paidAffiliate disclosure. The partner link in the masthead and in the band beside the copy on this page is a sponsored link to a partner operator, and this site may be paid if you open an account through it, at no extra cost to you. It carries rel="sponsored noopener" and opens in a new tab. A page about what happens to an account after a death should not leave its own funding unsaid: one link funds the site, no operator is named, rated or recommended anywhere on it, and no operator is described by any figure on it.
The Final Balance / The fees
A frozen account is not always a free one
The fees an estate pays on the way out
Nobody charges an estate for dying, and several charges still land on it. The most awkward is the inactivity fee, which is designed for exactly the dormant account a death produces; the rest are ordinary administrative and currency costs that a release makes visible.
Desk spec
- inactivity
- 214
- admin fee
- 96
- currency
- 88
- total
- 5,129.20
the authorityThe document that lets an operator deal with an estate. Of 600 sampled claims, 372 were made on a grant of probate, 148 on letters of administration after an intestacy, 54 under a small-estate exemption, and 26 were refused for producing none of them.
the balance layersWhat the number on the statement is made of. The mean sample balance is 412.60: 318.40 of real money, 61.90 of a bonus whose wagering was never met, and 32.30 of stakes sitting in open bets. Only the real money and the settled bets reach the estate.
the clockThe time the claim takes. A median 9 days from the death to notification, 61 days from notification to a grant being proved and 23 days from there to release, so 84 days from notification and 93 from the death; nine claims in ten close within 310 days.
Direct answerFour charges appear on the sample's estates: an inactivity fee that runs while an account is dormant, an administration or processing fee on closing and releasing, a currency conversion cost where the balance is held in another currency, and a transfer fee where a balance goes to a state unclaimed-property scheme. Across 1,240 estates the four came to 5,129.20, of which the inactivity fee was the largest single part.
The fee that is designed for this account
An inactivity fee is a monthly charge on an account that has not been used, and a deceased account is the most inactive account there is. In the sample, 214 of the 1,240 estates were charged one, at a mean of 4.50 a month, for a mean of 3 months before the account was frozen. The fee is the reason the notification matters beyond the balance: on the sample's numbers it stops when the operator is told, and it keeps accruing until then.
The other three charges are ordinary. An administration fee of 12.00 was applied to 96 estates for the manual work of closing a deceased account and releasing the balance. A currency cost of 6.40 fell on 88 estates whose balance was held in a currency other than the one the estate banked in. A transfer fee of 25.00 fell on the 21 estates whose balance eventually went to a state unclaimed-property scheme.
What the samples show
Sample F - the fees charged across 1,240 sampled estates
| Fee | Estates | Mean charge | Total |
|---|
| Inactivity, to the freeze | 214 | 13.50 | 2,889.00 |
| Administration on release | 96 | 12.00 | 1,152.00 |
| Currency conversion | 88 | 6.40 | 563.20 |
| Transfer to a state scheme | 21 | 25.00 | 525.00 |
| All fees charged to the sample | 419 charges | mean 12.24 | 5,129.20 |
sample F - the four fees, added up
inactivity: 214 estates x 13.50 = 2,889.00
administration: 96 estates x 12.00 = 1,152.00
currency: 88 estates x 6.40 = 563.20
transfer: 21 estates x 25.00 = 525.00
total = 2,889.00 + 1,152.00 + 563.20 + 525.00 = 5,129.20
as a share of the released value (429,738.80):
5,129.20 / 429,738.80 = 1.19%
so the fees are not what eats an estate. The bonus forfeiture
is 76,756.00, which is 15.0x the whole fee bill:
the money is lost on the way in, not on the way out.
sample F - the inactivity fee, in time
214 of 1,240 estates (17.3%) were charged an inactivity fee
mean rate = 4.50 a month
mean months to the freeze = 3.0
mean charged = 4.50 x 3.0 = 13.50
if the same account had sat unfrozen for a year:
4.50 x 12 = 54.00, and for three years 162.00
on the mean balance of 412.60, a three-year wait costs
162.00 / 412.60 = 39.3% of the money the estate is waiting for,
which is the arithmetic behind the advice to tell the operator.
Five questions about the charges
- Whether an inactivity fee is being applied, at what rate, and from which date.
- Whether the fee stops on the date of death, the date of notification or the date of release.
- Whether an administration fee is charged for closing a deceased account, and how much.
- What currency the balance is held in and what conversion would cost the estate.
- Whether the operator would send the money in the original currency to avoid the conversion.
Read next