Joint Bank account death of one party

[dewdrop]

Wondering what are the procedures say in the case of a married couple with a joint bank account in credit and one party dies. I assume a death cert will be required and the survivor will have to open a new account with all the money laundering regulations. what prompted this query is that problems can arise re standing orders direct debits ATM cards etc when a new account is required rather than sometimes in the past the old existing account was allowed run on with the deceaseds name deleted. I am speaking about accounts in credit. I recently met a widow who could not use the ATM when her husband died.

 

[Perplexed]

In the case of a joint account the funds become the property of the survivor.

On presentation of the Death Certificate the deceased should then be removed from the account and the account may convert to a sole account.

This is the normal procedure AFAIK with all normal current a/c's and savings a/c's.

There are some cases where couples use just one ATM card on an a/c. It shouldn't really happen but sometimes they like to save the govt tax on cards. In the case you mentioned the card may have been in the husbands name, in which case it would have been cancelled to comply with procedure. Sometimes also the a/c is a sole a/c but a form has been signed to give another party signing authority. This would not give the other person entitlement to the funds on the death of the a/c holder.