Tell us someone has died

We’ll send you a form to fill in with details of the person’s

• wife, husband, civil partner or partner
• children, grandchildren, parents, siblings and other family members
• dependants - someone who relied on them financially or to make decisions on their behalf
• legal representative.

If you have an authorised solicitor or financial adviser, they will be able to fill in the form for you. You may need to send us

• a copy of their will, if they made one
• a copy of the Decree Absolute if they were divorced or their civil partnership was dissolved
• documents that show if someone was dependent on them, such as a joint bank account statement, utility bill or council tax bill dated within 6 months of their death.

The letter will tell you how to send the form and any documents to us.

If the person died before they turned 75, any money paid from their pension to a beneficiary will normally be tax-free.

The total tax-free allowance for payments from all pension plans is normally £1,073,100. This is the Lump Sum and Death Benefit Allowance.

For any money paid over this allowance, the beneficiaries will pay tax at their marginal rate of income tax. Money paid to their estate or trust is taxed at 45%.

If the person had applied to HM Revenue & Customs for certain protections before, their allowance could be higher. It will be lower if they have taken tax-free benefits from their pension plans before.

Their beneficiaries will pay tax at their marginal rate of income tax on any money paid to them.

Money paid to their estate or a trust is taxed at 45%.

There will normally be no Inheritance Tax to pay. Inheritance Tax is a complex area, so please contact
your financial adviser or tax office for advice.

Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and may be subject to change.

Read more on GOV.UK about tax on a private pension you inherit

You can find out how to register a death at www.gov.uk/register-a-death

You’ll also find information on death certificates, wills and probate. Once you’ve registered a death, you’ll get a death certificate and a certificate for burial or cremation. You may need a few copies of the death certificate as some organisations will want an original copy.

If you’re arranging the funeral, you’ll need to pay for this upfront. We may be able to help with this if you don’t have the money available.

We have signed up to the Funeral Pledge. This means that we can advance up to £10,000 to a funeral director if there are delays in closing accounts while waiting for probate.

You may need money to pay for other urgent expenses such as Inheritance Tax (IHT). You can complete an IHT423 form and post this to us. We may also need other information such as a copy of the will – we’ll let you know what else we need. We can then settle any expenses directly with HMRC.

When someone dies, there are several government departments you’ll need to get in touch with. The Government’s Tell Us Once service lets you contact several departments in one go.

When you register a death, the registrar will tell you if you can use Tell Us Once. It isn’t available in Northern Ireland or if the person was living abroad permanently when they died. The registrar will give you the number to call and a unique reference number. This is to use online or when you call.

If you can’t use Tell Us Once, you can Report the death without a Tell Us Once reference number.

If you want help with the estate, our colleagues at Lloyds Bank Estates Administration Services Team can help deal with the processes and paperwork. Whether you want help with applying for probate or would like the whole estate administered for you, our team are on hand to deal with this efficiently for you. There is a fee for the service, which the team will explain to you when you contact them.

Administration – the term used for the formalities of dealing with the estate.

Administrator – the person who is appointed to distribute the estate if someone dies without leaving a will or without appointing an executor. If an appointed executor is unable or unwilling to act, an administrator will also be appointed.

Beneficiary – the person or organisation who benefits from a will or under intestacy (Intestate / Intestacy is when someone dies without leaving a valid will in place).

Codicil – a separate document altering or adding to the provisions of an existing will.

Coroner’s Certificate – in some cases a death has to be investigated by a coroner. In this case a coroner’s certificate will be provided until the death certificate has been issued.

Death certificate – this might be a medical document issued by a qualified doctor, certifying the death of a person and stating the cause if known. More commonly, this is a legal document you get from a registrar, confirming the date, location and cause of a person’s death.

Estate – everything owned or owed by the person who has died.

Executor – the person, institution or professional named in a will to carry out the instructions and wishes contained in the will.

Grant of Representation – the official document that allows executors or administrators to close accounts, collect the assets of an estate and pay them out to the beneficiaries. In Scotland, the Grant of Representation is called a ‘Confirmation’. If a will is left, the Grant of Representation will be a Grant of Probate issued to the executors named in the will. If there is no will, it will be a Letters of Administration.

Grant of Probate – an official document confirming that the will is valid and stating who the personal representative is. It is granted to the executors so that they have the legal right to administer the estate. It can be used to show the personal representative(s) has the right to access funds, sort out finances, collect and share out the deceased person’s assets as set out in the will.

Inheritance Tax (IHT) – a tax on the estate that generally applies when someone dies and when the value of the estate is above a specific threshold. It is paid before the estate can be distributed to the beneficiaries. You can find out more about IHT at www.gov.uk/inheritance-tax.

Intestate / Intestacy – is when someone dies without leaving a valid will in place.

Letters of Administration – an official document stating who is entitled to deal with the estate if the executor can’t or won’t act, or if there is no valid will.

Personal representative – the general term for an executor or administrator.

Probate registry – the organisation responsible for overseeing probate and issuing Grants of Representation.

Trusts – a way of managing assets (money, investments, land or buildings) for people. There are different types of trusts and they are taxed differently. Trusts involve:

• the ‘settlor’ – the person who puts assets into a trust
• the ‘trustee’ – the person who manages the trust
• the ‘beneficiary’ – the person who benefits from the trust.

Will – a legal document which indicates who should benefit from the estate and how. It appoints an executor to distribute the estate.