Whether or not you currently have a joint bank account with your partner, a sole bank account or a mixture of the two, will greatly affect the distribution of your Estate when it comes to probate.
Money placed in a joint account does not form part of the deceased person’s Estate. Although there may be issues surrounding Inheritance Tax and other claims made on the assets; on the whole, the assets are usually passed to the surviving partner, allowing them to continue to run the account on a daily basis.
If the principal bank account is made out to the deceased person’s sole name however, then this account will be frozen, whilst probate is being processed. This means that any surviving partner will not have access to these funds whilst the Estate is administered, which could potentially cause enormous cashflow problems.
It is advisable then, to either make some other provision for your partner in the event of your death, if you wish to continue with the bank account in your sole name, or transfer at least some funds on a monthly basis, into a joint bank account.
If you are at all in any doubt about what will happen to the funds in your bank account after your death, do contact a professional probate practitioner, who will be able to advise you accordingly.
