The weeks after the death of a loved one are undoubtedly the most difficult that we have ever had to face in our lives. But in addition to coping with the loss, the obligation to put in order all the administrative procedures that remain pending is imposed. One of them is to manage the accounts that the deceased person left open with the bank.
It is the heirs who must initiate this process whose first step is to communicate the death of the person to the bank. In such delicate moments, it is common for all kinds of doubts to arise. The most frequent are the following:
If this information is ignored, you must go to the Tax Agency, "since all entities have the obligation to communicate the income from movable capital of their clients." Through this body, information can also be obtained on the rest of the deceased person's assets and other products that they may have contracted, such as investment funds.
From the Bank of Spain they point out that to obtain all this information it is necessary to prove the status of heir not only by providing the death certificate and the record of Acts of Last Will but also the copy of the will or the declaration of heirs.
Next, you must know the type of account or accounts that the deceased had:
Sole owner: In order to dispose of the balance, authorization from all his heirs is required.
Indistinct account: As reported by the OCU, "in this type of account the money belongs to all the holders in equal parts", that is, even if one holder has died, the rest must be allowed to dispose of their proportional part of the capital without the need authorization from the other party.
Joint or joint account: In this case, the other owners will need the consent of all the heirs of the deceased to dispose of the funds.
Authorized in an account: After the death of the holder, authorized persons in a bank account automatically cease to be so, so they will no longer be allowed to withdraw money.
The heirs have the right to know the positions on the date of death, as well as subsequent bank movements. The bank can even be requested to provide the movements made a year before, unless there is express opposition from the co-owner or co-owners if they exist.
The first step to find out this information is to request a certificate of positions that must include not only the amount in the account, but also the bonds, funds or other financial products contracted by the deceased person. Said certificate is necessary to be able to calculate the inheritance tax and can be requested by any person who proves that they have the right to the inheritance of the deceased.
One of the reasons why an account can be blocked is because the owner's heirs have not paid the Inheritance Tax, since in that case the entity would have to pay it as subsidiary responsible. However, "they could only withhold the corresponding amount for the payment of the tax", according to the Bank of Spain.
The Bank of Spain informs that it is, as long as there is no express order to the contrary by all the heirs and they are operations ordered by the owner while he is alive, such as receipts from electricity companies, telephones, taxes , among other assumptions.
