Bank of Scotland and RBS Bereavement: How to Notify Banks After a Death in Scotland

One of the first practical crises after a death in Scotland is access to money. The moment a bank is notified that an account-holder has died, it freezes the account. Funeral directors need paying. Direct debits stop. The surviving spouse may find themselves locked out of accounts they used every day.

Understanding how Bank of Scotland and RBS handle bereavement cases — and knowing the specific thresholds at which they'll release funds before a formal Grant of Confirmation is obtained — can make the difference between a manageable few weeks and a desperate scramble.

What Happens When You Notify a Bank

Once you contact a bank's bereavement team and inform them that the account-holder has died, the bank is legally required to freeze the account. This is not optional and is not something you can prevent. The freeze remains in place until the bank receives either:

• Sufficient proof of authority under informal bank release procedures (for smaller balances), or
• A Certificate of Confirmation from the Scottish Sheriff Court (for larger amounts)

Joint accounts typically remain accessible to the surviving account-holder immediately, though the bank may ask you to convert the account to a sole account and provide a death certificate.

Bank of Scotland Bereavement Process

How to contact Bank of Scotland bereavement services: Call 0800 085 2419 (or the standard number on the back of any account card). Bank of Scotland operates a dedicated bereavement team reachable by phone, and they can also be contacted through any branch. Many Bank of Scotland branches in Scotland have specialist bereavement officers who can handle the initial notification in person.

What you need for the initial contact:

• The deceased's full name, date of birth, and date of death
• The deceased's account number(s) if you have them
• Your own identification (name, date of birth, address)
• The death certificate or the registration number, though the bank can begin the process with verbal notification before the death certificate arrives

Bank of Scotland's informal release threshold: Bank of Scotland will typically release funds without requiring a formal Certificate of Confirmation for balances up to approximately £25,000, provided there is a valid will in place. If the deceased died without a will (intestate), the threshold drops — Bank of Scotland's standard practice in intestate cases is to require Confirmation at a lower level.

For accounts where the balance falls below the threshold, the bank will ask you to complete an indemnity form confirming you are authorised to receive the funds, and may ask for a certified copy of the will. Once paperwork is completed, funds are typically released within 5 to 10 working days.

Direct payment of funeral costs: Bank of Scotland, like most major banks, will pay funeral director invoices directly from a frozen account before Confirmation is granted, even if the balance is above the informal threshold. You need to provide the funeral director's invoice. This is one of the most practically useful provisions in banking practice — it removes the burden of funding a funeral out of pocket while waiting for the estate administration to complete.

RBS Bereavement Process

How to contact RBS bereavement services: Call 0800 161 5187 (for personal banking). RBS also accepts written notification to their bereavement centre at: RBS Bereavement, PO Box 1000, Edinburgh, EH12 1HQ. Online, you can start the process through RBS's "Life Events" section in online banking, though you'll need to follow up by phone or post for account access.

RBS and NatWest — the same group: RBS personal accounts in Scotland are now largely operated under the NatWest Group umbrella. For some accounts, particularly legacy RBS accounts, the bereavement team is the same as NatWest's centralised team. When you call, clarify which entity holds the account.

RBS/NatWest informal release threshold: RBS and NatWest will generally release funds without Confirmation for balances up to £50,000, provided appropriate indemnity documentation is signed. This is one of the higher thresholds among UK banks and reflects the group's stated intention to simplify bereavement administration. For surviving spouses, the process is typically more streamlined.

Like Bank of Scotland, RBS will pay funeral costs directly from a frozen account upon presentation of the funeral director's invoice, regardless of Confirmation status.

Why the Threshold Matters More Than You Think

The informal release threshold is not simply a convenience. In Scotland, applying for Confirmation has a hidden consequence that many executors do not anticipate: if you apply for Confirmation for any single asset, you are legally obligated to include all assets in the inventory.

This means if you trigger the Confirmation process to release a single bank account above the threshold, you must list the house, every other bank account, the car, the shares — everything. This can escalate what might have been a simple bank notification into a full estate administration requiring court fees of up to £705 and potentially engaging a solicitor for the heritable property component.

For this reason, executors often sequence the account notifications deliberately. If all bank accounts are below the respective institution's informal threshold, you may be able to settle the entire moveable estate without ever applying for Confirmation — as long as there is no heritable property in the estate requiring a title transfer.

What Banks Need From You — A Practical Checklist

Regardless of which bank you're dealing with, prepare the following before your first call:

• Death certificate (extract): The official extract issued by the National Records of Scotland registrar. You'll need one certified copy per financial institution, so order several when registering the death.
• The will (if one exists): A copy is usually sufficient at the notification stage; some banks ask for the original later.
• Your own identification: Passport or driving licence, and a utility bill or bank statement showing your address.
• Account details: Account number and sort code where available.
• Funeral invoice (if requesting direct payment of funeral costs): A formal invoice from the funeral director addressed to the estate.

Release Limits at Other Common Scottish Banks

Different institutions operate completely different thresholds. Here is a reference table based on current industry practice:

These figures represent standard practice and can change without notice. Always confirm the current threshold with the bank's bereavement team directly — do not rely on third-party sources for the exact figure, including this one.

After the Threshold: Getting a Certificate of Confirmation

If any account balance exceeds the bank's informal release limit, or if there is heritable property to transfer, you will need a Certificate of Confirmation from the Sheriff Court. This requires completing Form C1 (the Confirmation Inventory) and submitting it to the Commissary Department of the local Sheriff Court.

For most Scottish estates, the application process takes around six weeks from submission to grant. The certificate you receive is what you present to the bank — they cannot release funds until they see it.

For estates with a gross value of £36,000 or less, you qualify for the small estate procedure and can get free assistance from the Sheriff Clerk's office to complete the application. For larger estates, the Sheriff Clerk cannot help, and the majority of executors engage a solicitor or use a detailed self-completion guide.

The Scotland Probate Process Guide includes a bank-by-bank threshold reference covering more than 25 UK financial institutions, along with a step-by-step script for the initial bereavement notification call and a checklist for managing account closures through to final fund release. It also covers what to do if a bank is unresponsive or disputes the informal release request.

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