An Overseas Bank Account and a UK Death Certificate

If someone died in the UK but held a bank account abroad, the first thing to know is that your UK death certificate, on its own, will rarely be enough to close a foreign bank account or release the money in it. A British death certificate is a UK document. A bank in Spain, France, Ireland, Australia or anywhere else is not obliged to accept it at face value, and most will not. Before they act, they usually want the document proven genuine, translated into their own language, and backed by paperwork that satisfies their own succession law — not ours.

That is why an overseas account almost always takes far longer to deal with than a UK one, and why it is the item on the list most likely to still be open a year later. Each requirement waits on the one before it: you obtain the UK authority to act, then have the documents legalised, then translated, then you satisfy the foreign bank's local process. Money that would take weeks to reach in Britain can take many months to reach from abroad, and local charges or taxes may quietly accrue while it does.

None of this means the money is lost. It means the overseas account should be started early, run in parallel with the UK estate rather than after it, and approached one document at a time. This guide sets out what those documents are and why each is asked for.

Why a UK death certificate is rarely enough

In Britain, a death certificate and proof that you are entitled to act will open most doors. Abroad, a foreign institution faces a document from a legal system it does not administer, in a language it may not read, produced by an authority it cannot easily verify. It cannot simply take your word that the certificate is real and that you are the right person to receive the money, because if it pays out wrongly it answers for the mistake under its own law.

So the foreign bank falls back on its own rules for a deceased customer, and those rules were written for local estates. They typically require the fact of death to be proven in a form the bank can trust, the identity and authority of the person claiming to be established under local succession law, and everything presented in the local language. Meeting those requirements is the whole task, and it is mostly a documentation exercise rather than a negotiation.

Finding the account in the first place can be its own hurdle, especially where the banking was online and the logins died with the account holder. If the details were held in a vault nobody can open, our guide to getting into a password manager with no master password covers the realistic options; and where the money had been moved through a multi-currency service rather than a traditional foreign bank, our guide to the PayPal and Wise balances nobody knew about may be the more relevant route.

The apostille: making a UK document recognised abroad

An apostille is a certificate that confirms a UK public document — such as a death certificate or a grant of probate — is genuine, so that authorities in another country will accept it. It is issued by the UK government's Legalisation Office, and it exists precisely to solve the “how do we know this foreign document is real” problem. Countries that belong to the Hague Convention accept an apostille in place of the older, slower process of full consular legalisation.

In practice you send the document to the Legalisation Office, which checks the signature or seal on it and attaches the apostille. You can arrange this through GOV.UK's guidance on getting a document legalised. Not every country is in the Hague Convention; for those that are not, the document may instead need legalising through that country's embassy, which takes longer. Ask the foreign bank, or a lawyer in that country, which route applies before you send anything off.

Sworn and certified translation

A document the bank can trust is still no use to it if its staff cannot read it. Most foreign banks require the death certificate, and any grant or succession document, to be translated into the local language — and usually not by just anyone. Many countries recognise only a sworn or officially certified translator, whose translation carries legal standing, rather than an informal one.

This is a small but real cost and a source of delay, and it is worth getting right first time. Translate the document only after it has been apostilled, so that the apostille itself is included in the translation, and confirm with the bank whether it wants the translation done in the UK or in the country where the account is held, because some insist on a translator registered locally.

A UK grant, resealing, or a local succession certificate

The biggest variable is what proof of authority the foreign country demands. There are broadly three positions.

Some countries, particularly Commonwealth ones that share legal roots with the UK, will accept a UK grant of probate, sometimes after a process called resealing, where a local court stamps the UK grant so that it has effect there. Others do not recognise a UK grant at all and require a succession certificate, or its local equivalent, obtained under their own law — often through a notary rather than a court, and often naming the heirs according to that country's rules on who inherits, which may not match the will. And a few small balances can be released on much less, at the bank's discretion.

The practical consequence is that you should never assume the UK grant will travel. Ask the bank, in writing, exactly which document it needs and in what form, before you spend money obtaining anything. Where a succession certificate is required, you will usually need a notary or lawyer in that country to obtain it, and their involvement is a cost the estate should budget for.

How the steps stack up, and how long it takes

The reason overseas accounts are slow is that the steps cannot be done at once. You generally need the UK authority to act first — the grant, or in Scotland confirmation. Then that document, and the death certificate, are apostilled. Then they are translated. Then they are submitted to the foreign bank or notary, which runs its own process under local law. Each stage waits on the last, and each stage takes its own time, so the total is measured in months.

Because of that, the single most useful thing you can do is start the overseas strand early and run it alongside the UK estate rather than treating it as the last job. Write to the foreign bank as soon as you know the account exists, tell it the customer has died, ask what it requires, and ask it to note the account so that nothing is closed or charged unexpectedly while you assemble the paperwork.

Costs and charges accruing while you wait

An overseas account is not always simply sitting still while you work. Account fees may keep being charged. If there was a property attached to the account — a holiday home whose bills were paid from it — those bills may keep falling due. Some countries levy their own inheritance or succession taxes on locally held assets, on their own timetable and rules, entirely separate from any UK inheritance tax, and there can be deadlines attached that are easy to miss from another country.

If the foreign account was overdrawn or had borrowing attached rather than a balance, that is a different problem again, and it is dealt with as a debt of the estate under the relevant rules; our guide on a sole account left overdrawn and who repays the bank explains the principle, though a foreign lender will pursue it under its own law. Where money was still due to be paid into the account — a foreign pension, say — and it has since been frozen, our guide on whether wages or a pension can still be paid into a frozen account covers what happens to those payments.

Practical first moves

You can make useful progress before the UK grant is even in hand. Write to the bank and ask, in writing, for its list of requirements for a deceased customer — get it in black and white rather than relying on a phone call, because it is the checklist everything else follows. Gather several original death certificates, since each strand of the estate needs one and you cannot easily share a single copy across countries. Identify a notary or lawyer in the relevant country if a local process looks likely, and ask them for a realistic timescale and cost. And keep every apostilled and translated document together, because you will be asked for the same papers more than once.

If you are reading this because an overseas account has shown you how complicated one asset in the wrong country can make an estate, and you want to spare your own family that, you can get life insurance quotes and have an FCA-authorised broker price cover that pays out promptly in the UK regardless of where your assets sit. Our wider guide to bereavement admin, assets and contracts collects the UK-side tasks that run in parallel.

Scotland and Northern Ireland

The overseas process is set by the foreign country, so the apostille, translation and local succession steps are much the same wherever in the UK the death occurred. What changes is the UK document you start from. In England and Wales that is a grant of probate; in Scotland it is confirmation, obtained through the sheriff court; in Northern Ireland it is a grant from the Probate Office there. Each of these can be apostilled and used abroad in the same way, but foreign banks and their lawyers are more familiar with a grant of probate than with Scottish confirmation, so you may need to explain, or have your solicitor explain, that confirmation is the Scottish equivalent and carries the same authority.

Frequently asked questions

Will a foreign bank accept a UK grant of probate?

Some will, particularly in Commonwealth countries where a UK grant can be resealed locally. Many will not, and require a succession certificate or its local equivalent obtained under their own law, usually through a notary or lawyer. Ask the bank in writing what it needs before spending money on documents, because obtaining the wrong one wastes both the fee and the weeks it took.

What is an apostille and why is it needed?

An apostille is a certificate issued by the UK Legalisation Office confirming that a document such as a death certificate or grant of probate is genuine. Countries in the Hague Convention accept it in place of full consular legalisation, and foreign banks and notaries usually insist on it before acting. Where a country is not in the Convention, the document may instead need legalising through that country's embassy.

How long does an overseas account take to release?

Longer than a UK one, often many months, because each step waits on the last: the UK grant or confirmation, then legalisation, then translation, then the local process. Local taxes and account charges may accrue meanwhile. Start on the overseas account early rather than after the UK estate is finished, and write to the bank for its requirements as soon as you know the account exists.