Deceased clients

When a family member, friend or someone close to you dies, its naturally a very distressing time.

As well as dealing with the emotional upset, you may also be faced with having to sort out their financial affairs.

We will do our best to help you through this process.

If you need to contact us to settle the banking affairs of one of our clients who has passed away, you can do so by:

• Contacting us by Phone on + 44 20 7332 6767
• Emailing us at info@Alpha-Bank.co.uk
• Downloading and completing the Bereavement Notification form and sending it together with the documents listed below to:

Alpha Bank London
Capital House
85 King William Street
London
EC4N 7BL

What you’ll need to provide:
Once you have notified the Bank, we will need to see various documents. The nature of those documents will depend on whether the deceased client was a resident of the UK, Greece or Cyprus. The table below sets out the respective requirements:

Acceptable identification documents for Personal Representatives:
We will need one proof of identification and proof of address for each Personal Representative.

Proof of Identification:

• Certified copy of valid passport
• Certified copy of Driving License
• Certified copy of National Identification Card

Proof of address:

• Original or certified copy of Utility bill (dated within 3 months)
• Original or certified copy of Bank statement (dated within the last 3 months (mobile phone bills and online statements are not acceptable)

Certification Standards
Documents should be clear copies and can be certified by the following third parties:

• Public notary
• Law firm/solicitor/accountant/tax advisor
• Regulated financial institution
• Representative of an Embassy, Consulate or High Commission

Certified copies must be stamped to indicate they are ‘true copies of the original’.

The certification must be in English and include:

• The name and address of the certifying firm/organisation together with the recognised professional registration
• The full name, signature and position of the certifying officer, and
• The date of certification.

What happens next?

We understand that some legal documents may take some time to arrange, therefore, to protect the deceased client’s accounts, the Death Certificate should be sent to the bank as a priority together with the completed Bereavement Notification Form.

Upon receipt of the Death Certificate, we will start making the following changes to the deceased client’s account(s):

Sole accounts –The sole account(s) of the deceased will automatically be frozen, so no further payments will be debited from the account. All direct debits and standing orders will be cancelled.

Joint accounts – We will amend the joint account to become solely in the survivor’s name only. Please note that direct debits and standing orders will continue unless the surviving party instructs us otherwise.

Power of Attorney/Third Party mandates – Upon notification of the death, the Power of Attorney or Third-Party mandate becomes void, and the attorney is removed from the account(s) of the deceased.

If the Estate is below £25,000 in total
We may be willing to release the funds held in the account(s) of the deceased, to the Personal Representative(s) of the deceased without needing sight of Grant of Probate or Grant of Letters of Administration. To release the funds and close the account(s), an Account Closing Indemnity form will need to be completed and signed by the Personal Representative(s).

This is totally at the discretion of the Bank, and will be subject to satisfactory receipt of the requisite supporting documentation set out in the tables above.

The Account Closing Indemnity Form is a legally binding agreement signed by the Personal Representative(s) agreeing to indemnify Alpha Bank London Ltd from and against all actions, costs, damages, claims and demands made against us by any person, for having permitted the withdrawal of the funds in the deceased clients account(s).

Payments from the Estate
Certain payments can be made from the deceased clients account(s) such as:

• Funeral expenses (part or full payment of the funeral invoice) we require the original funeral invoice to make payment direct to the funeral directors.

• Claiming back funeral expenses -already paid by the Personal Representative(s) we will require receipt of payment for the funeral, original funeral invoice and a completed and signed Funeral Expenses Indemnity form.

• Inheritance Tax – Usually the ‘Executor(s)’ of the Will or the ‘Administrator(s)’ of the Estate pays Inheritance Tax using funds from the Estate.
  Funds can be taken from the sole account of the deceased to pay directly to HMRC. Further details of this can be found on the UK Government website.

Glossary and Definitions

Administrator: The person to whom letters of administration are granted by the Probate Registry.

Beneficiary: The person who benefits from the terms of the Will.

Death Certificate: a certified copy of the entry in the Death Register. For a fee, the register will be able to provide a number of certified copies.

Death Certificate verification form: this form lists all the information on the death certificate and can be submitted to the bank in place of death certificate. Solicitors cannot photocopy and certify the certificate obtained from the Death Registrar., so have to use a death certificate verification form instead.

Estate: all the property (money, land and other possessions) owned by someone when they died, the sum of a person’s assets.

Executor: a person or people named in the deceased person’s will to administer the estate and deal with the instruction in the Will.

Grant of Probate: an official document made the court which confirms that the executors named in the Will are legally entitled to administer the estate. It will only be granted when the inheritance tax on the estate has been agreed and paid.

Grant of Letters of administration: an official document issued by the Probate Registry when a person dies without making a Will or the executors named in a Will are unable or unwilling to act. The formally names the person who as right to deal with the affairs of the person who has died.

Interim Death Certificate: this is issued when there is a coroner’s report, and the cause of death still needs to be officially determined.

Intestate: the situation when a person has died without making a legal Will.

Next to Kin: it is the responsibility of the next of kin of the deceased to administer the deceased’s estate if there is no Will, the next of kin is usually the surviving spouse or children.

Personal representatives: executors or administrators.

Power of attorney: a legal process in which a person gives another person – or people, an authority to manage their affairs on his behalf.

Probate: the official process of proving that a Will is authentic and valid. A person can also apply to the probate court to deal with a deceased person’s estate when no Will exists.

Probate Registry: a part of the court system that legally appoints a person-or people to deal with the estates of a deceased person either under the terms of a valid Will or where the deceased died without making a Will.

Third party mandate: an express authority and agreement between a customer and bank which allows another person “third party” to deal with the customer’s bank account.

Will: a document signed by the deceased and properly witnessed, specifying what they wanted to happen to their estate.