Bereavement support

After someone passes away their death must be registered. If you go to a register office in the area where the person passed away, you will be given the documents you'll need on the same day. If you choose a register office in a different location, then the documents may take longer. You can find your nearest register office in the phone book or online at: gov.uk/register-a-death. You may need to make an appointment.

Useful information
 

You need to register the death as soon as possible, but timescales vary depending on where in the country you live. For up-to-date information for your area, visit gov.uk. You'll need the doctor's certificate and possibly supporting information, such as a birth or marriage certificate. If in doubt, check with your local register office before attending. The register office will give you a death certificate. Most organisations, including M&S Bank, will need to see original documents, so you may want to ask for extra copies (the register office makes a small charge for this).

Letting us know
 

We're here to offer you all the support we can, and once you've informed us of your bereavement we'll ensure that all the relevant teams within M&S Bank are updated. There are various ways that you can contact us, but you may find the quickest way to notify us is to complete our notification form.

You can also call our Customer Services team on 0345 600 5860, or write to us at M&S Bank, PO Box 329, Wymondham, NR18 8HA.

Once you've notified us, we'll then be able to confirm the next steps, including what documents we need to see and any forms that need to be completed. For more information on next steps and what documents may need to be provided, please see what happens when we are notified about the death of a customer?

Letting other organisations know
 

In addition to informing friends and family of the death, there will be a number of organisations you'll need to inform, from other banks and building societies to utility companies. You'll also need to find legal documents such as passports and driving licences that will need to be returned and cancelled.

For a more comprehensive list of organisations to consider contacting, please see other organisations you may need or want to inform.

A will contains the last wishes of a person who has passed away, in particular about who they want to inherit their estate.

You'll need to find the last known signed and witnessed version of the will. If you can't find a will at the deceased's home, it's a good idea to ask their solicitor, bank, or financial advisor if they have it.

A will usually names one or more executors who will be responsible for dealing with the administration of the deceased's estate.

What happens if there isn't a will?
 

If someone passes away without making a will or you’re unable to locate a signed will, they are said to have passed away 'intestate'. The law on who will inherit the estate will vary depending on where the deceased lived and in some circumstances, their religion. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland the Laws of Intestacy apply and the person who will inherit the estate is the next of kin – usually their husband, wife, civil partner or their child/children. Unmarried partners are not considered next of kin. In Scotland, different rules apply – to find out more visit gov.scot.

To find out what to do if there is no will left in England, visit gov.uk/inherits-someone-dies-without-will. There you'll find a simple online tool that takes into account the deceased's situation and guides you to the correct information.

Once the death has been registered, you can arrange the funeral. You may already know what sort of funeral the person wanted, or there may be instructions in the will or in other papers, like a prepaid funeral plan. Most people choose to use a funeral director who will help you make all the necessary arrangements.

Organisations, like The National Association of Funeral Directors and The National Society of Allied and Independent Funeral Directors, can provide you with funeral directors who have to abide by codes of practice and high standards of service.

• The National Association of Funeral Directors: nafd.org.uk
• The National Society of Allied and Independent Funeral Directors: saif.org.uk

Paying for the funeral
 

One important decision to consider is how much to spend. Funerals can be expensive, and may need to be paid for immediately. Unless a prepaid funeral plan exists, it's worth checking how much money is available to pay for it.

It is possible for the funeral bill to be paid direct from the deceased's estate. Please check with us, or with their other bank(s) if they have one, to see if money can be released to pay for the funeral.

At M&S Bank, we'll be able to release funds, from accounts with available credit balances, for the following:

• full or part payment of the main funeral bill and associated costs
• flowers for the funeral
• the wake
• repatriation of the deceased to the UK (if insurance is not held).

On receipt of the original invoice we'll make payment direct to the funeral directors or vendor.

Unfortunately, we can't accept estimates to settle the bill in full. However, we can accept the funeral director's estimate if a deposit is requested to be paid prior to the funeral taking place. Wherever possible we require the funeral director's bank account details to process the payment more quickly.

For more information or guidance, please contact our Bereavement Support team on 0345 300 6139.

Consider your financial support
 

If the loss of a partner means you have lost your main household income, or if you are struggling to pay the funeral bill, you may be entitled to financial help or benefits. For more information, or to find out if you are eligible, please visit gov.uk/funeral-payments/overview or read the Department for Work and Pensions guide 'Support after a death'. You can download this at gov.scot or get a copy from your local register office or Jobcentre Plus.

Anyone responsible for dealing with the estate is known as a 'personal representative'. A 'personal representative' can be an individual or an appointed solicitor. If there is a will, this is anyone named as an 'executor'.

If there is no will, this is the immediate next of kin, or someone else appointed to administer the estate (the 'administrator'), visit gov.uk/inherits-someone-dies-without-will for more information.

What a personal representative has to do

• Make an inventory of everything in the estate and work out the total value
• Calculate and settle any inheritance tax and other tax liabilities
• Apply for probate, if required
• Sell any property or investments that the will doesn't specifically transfer to someone else
• Collect all assets (such as shares and investments) and settle any debts, including mortgages and loans
• Distribute the estate to the beneficiaries

If you are the personal representative, you can decide whether you want to:

• deal with the estate yourself; or
• appoint a solicitor or specialist probate service to do some or all of it for you

For more information on probate, whether it's required and how to apply, please see applying for probate.

Inheritance tax
 

Depending on the value of the estate and who it is left to, you may have to pay inheritance tax.

There's normally no inheritance tax to pay if:

• the value of your estate is below a certain threshold
• you leave everything to your spouse or civil partner, a charity or a community amateur sports club

Generally, some or all of the inheritance tax must be paid before probate is granted. This is normally paid by the personal representative, using money from the estate. It may be possible for M&S Bank or another bank to pay this using money held in the deceased's accounts.

If there isn't enough money available in the account to pay the inheritance tax, you can get further information from the HMRC website: hmrc.gov.uk/inheritancetax.

Other taxes
 

The personal representative is also required to settle other taxes such as income tax and National Insurance for the person who has passed away. Contact HMRC and they'll tell you what to do. For more information: gov.uk/after-a-death/tax-and-benefits

So that you know what to expect, we've summarised what happens for each type of product or service held with us. Find out more.

There are many organisations that you may need to contact after someone close passes away. Find out more.

Probate (or 'confirmation' if you live in Scotland) is a general term used to describe the process you may need to go through to apply for the legal right to deal with an estate. The process involves applying to the Probate Registry, who formally confirm if a will is valid or, if there is no will, check that you are legally allowed to deal with the deceased's estate. Once they are satisfied, they'll issue a legal document called the grant of probate, or the grant of letters of administration (if there wasn't a will). This document formally names the person(s) responsible for dealing with the estate. In Scotland, both documents are known as 'confirmation'.

Once the personal representative has received probate, they will need to show the legal document to banks, building societies and other organisations to prove that they have authority to deal with any assets the person who passed away owned.

Is probate required?

Probate is not required where all the deceased's assets are held jointly with another person and where they pass automatically to the joint owner.

Where the value of the deceased's assets held in their sole name is greater than £5,000, probate may be required. Most financial institutions have individual discretionary limits for releasing assets without seeing the legal document.

At M&S Bank, we feel it's important that we support you as an individual. For this reason, every case will be reviewed by one of our Bereavement Support team and decisions will not be made solely on the value of the estate.

Please be aware - if the deceased owned a property in their sole name probate will always be required before it can be sold or transferred.

How to apply for probate

To apply for probate yourself, you need to complete some application forms and send them to your local Probate Registry office. You can download these from gov.uk

In Scotland, you apply to the Sheriff Court instead of a Probate Registry office. Visit gov.uk for more information, or contact a solicitor.

Assessing your own finances after the death of a loved one is important. Find out more.

For further information on identity and address verification documents we can accept, find out more.

Legal words and phrases that are frequently used in dealing with a will and an estate, find out more.

Give us a call:

Please call 0345 600 5860 or +44 (0)1244 879080 from outside the UK.

Contact us by post, you can send your documents to us at:

M&S Bank
PO Box 329
Wymondham
NR18 8HA

Calls are recorded for our mutual security, training and monitoring purposes.

For more information, take a look at our complete list of acceptable documents as proof of identity and confirmation of address.

The documents we may require are listed in our acceptable documents table. The exact documents we require will be requested by our specialist bereavement team.

Documentation required

• Original death certificate or the coroner's certificate
• If there is a will, an original or certified copy of the will, to confirm who is entitled to deal with the estate and be a personal representative.
• If a personal representative of the deceased does not already bank with M&S Bank, we'll need one form of identification and one form of address verification for each of the personal representatives in order for us to release any credit funds.
• Original sealed grant of probate or letters of administration (or in Scotland this is called 'confirmation') may be required.

We prefer to see documents that are issued by an official authority and include a photograph, such as a passport, national identity card or photo card driving licence. If you can't provide one of these, please make sure your identity and address verification documents include your full first name as well as your surname. For more information, take a look at our list of acceptable documents for proof of identity and confirmation of address.

Alternatively, please do not hesitate to contact our Bereavement Support team with any questions you have.

Where to send the documents to:

M&S Bank, PO Box 329, Wymondham, NR18 8HA.

Please do not post original photo identity documents to us. All high value documents will be returned to you in the post.

Probate is not required where all the deceased's assets are held jointly with another person and where they pass automatically to the joint owner.

Where the value of the deceased's assets held in their sole name is greater than £5,000, probate may be required. Most financial institutions have individual discretionary limits for releasing assets without seeing the legal document.

At M&S Bank, we feel it's important that we support you as an individual. For this reason, every case will be reviewed by one of our Bereavement Support team.

Please be aware – if the deceased owned a property in their sole name probate will always be required before it can be sold or transferred.

The reason we request original documents, or a certified document is to protect the business, and our customers from potential fraud. We need to identify and verify all the personal representatives dealing with the estate, so we can protect the estate from criminals who may use your name or other information without your knowledge. Documents that are issued by an official authority and include a photograph, such as a passport, national identity card or photo card driving licence, are not easy to forge.

For more information, take a look at our list of acceptable documents for proof of identity and confirmation of address.

We need to see the will to ensure that we are dealing with the correct personal representative(s) of the deceased.

If someone passes away without making a will or you're unable to locate a signed will, they are said to have passed away 'intestate'. The law on who will inherit the estate will vary depending on where the deceased lived and in some circumstances, their religion. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland the Laws of Intestacy apply and the person who will inherit the estate is the next of kin - usually their husband, wife, civil partner or their child/children. Unmarried partners are not considered next of kin. In Scotland, different rules apply – to find out more, visit gov.scot.

To find out what to do if there is no will left in England visit gov.uk/inherits-someone-dies-without-will. There you'll find a simple online tool that takes into account the deceased's situation and guides you to the correct information.

Once you've informed us of your bereavement we'll ensure that all the relevant teams within M&S Bank are updated. If the person who passed away had investments with M&S Bank, these will be dealt with separately and the relevant Bereavement Support teams will contact you to confirm the next steps.

There are various ways that you can contact us, but you may find the quickest way to notify us is to complete our Contact us form.

You can also call our Customer Services team on 0345 900 0900 or write to us at M&S Bank, PO Box 329, Wymondham, NR18 8HA.

Where sufficient funds are available, we can help you by paying the funeral bill, wake and flowers, any probate fees and inheritance tax (subject to limits). For more information or guidance, please contact our Bereavement Support team on 0345 300 6139.

Yes. Provided there are sufficient funds in the deceased's account, we will be able to pay the funeral expenses directly on receipt of the original invoice.

Unfortunately, we can't accept estimates to settle the bill in full. However, we can accept the funeral director's estimate if a deposit is requested to be paid prior to the funeral taking place.

Wherever possible we require the funeral director's bank account details to process the payment more quickly.

For more information or guidance, please contact our Bereavement Support team on 0345 300 6139.

Yes. We can pay inheritance tax on your behalf.

The personal representative(s), who are applying for grant of probate, will need to complete and sign an HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) form IHT 423 and include the unique HMRC reference number. This is obtained from HMRC.

Once we receive the completed form, we will make the payment direct to HMRC.

Note: We need to have seen the death certificate and know the name(s) of the personal representative(s).

Getting mail addressed to a person who has passed away can be upsetting. The Bereavement Register® is a free service that helps reduce the amount of direct mail being sent to the address of a person who has passed away.

the-bereavement-register.org.uk

The account is frozen once we are notified and we don't issue a statement because it would go out in the deceased person's name.

To protect the deceased's estate, we must ensure that we liaise only with the personal representatives of the estate or their appointed attorney.

You can apply for your own card online, or by calling 0345 900 0900.

We can only transfer Loyalty Points to you if you have your own card.

No. The executor or administrator of the estate will be responsible for notifying all merchants to cancel subscriptions.

Upon notification of death, any account with an outstanding debit balance will need to be repaid. If the estate is solvent, then the personal representative must authorise us to deduct any amount from credit balances held on the other accounts.

Where there are insufficient funds on other accounts, any outstanding amounts will need to be paid from the estate.

The account is stopped when we are notified that the main cardholder is deceased. You can apply for your own card online, or by calling 0345 900 0900.

No the executor or administrator of the estate will be responsible for notifying all merchants to cancel subscriptions.

The account is frozen once we are notified that the main account holder is deceased. This means interest will no longer be charged on the outstanding balance of the account.