Bereavement support

If the person who’s died had investments through our financial advice service, we are here to help. We have a dedicated team who can register the death with the various investment providers and process claims. They are also on hand to answer any questions or concerns you have.

Call our Financial Advice Probate team on 0800 085 0459 or email sfsprobateandlegalservicingmailbox@skipton.co.uk.

If there’s a Will which was created through our Will service (provided by Skipton Trustees Limited and administered by Redstone Wills Limited), please call them directly on 0808 168 2560. It’s important to know that only the executor of the estate is entitled to receive the Will.

If the Will was created under the old service (provided by Irwin Mitchell), please contact us directly on 0345 266 1209.

If the person who’s died had a Skipton Funeral Plan provided by Dignity, you can call them on 0345 607 9711 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

If someone hasn't made a Will, this is called being 'intestate'. In this case, we can only give information to certain people. First, we speak to the spouse or civil partner, or the solicitor acting on behalf of the estate. If there's no surviving spouse, we might be able to deal with adult children or parents.

A Grant of Probate (or a Certificate of Confirmation in Scotland) gives the executor of the estate authority to distribute the assets of the estate. If the person who’s died had more than £30,000 with Skipton, the executor will need a Grant of Probate (or Letters of Administration if there is no Will), which is issued by your local District Probate Office. If they had £30,000 or less, we may be able to release the funds if you provide us with a completed Letter of Indemnity [PDF]opens in a new tab and/or a Statutory Declaration [PDF]opens in a new tab.

These documents have particular requirements, which you can find out more about further down, under the questions: 'What documents do I need if the total held in savings accounts is £30,000 or less? If you can't meet the requirements for any reason, even if the estate is worth £30,000 or less, you'll need a Grant of Probate (or Letters of Administration if there is no Will).

You can apply to the Probate Registry yourself (details can be found on the government websiteopens in a new tab). Please note, the government website also uses the term 'Grant of Representation' for Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration.

Alternatively, you can pay a fee for someone to handle this for you, like a solicitor or other professional. Our partners, Skipton Trustees Limited (STL), can do this for you through their Estate and Trust service (administered by abrdn Financial Planning and Advice Ltd). You can call our Bereavement team on 0345 266 1209 who can refer you to STL.

If you live in Scotland, you would have to apply for a Certificate of Confirmation. To find out more, please visit the Scottish government websiteopens in a new tab.

Yes, if there is enough money in the account, we can release funds to pay towards funeral expenses once the death has been registered with us. We'll need the invoice from the funeral directors so we can issue an electronic payment or cheque, made payable to the funeral company.

Subject to the balance held with Skipton, we can also release any amount that's on an HMRC inheritance tax calculation form, even if this means closing the account. This is called 'withdrawal before probate' and you will need to complete the form below.

Withdrawal Before Probate form [PDF]

Please complete the form and drop it off at your nearest branch or post it to: 

Bereavement team
Principal Office
The Bailey
Skipton
North Yorkshire
BD23 1DN

If the person who has died was a trustee on an account, we can’t release any information because Trust Accounts don’t form part of their estate. If there are other trustees, we’ll get in touch with them. If there are no other trustees, the executor may need to seek legal advice about appointing a replacement.

If you're the beneficiary, you can’t transfer accounts into your name, but in some circumstances, you may be able to close the accounts and transfer the money into a new account of your choosing. Membership rights of the person who’s died will not transfer to you – you’d become a Skipton member in your own right.

If the person who’s died had a cash ISA, the funds will remain in the ISA and will continue to earn tax-free interest until the first of the following occurs:

• administration of the estate is complete

• the ISA is closed

• three years after the date of death. 

 If you’re the spouse or civil partner of the person who’s died, you can inherit the ISA allowance left behind by them. This is called an Additional Permitted Subscription (APS) scheme. You can find out more on our Addition Permitted Subscriptions page.

If the person who’s died had a Fixed Rate Bond account in their name, you can close it early and get paid the interest that’s built up. Or if you prefer, you can keep it open until it reaches the end of its fixed term. 

If you keep the account open, it has to be left in their name. However, the title of the account will change to ‘personal representative of (name)’, and you won’t be able to withdraw money (including interest) from the balance until the fixed term ends, except for settling inheritance tax, funeral or probate costs.

If the account is held in joint names, it automatically passes to the other account holder and it will stay in the bond until it reaches the end of its fixed term.

If the mortgage was in the name of the person who’s died with one or more other people, they are known as a joint borrower. There are two ways joint property can be held (joint tenants or tenants in common), and what happens to the property differs for each.

If you're the joint borrower and you're unsure how the property was held, we can let you know what our records say. If you need any advice about how the property was held, you will need to seek legal advice.

The name of the person who’s died will be taken off the mortgage and their share of the property will transfer to the other joint borrower. If the person who’s died was bankrupt, their share passes to the trustee in bankruptcy.

You don’t need a Grant of Probate for this to happen – just the death certificate, which you should also register at the Land Registry to remove the person who’s died from the property title.

The share of the property belonging to the person who’s died won’t transfer automatically to the other joint borrower(s). Instead, it will pass according to the instructions they left in their Will. If there is no Will, the property is passed on according to the rules of intestacy (rules that come into effect when someone dies without leaving a Will).

To make a claim on any life assurance policies, you’ll need to get in touch with the policy provider. If the policy is linked to a Skipton mortgage, we’ll deal with the claim once you have either a Grant of Probate (if there was a Will), Letters of Administration (if there wasn't a Will) or Certificate of Confirmation (Scotland). We’ll then use the proceeds to reduce or repay the mortgage account.

If a policy is held through Skipton and it is in the sole name of the person who’s died, it will stop. For joint policies held through Skipton, we’ll let you know what the next steps are. If the mortgage payment protection insurance is not with Skipton, please contact the provider for next steps.

It’s really important you make sure the property’s protected until the mortgage is repaid. If the building insurance policy is only in the name of the person who’s died, you need to transfer it to the names of the personal representatives to ensure the cover continues. If the buildings insurance is with Skipton, we can help you with the next steps once we've registered the death.

If this insurance isn’t with us, you’ll need to contact the provider directly. Please remember that if the property is empty for more than 30 days, most buildings insurance will fall through. You might need a solicitor or a specialist broker to help you set up a policy that’s suitable for empty properties.