How to Close a Deceased Person's Accounts in the UK (Banks, Utilities & More)

To close a deceased person's accounts in the UK, gather copies of the death certificate and a list of their accounts, then contact each organisation's bereavement team. The free Death Notification Service lets you notify several banks and building societies at once. You then work through utilities, insurers, pensions and subscriptions one at a time.

That's the whole job in a sentence. In practice it can feel like a hundred small tasks with no obvious order. So this guide walks you through it in plain English, step by step. There's nothing here you must finish today. The aim is just a clear path, so the admin feels manageable rather than endless.

One thing to know up front. Tell Us Once only covers the government side: benefits, tax, the council, the passport and driving licence. Every private and commercial account is contacted separately by the family. This guide is about that private side.

Gather what you need first

A little preparation now saves a lot of repeated effort later. Before you start making calls, get two things ready.

1. Several copies of the death certificate. Many organisations want to see one, and some keep it. It's often worth ordering a few certified copies from the register office so you're not waiting on a single one to come back in the post.
2. A list of the accounts to close. Banks, building societies, the mortgage, credit cards, insurers, utilities, telecoms, pensions, subscriptions. If there's already a written record of where everything lives, this is the moment it earns its keep.

If there's no list, don't worry. You can build one as you go. Bank statements, post, emails and direct-debit entries all reveal accounts you might not have known about.

The fast win: notify several banks at once

Before you ring each bank in turn, start with the shortcut. The free Death Notification Service lets you notify multiple banks and building societies in one go, rather than contacting each one separately.

You enter the details once, choose the providers that took part, and the service passes the notification on. It's a genuine time-saver for the banking side, and a calm place to begin. It turns several difficult phone calls into a single online form.

It won't cover every provider, but it covers a lot of the big ones. So it's well worth doing first and seeing how much it clears in one step.

Contact each remaining organisation

For everything the Death Notification Service doesn't cover, you contact each organisation directly. The good news is that almost all of them have done this many times before and have a dedicated bereavement team to help.

Work through them in a way that feels manageable. A sensible order:

• Banks and building societies not covered by the service. Phone the bereavement team, send a copy of the death certificate, and ask what they need to close or freeze the account.
• The mortgage lender, if there's a mortgage on a property.
• Credit-card providers, so any balance is dealt with properly.
• Insurers: life, home and car. A life policy may pay out to the estate; home and car cover usually needs cancelling or transferring.
• Utilities: gas, electricity and water. Provide a final meter reading where you can.
• Telecoms: broadband, landline and mobile.
• Private and workplace pension providers. Old workplace pensions are easy to overlook, so check past payslips and paperwork.
• Subscriptions and memberships: streaming services, gym, clubs, anything that renews automatically.
• Social media accounts, which can usually be closed or memorialised on request.

For each one, a copy of the death certificate and the account details are usually enough to get started. Keep a simple note of who you've contacted, the date, and what they asked for next, so nothing gets chased twice or slips through the cracks. A single sheet of paper, or a note on your phone, is plenty. You just want to see at a glance what's done and what's still outstanding.

Cancelling direct debits and subscriptions promptly is worth doing early. It stops money continuing to leave the account while everything else is sorted, and it spares you the small upset of a renewal going through weeks later. You can always deal with the slower, more involved accounts afterwards, in your own time.

What about probate and thresholds?

For larger balances, a bank may ask for a grant of probate before it releases funds. This is normal, and it's worth understanding so it doesn't catch you out.

Each bank sets its own threshold, commonly somewhere in the £20,000–£50,000 range. Below that figure, many banks will release funds with the death certificate and a signed indemnity form. Above it, they may need to see the grant of probate first.

The simplest approach is to ask each bereavement team directly: what do you need from me to release this account? They'll tell you their own threshold and process, and you can take it from there one account at a time. It's also fine if some accounts wait on probate while others release straight away. You don't have to clear them all at once. For more on the wider job of settling an estate, GOV.UK has a clear overview of dealing with the estate.

Paying for the funeral from the account

A common worry is having to pay for the funeral out of your own pocket while accounts are frozen. Often you don't have to.

Funeral costs can usually be paid directly from the deceased's bank account, or from their estate, before probate is granted. Send the funeral invoice to the bank's bereavement team and ask how they handle it. Many will settle the funeral director's bill straight from the account, even while everything else is on hold.

Redirecting or stopping the post

It's easy to forget the letterbox, but unattended post can keep prompting renewals and reminders for accounts you're still closing.

Royal Mail offers a free Bereavement service that can redirect or stop the deceased's mail. It's a small step that quietly reduces the clutter, and spares you the upsetting jolt of post arriving in your loved one's name weeks later.

How Beqst helps your family close accounts

All of this rests on one thing: you can only close the accounts you know exist. When there's no list, every statement and renewal letter becomes a small mystery, and the job stretches on for weeks.

That's the gap Beqst is built to close, gently and ahead of time. Beqst is a calm, secure place to record where everything lives: which banks, which pensions, which policies, which subscriptions. So if the worst happens, your family is working down a clear list rather than playing detective.

Beqst helps you get organised. It isn't a legal or financial adviser, and for any decision about probate, tax or the estate, you should speak to a regulated professional or check the official guidance on the organisations you need to contact. A clear record simply handles the part no service can do for you: knowing what's there in the first place.

Related reading: What to do when someone dies · Where to find a will