens to a credit balance, smart meter and prepayment key. → Reclaiming Overpaid Tax and Marriage Allowance After a Death Dying part way through a tax year usually means tax was overpaid. How a personal representative claims the refund, and how to backdate marriage allowance. → Share Certificates and Dividend Cheques in a Dead Name Paper certificates and stale dividend cheques still hold value. How registrars sell or transfer small holdings, and how old cheques are reissued. → Someone Is Still Using the Dead Person's Bank Card Tapping a dead person's card is theft, not a shortcut. What banks do when they spot it, and how an executor handles a relative who already has. → Stopping the Post: Junk Mail Addressed to Someone Who Died Letters keep arriving in your mother's name, and each one is a fraud risk. The free bereavement register, Royal Mail redirection, and how long each takes. → Telling the Credit Agencies Someone Has Died A deceased marker stops credit being taken out in your dad's name. How to notify Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, and break the joint association. → The Bank Took Back a Pension Payment After the Death Money has been taken back out of the account and nobody warned you. Why payers recall payments covering days after the death, and who repays it. → The Google Setting That Decides Who Gets Your Account Google hands over far less than families expect. What it releases to next of kin, what it never will, and the setting that decides it in advance. → The Hoist, the Bed and the Blue Badge: What Has to Go Back Nobody warns a carer about the returns. What the council and the NHS want back after a death at home, the deadline on each, and what if it is lost. → The Life Policy That Lapsed Because the Payer Died When the premium payer and the person insured differ, one cancelled direct debit ends the cover a family counted on. How to keep the policy alive. → The One Page That Tells Your Family Where Everything Is Write one page now and your family stops hunting later. Exactly what to record, from account references to trustee names, and why each line matters. → The Organisations Tell Us Once Will Never Contact Tell Us Once reaches government, not the private sector. The checklist it never touches, ordered by how fast each missed one costs the family money. → What You Can Still Do on an Interim Death Certificate While the coroner holds the final certificate, some organisations accept an interim one and some refuse. Which is which, and how the estate runs. → When One Partner Did All the Admin and Then Died Your husband handled all the money and you cannot find anything. Start here: the order to work in, and what each document you find unlocks next. → Which Banks the Free Death Notification Service Reaches One submission does not reach every bank. Which firms belong to the Death Notification Service, the absentees, and what still needs your own letter. → Which Direct Debits Stop the Day the Bank Is Told? Telling the bank stops the payments, not the contracts. Which household direct debits cancel themselves, which keep billing, and which to restart. → Who Pays the Vet Bill When the Pet's Owner Dies? A pet policy usually ends with the person who bought it, leaving the vet bill unfunded. What rehoming charities ask, and how to provide for a pet. → Who Pays the Water Bill on an Empty House After a Death? Standing charges run on whether or not anyone lives there. How to ask for a vacant property arrangement, and the burst pipe nobody is there to spot. → Will a Provider Let an Executor Read the Emails? Providers rarely hand over an inbox, and logging in yourself can break the law. What Google, Microsoft and UK ISPs release, and the lawful routes. →