Closing a TSB Account After Death

TSB is a UK retail bank with branches across Great Britain and is part of the Sabadell Group. If the person who has died held a current account, savings account, or other product with TSB, you will need to notify the bank as soon as is practical so that the accounts can be frozen, a date-of-death balance obtained, and funds eventually released to the estate. TSB has a dedicated bereavement team and handles these notifications regularly. This guide explains the process from start to finish.

How to notify TSB of a death

TSB offers several ways to begin the bereavement notification:

• Online bereavement portal: TSB provides an online bereavement notification service. This allows you to begin the process at any time without needing to call or visit a branch.
• By telephone: You can call TSB's bereavement team directly. They can freeze the accounts immediately and advise you on which documents to send.
• In branch: You can visit any TSB branch with the death certificate and your own identification. Branch staff can record the notification and refer the case to the bereavement team internally.

Whichever route you choose, follow up any telephone or in-person notification with written confirmation: an email or a letter. This gives you a dated record of when TSB was told of the death, which can be useful if there are later queries about post-death transactions.

If the deceased held accounts at more than one bank, the free Death Notification Service (deathnotificationservice.co.uk) allows you to notify TSB and other participating banks simultaneously through a single online form. This is a useful time-saving option, though you will still need to follow up with TSB directly to provide documents and receive confirmation of the account balances.

Documents you will need

TSB will require documents at two stages: first to confirm the death and freeze the accounts, and later to release funds. Gather the following before you make contact:

• Original death certificate or a certified copy from the register office. When you register the death, order at least eight to ten certified copies. They cost far less to obtain at that point than to request additional copies weeks later, and you will need one for each institution the deceased held accounts with.
• Proof of your identity: a current passport or driving licence.
• Proof of your address: a utility bill or bank statement dated within the last three months.
• The original will (if one exists): TSB may ask to see this to confirm you are the named executor, particularly where the balance is close to or above their threshold.
• Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration: required if the total balance held across all TSB accounts exceeds their probate threshold. TSB will confirm whether this applies when you make the initial notification.

You do not need the Grant of Probate to make the initial notification. It becomes relevant only at the later stage of releasing funds, and only if the balance exceeds the threshold.

TSB's probate threshold

Like all UK banks, TSB sets its own internal threshold for the maximum amount it will release from an estate without a Grant of Probate. Below this amount, TSB will typically release funds on sight of a death certificate, identification, and a completed small estates declaration form. Above it, accounts remain frozen until the executor provides a sealed Grant of Probate from the Probate Registry.

TSB's threshold is understood to be approximately £25,000, though this figure can change and you should confirm the current figure directly with TSB when you make contact. The threshold applies to the combined total across all accounts held with TSB, not to each account individually. A current account balance of £10,000 and a savings account balance of £20,000 held at TSB would be assessed together as £30,000, which would exceed the threshold.

If the estate is relatively small and does not require a Grant of Probate, our guide to probate for small estates explains what options are available. For a comparison of approximate thresholds across major UK banks, see our guide to bank probate thresholds.

What happens to direct debits and standing orders

Once TSB has been notified of the death and the account is frozen, all direct debits and standing orders attached to the account are cancelled. No further automatic payments will be processed.

There are several practical matters to be aware of:

• Any bills paid by direct debit from the deceased's TSB account, including utilities, subscriptions, and insurance policies, will stop being paid from the date the account is frozen. Contact each relevant company to let them know the account holder has died and to make alternative payment arrangements where needed.
• If regular payments were covering costs associated with a property, such as buildings insurance or council tax, ensure those payments continue from the estate to avoid a lapse in cover or late-payment charges.
• Any standing order paying rent or a mortgage will also stop. If the estate includes a property with an outstanding mortgage, check immediately whether payments were going out of this account.

Ask TSB for a statement showing all active direct debits and standing orders as at the date of death. This will help you compile a list of creditors and suppliers to contact during the estate administration.

Joint accounts

If the deceased held a TSB account jointly with another person, the account generally passes to the surviving account holder by right of survivorship. TSB will remove the deceased's name from the account on receipt of the death certificate, and the surviving holder retains access to the funds throughout the notification process. No Grant of Probate is required for this.

The notification still needs to be made formally, even for a joint account. The account does not update automatically. The surviving account holder should contact TSB's bereavement team with the death certificate and their own identification.

For inheritance tax purposes, the balance in a joint account at the date of death may be relevant to the estate calculation, depending on how the account was funded and the nature of the ownership between the two parties. This is a separate matter from the bank notification process and should be discussed with an accountant or the estate solicitor where relevant.

ISAs held with TSB

An ISA held in the deceased's sole name forms part of the estate. If the ISA balance, combined with any other TSB accounts, exceeds TSB's probate threshold, the ISA will be frozen alongside the other accounts until the Grant of Probate is produced.

A surviving spouse or civil partner may be entitled to use the Additional Permitted Subscription (APS) rule. This allows the survivor to invest an additional amount into their own ISA equal to the value of the deceased's ISA at the date of death, without it counting against their annual ISA allowance. This preserves the tax-free benefit of the savings even after the original ISA has been closed.

There is a time limit for claiming the APS from the date of death. The surviving spouse or civil partner should raise this with TSB's bereavement team early in the process to avoid missing the deadline.

How long does it take

Timescales depend primarily on whether the total balance held with TSB exceeds their probate threshold:

• Below the threshold: Once TSB has received the death certificate and all required documents, they will typically aim to process the account closure and release funds within a few weeks.
• Above the threshold: The accounts will remain frozen until the Grant of Probate is issued by the Probate Registry. Applying for probate takes several weeks to several months depending on the complexity of the estate and current court waiting times. Once TSB receives the sealed grant, they should process the release within a similar timescale to the below-threshold route.

Delays most commonly occur when documents are missing, a signature is unclear, or the case requires internal escalation. If you have not received an update within four weeks of sending documents, contact TSB's bereavement team to follow up.

TSB bereavement team contact details

Always contact TSB's dedicated bereavement team rather than the general customer service number. The bereavement team has the authority and access needed to move the case forward.

• Telephone: Confirm the current number at tsb.co.uk/bereavement.
• Online: tsb.co.uk/bereavement

Phone numbers and web addresses can change. Always confirm the current contact details on the TSB website before calling. TSB's bereavement team will confirm exactly which documents are required and can advise on timescales specific to the estate.

For a comparison of probate thresholds across all major UK banks and building societies, see our guide to bank probate thresholds. For a step-by-step walkthrough of closing accounts across multiple institutions, see closing bank accounts after death. Our guides on notifying banks after death and do I need probate? are also relevant at this stage.