Bereavement

If you’re responsible for dealing with the estate of someone who has a Principality mortgage, please let us know.

We will need:

• A death certificate (or an official copy)
• A completed copy of the Bereavement Registration Form

You can send these documents to us by:

• Visiting your local branch
• Emailing them to bereavement@principality.co.uk
  Identification documents will be accepted via email if they are, where applicable, certified as a true copy of the original by a solicitor, a registered accountant, bank official or an individual regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority. The certification must state ‘’I certify that this is a true copy of the original document which I have witnessed’’ – and must include the certifier's name, address, position, employer or firm, with signature and date. The Death Certificate does not need to be certified.
  
• Posting them to:
  Bereavement Team,
  Principality Buildings,
  PO Box 89,
  Queen Street,
  Cardiff,
  CF10 1UA

If the property is jointly owned: We will write to you to explain your next steps once we receive the paperwork from you. This is because there are two different ways of jointly owning property; joint tenants or tenants in common.

Important information

Please note, interest will continue to accrue against mortgage until it is repaid in full. In some circumstances we can help by suspending payments or charges. Please let us know if:

• you might face any difficulties making the normal monthly mortgage payments
• the mortgaged property is going to be sold
• any family members intend on remaining at the property
• any life insurance policy exists

If you’re responsible for dealing with the estate of someone who has a Principality savings account or ISA, please let us know.

We will need:

• A death certificate (or an official copy)
• A completed copy of the Bereavement Registration Form

You can send these documents to us by:

• Visiting your local branch
• Emailing them to bereavement@principality.co.uk
  Identification documents will be accepted via email if they are, where applicable, certified as a true copy of the original by a solicitor, a registered accountant, bank official or an individual regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority. The certification must state ‘’I certify that this is a true copy of the original document which I have witnessed’’ – and must include the certifier's name, address, position, employer or firm, with signature and date. The Death Certificate does not need to be certified.
• Posting them to:
  Bereavement Team,
  Principality Buildings,
  PO Box 89,
  Queen Street,
  Cardiff,
  CF10 1UA

We will keep a record of whoever you name as the first ‘Personal Representative.’ This is so we can write to you if we need to communicate about dealing with the estate.

Closing accounts
To close the account we need all Personal Representatives to complete a Bereavement Request to Close Accounts form. We will provide you with this form after processing the death certificate. There are different requirements depending on the combined balance of the account(s) being closed. Please refer to the Bereavement Guide and the Bereavement Request to Close Account form for further details.

All Personal Representatives will need to sign the Bereavement Request to Close Account form and provide two forms of ID (see Your Information for details of ID we will accept). Personal Representatives who are already Members of the Society will not need to provide ID.

Making withdrawals
The Personal Representative(s) can request to withdraw from the account to pay for the funeral, Inheritance tax, probate or solicitors certification fees. You need to register the death with us, complete a Bereavement Withdrawal Request form and send us two forms of ID (see Your Information for details of ID we will accept). Personal Representatives who are already Members of the Society will not need to provide ID.

A Personal Representative will need to complete a Bereavement Withdrawal Request form. One Personal Representative can complete this form on behalf of other Personal Representatives. All withdrawal requests will need to be accompanied by relevant invoices or receipts.

Sole accounts
These will remain open and interest will be added to the account until it’s closed. If the deceased’s sole account is a bond, it is important to note that it can be closed early, before maturity with no loss of interest. Or you can choose to wait until the bond matures, and we will notify you a few weeks prior to the end of the maturity term.

ISAs
If an ISA account holder dies, their spouse or civil partner can inherit the ISA allowance. The value of the inherited allowance (also known as Additional Permitted Subscription or APS) is equivalent to the value of ISA funds the late customer held in their ISA account(s). These could be held with a number of different ISA providers.

Please note: the rules only apply to the transfer of an allowance and not the actual funds held within an ISA. The time limit for making an Additional Permitted Subscription ends 3 years after the date of death, or if later, 180 days after the administration of the estate is complete.

Joint Accounts
Once the death has been registered we will remove the name of the deceased from the account and amend the relevant documents.

Administrator: A person who deals with the estate in the absence of a Will.

Beneficiary: A person who benefits from the estate either under the terms of a Will or by the Rules of Intestacy (if no Will was made).

Estate: Everything owned by a person who has died.

Executor: Someone who is named in the Will as responsible for dealing with the estate.

Grant of Probate: A legal document which gives the Executor the authority to share out the estate in accordance with the deceased’s will.

Intestate: A person who dies without leaving a Will. The Law will decide who inherits if there is no Will.

Letters of Administration: A formal court document issued by The Probate Registry, usually when there is no Will, authorising persons to administer the estate.

Personal Representative: Someone who is responsible for dealing with an estate where (i.e. Executor or Administrator)