What to do when someone dies

Important information: The information on our website isn't personal advice. If you're not sure what's best for your situation, you should seek personal advice.

Trying to make a difficult time a little easier

Dealing with the death of a loved one is extremely hard. And dealing with their finances can be overwhelming.

Our Seven Steps Guide can help you to figure out who you need to contact first, what legal and financial things you need to sort, and how to get authority to deal with the estate.

Download the guide

Request this guide by post

Emotional support

It’s important to make sure you have the support you need. These National and specialised charities can help:

Cruse Bereavement Care
Call: 0808 808 1677
www.cruse.org.uk

Samaritans
Call: 116 123
www.samaritans.org

Child Bereavement UK
Call: 0800 02 888 40
www.childbereavementuk.org

What to do if an HL client has died - step by step

To let us know that someone has died either call our Bereavement Team on 0117 906 7806 or send us the death certificate. You’ll also need to register the death through the government website www.gov.uk/register-a-death so that a death certificate can be issued.

If you’re going to be dealing with the person’s HL accounts, there are certain other steps explained in the tabs below, that we’ll need to guide you through depending on the type of account held. If you're not sure what was held, don’t worry, we can let you know once we’ve received a copy of the death certificate.

Send us the original or a certified copy of the death certificate by post, along with a covering letter confirming your full name, date of birth and current address so that we can verify your identity before we progress. Please send everything to HL Estates, Sunderland, SR43 4FZ.
We will freeze the account(s)
Once we’ve been notified of the death, we will freeze the HL accounts held by that person. All existing investments and their values will continue to be affected by market movements. Dividends will continue to be paid from investments and interest will be applied to any cash held. But any instruction to sell can only be made by the person dealing with the estate (the nominated executor(s) or self-nominated administrator). See the FAQs below to find out more about executors and administrators, and how investments can be sold during the process.
We will send you a valuation and our estates application pack
We’ll return the death certificate along with a probate valuation and an estates application pack. The valuation will confirm the type of accounts held and the value of assets as at the date of death. This means that the valuation figures and final values distributed may differ. The estates application pack lets us know what should be done with the assets held.
You send us the completed estates application pack and other required documentation
You return the estates release forms included in the application pack along with an original Grant of Probate. If the total value of assets held with HL (excluding pensions) is below £50,000 and probate is not being applied for, we will require a certified copy of the Will. (From 2027, where an estate is valued over the inheritance tax threshold, some pensions may be subject to inheritance tax.)

See the FAQs below to find out more about probate.
We will action any requested trades and distribute assets as instructed
Once we’ve confirmed who has authority to deal with the estate, we can action their requests. Confirmation of these actions will usually be sent to the nominated executor(s) or self-nominated administrator of the estate. This includes confirmation of any bank payments made, new accounts set up on behalf of beneficiaries and the closure of the account(s).

Send us the original or a certified copy of the death certificate by post, along with a covering letter confirming your full name, date of birth and current address so that we can verify your identity before we progress. Please send everything to HL Estates, Sunderland, SR43 4FZ.
We will freeze the account(s)
Once we’ve been notified of the death, we will freeze the HL accounts held by that person. All existing investments and their values will continue to be affected by market movements. Dividends will continue to be paid from investments and interest will be applied to any cash held. But any instruction to sell can only be made by the person dealing with the estate (the nominated executor or self-nominated administrator). See the FAQs below to find out more about executors and administrators.
We will send you a valuation and our ‘request for information form’
We’ll return the death certificate along with an account valuation and our request form. The form is needed to confirm the details of any potential beneficiaries and the valuation will be as at the date of death. This means that the valuation figures and final values distributed may differ.
You return the completed form and other required documentation
You return the completed request form along with a copy of the Will and a Marriage certificate (if applicable).
Our HL Trustees Committee will conduct a review
As the assets held within HL pension accounts don’t usually form part of a person’s estate, a review of how the assets should be distributed is required. When deciding this, the committee will consider any named SIPP beneficiaries we hold on record, as well as any instructions left in the Will (if applicable), or potential beneficiaries provided on the ’request for information form’.
We will send a ‘Settlement of benefits form’ to each SIPP beneficiary
Once the committee has confirmed the beneficiaries of the SIPP, we will send an 'options form' to each appointed beneficiary, asking what they would like to do with the assets they’ve inherited. Any beneficiary can choose to have the assets they inherit paid out to them as a lump sum. Many beneficiaries will also have the option to transfer the assets into a self-invested drawdown pension in their own name, or exchange the value for a secure income (an annuity).
Beneficiaries return their completed benefit form, and we distribute assets as instructed
Confirmation of these actions will usually be sent to the acting representative. This includes confirmation of any bank payments made, or new accounts set up on behalf of beneficiaries, and account closure. Depending on the option selected, beneficiaries may be required to complete additional forms before assets can be distributed.

Are you inheriting an HL account?

If you’ve been left any money or investments held in an HL account, it’s important you understand your options so you can make the best choices for your situation.

The HL Guide To Inheriting Money could help.

This includes:

How you can withdraw or invest your inheritance
Deadlines and tax rules that might affect your decisions
Different savings and investment services that might interest you

Download the guide Request this guide by post

How to get financial advice

If you’re not sure what to do with any assets you’ve inherited, our advisers can give personal recommendations and help you to:

Make the most of what your loved ones left you
Meet your investment goals and increase your confidence
Manage debts and taxes

Talk to us

Frequently asked questions

An executor or administrator is the name for someone who is responsible for dealing with a person’s estate after they die. The whole process is commonly known as ‘administering an estate’ or ‘probate’ and can often take around six months or longer to complete, depending on how complicated the situation is.

People are often nominated as an executor in a Will. If there isn’t a Will, or the nominated person doesn’t want to deal with the estate, then someone can nominate themselves as an administrator (usually a spouse, civil partner, parent, or child of the deceased). The general term for an executor or administrator is a personal representative.
Grant of Probate is the legal right to deal with someone’s property, money, investments and possessions (their ‘estate’) when they die. Companies will often need to see proof of this before they will distribute any assets. Only the named executor(s) in a Will can apply for a Grant of Probate, or a self-nominated administrator if there is no Will.

As the executor or self-nominated administrator, you will need to apply to the probate registry for a Grant of Probate or equivalent. Once the application has been approved, you will receive the Grant of Probate, or what’s known as Letters of Administration if the deceased didn’t leave a will. At this point you’ll have authority to sort out the estate.
In Scotland, the Grant of Probate is known to as a Grant (or Certificate) of Confirmation.

More information about applying for probate can be found here: www.gov.uk/applying-for-probate
In most cases we will need to see the original Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration before we can take instructions from an executor or administrator.

If the assets (excluding pensions) with HL are worth less than £50,000 and you are not already applying for probate, we will accept a Small Estates Declaration and Indemnity form in lieu of a Grant of Probate. (From 2027, where an estate is valued over the inheritance tax threshold, some pensions may be subject to inheritance tax.) We will provide this document in the Estate application pack that we send, however, we will require a certified copy of the Will before we can action any instructions.

If you die intestate (without leaving a Will), we will need Letters of Administration from the self-nominated administrator, unless the value of assets held with HL is below £500.

We don’t need to see a Grant of Probate to distribute assets held in any HL pension, as these assets sit outside of the estate.
Yes. We can issue a Declaration and Indemnity form to the executor(s) or to the self-nominated administrator(s) of the estate instructing this once we’ve received the death certificate.

The ‘Declaration and Indemnity form’ can be used to sell non-pension assets for any of these three reasons:
- To hold cash / avoid future market risk
- To be used to pay funeral expenses
- To be used to pay Inheritance Tax
Please note, any funeral expenses are paid directly to the funeral directors and any inheritance tax payments are made directly to HMRC. We will not make any payments directly to executors or administrators of the estate until we have received sight of the Grant of Probate (or equivalent).

Ready-Made Investments

Ready-Made Pension Plan

Stocks and Shares ISA

Fund and Share Account

Cash ISA

Junior Stocks and Shares ISA

SIPP (Self-Invested Personal Pension)

Active Savings Account

Lifetime ISA

Junior SIPP (Child's pension)

Bare Trust Account