BEREAVEMENT HELP AND SUPPORT

When someone close to you dies, sorting their finances can be the last thing on your mind. If they held any accounts with us, we’re here to help you understand what you need to do next and make the process as easy as possible for you.

1. Notify us

The first thing you'll need to do is notify us of their death. As soon as we've received notification, we'll put a note on their account(s) and stop any marketing material being sent out. This can take a few days to take effect so it’s possible that some marketing material may still be sent.

You can notify us easily by completing this simple form. However, if you already have the death certificate, please go straight to step 2 below and fill in our more detailed Notification of Death form.

Alternatively you can get in touch with us using the following contact details, depending on what type of account they held with us;

2. Send us the death certificate

For safeguarding purposes, we require the death certificate before any confidential information on the account can be provided, or any changes to the account can be made.

Once you have a death certificate please send it, or a certified copy* to:

Central Services, Family Building Society, Ebbisham House, 30 Church Street, Epsom, Surrey KT17 4NL.

We recommend that any original documents are sent by recorded delivery.

We'll return all original death certificates, and requested certified copies, by recorded delivery.

We’ll also need some information about the deceased and their Personal Representative(s) or if unknown, the next of kin. You can provide this information by completing an online form, or alternatively print this form and return to us at the above address with the death certificate, or certified copy. You'll notice that the form has our Family Building Society brand, but regardless of whether the bereaved held a National Counties or Family Building Society account with us, it will be the same people helping you at our friendly head office.

If you’d prefer to get in touch by phone or email, you can provide the following information using the contact details above.

• Details of the deceased person including their full name, full address, date of birth, date of death, whether there is a Will or not, and any Family Building Society account numbers (if known).
• If known, details of the Personal Representative (executor, administrator or legal representative dealing with the estate): their name, full address, relationship to the deceased person, email address and telephone number. If the person isn’t known then the deceased’s next of kin contact details instead.
• Any other information that you think would be useful.

We fully understand that due to the coronavirus and self-isolation restrictions, it may be difficult for you to send either an original or certified copy of the death certificate, so we may be able to make exceptions or other arrangements. If this applies, please get in touch with us using the above contact details.

* the death certificate can be certified as a true copy by a solicitor, accountant, bank or building society official, Independent Financial Advisor (IFA), mortgage broker, doctor or a Justice of the Peace. Other professionals are accepted but it may take longer for us to verify their certification.

3. Changes to their account(s)

Once we’ve received the death certificate, we’ll write to the Personal Representative(s) or next of kin to let them know what the next steps are and what further information we require, including what identification we'll need to verify them before we can close the account.

To find out what will happen to their account, please click on the relevant link below: