How do I notify a bank that someone has died?

Part of Settle's executor guides · 51 jurisdictions · state content checked 2026-09 · page generated 2026-09-27

Call each institution, then bring a certified death certificate and your Letters. Most banks will not discuss the account at all until you have the court document naming you — which is why the Letters come before almost everything else on this list.

What this involves

Freezes accounts against fraud; starts transfers.

How: Write to each institution with a certified death certificate and, once the court issues them, a copy of your Letters. Log who you contacted and when in Settle so you can show the follow-up trail.

Same in all 51 jurisdictions Settle covers.

Settle builds this checklist into a plan you can actually work

The steps above, ordered for your situation in your state, with the deadlines on a calendar, your documents attached to the step that needs them, and an expense ledger for everything the estate owes you back. The plan itself is free.

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Where this comes from

This step is estate administration procedure, not a statutory deadline, so Settle's rule tables carry no statute citation for it and none is invented here. The answer above is the guidance the app itself gives, identical in every jurisdiction it covers.

The steps that are backed by statute — filing windows, creditor periods, inventory deadlines — carry their citation and last-checked date on the state guide and in Where the state information comes from. If something here does not match what the court or your attorney told you, please write to [email protected].

Your state, start to finish

This is one step out of roughly two dozen. The full sequence for your state — with the statutory deadlines, the citations behind them and the date each was last checked — is in the state executor guides.

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