What to Do When Your Spouse Dies UK (2026): Step-by-Step Guide

The first days and weeks after a spouse or civil partner dies involve overlapping practical and legal obligations: (1) Register the death within 5 days: take the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD) to the register office for the district where the death occurred. Obtain 6–10 certified copies of the death certificate (£11 each) — you will need them for banks, pension providers, probate, insurance companies, and HMRC; (2) Tell Us Once: at the register office, use the Tell Us Once service (also available at gov.uk/tell-us-once). This single action notifies HMRC, DWP, DVLA, Passport Office, Electoral Register, and the local council simultaneously. It cancels the late spouse's state pension, council tax benefit, Personal Independence Payment, Attendance Allowance, and other DWP benefits immediately — critical to avoid overpayments that must be repaid; (3) Contact DWP / Bereavement Service: DWP's Bereavement Service (0800 731 0469) handles pension and benefit notifications for the deceased. The surviving spouse can also start the process of claiming any extra state pension they may be entitled to based on the late spouse's NI record; (4) Bereavement Support Payment: BSP must be claimed within 3 months of the date of death to receive the full amount. Claims made after 3 months lose the first lump sum payment — so this is an urgent priority (see detail below); (5) Secure the estate: even as a surviving spouse, you need to locate the will, notify banks of the death, and understand whether probate is required. If the estate includes assets in the late spouse's sole name above the bank's probate threshold, probate may still be necessary even if everything was intended to pass to you; (6) Notify employer/pension providers: contact the late spouse's employers (for any accrued salary and death-in-service benefits), occupational pension providers, and personal pension providers. Provide a death certificate; request claim forms for death benefits; (7) Update insurance: notify home insurers if your partner is removed from the policy; update life insurance policies (death-in-service proceeds should be paid via the trust/nomination form).

Bereavement Support Payment (BSP) replaced the old Bereavement Allowance, Bereavement Payment, and Widowed Parent's Allowance from April 2017. It is available to surviving spouses, civil partners, and (from February 2023) cohabiting partners in certain circumstances: (1) Two rates: Higher rate (claimant has children): £3,500 lump sum + 18 monthly payments of £350 = £9,800 total. Standard rate (no children, or children already): £2,500 lump sum + 18 monthly payments of £100 = £4,300 total; (2) Eligibility conditions: you must have been legally married to or in a civil partnership with the deceased (or, from February 2023, cohabiting with a dependent child under certain conditions); your late spouse/partner must have paid sufficient National Insurance contributions (25 qualifying years of Class 1/2/3 contributions for full entitlement) or died from a work-related cause; you must be under state pension age; you must be in England, Wales, or Scotland (different rules in Northern Ireland); (3) Claim urgency: you must claim within 3 months of the date of death to receive the lump sum. The DWP can backdate monthly payments to the date of death, but the first lump sum is not paid if the claim is made more than 3 months after death; (4) How to claim: online at gov.uk/bereavement-support-payment or by telephone to the DWP Bereavement Service (0800 731 0469). You need the deceased's National Insurance number and their date of birth. You must provide the death certificate; (5) Tax status: BSP is not subject to income tax, National Insurance, or means testing. It does not affect other benefits (Universal Credit, Housing Benefit etc) in the first 52 weeks; (6) State pension interaction: claiming BSP does not prevent you from inheriting extra state pension on the late spouse's NI record — they are separate entitlements.

The answer depends on which state pension system applies to your late spouse: (1) New State Pension (people who reached state pension age on or after 6 April 2016): the surviving spouse may inherit a portion of the late spouse's Protected Payment (the element of their new state pension that exceeds the standard new state pension rate). You can inherit 50% of any Protected Payment they were receiving or would have received. You cannot inherit any of the basic new state pension amount. Also: you may top up your own new state pension using the late spouse's qualifying NI years if you do not yet have the full 35 qualifying years — apply via the DWP; (2) Old State Pension (people who reached state pension age before 6 April 2016): more generous inheritance rules. Widows and widowers can inherit up to 100% of the late spouse's Additional State Pension (SERPS/S2P), subject to pension-sharing orders and the marriage date. You can also inherit a percentage of their basic state pension if your own is lower. Graduated Retirement Benefit can also be inherited; (3) How to claim: DWP will normally write to you about any inherited state pension entitlement once you have notified them of the death. If you do not hear within 4–6 weeks, contact the Pension Service (0800 731 7898) directly; (4) State pension age: if you are currently below state pension age, any inherited pension is deferred until you reach it; (5) Remarriage or new civil partnership: if you remarry before you reach state pension age, you lose any inherited state pension from the former spouse.

Joint assets are handled differently from sole-name assets — and surviving spouses have important time-limited benefits: (1) Joint bank accounts: joint accounts are NOT frozen on the death of one account holder. The surviving spouse retains full access and the account continues to operate normally. The surviving account holder becomes solely liable for the account. For IHT purposes, HMRC treats 50% of the joint account balance as the late spouse's estate (though the spousal exemption means no IHT is due anyway if the estate passes to the surviving UK-domiciled spouse); (2) Joint property held as joint tenants: passes automatically by right of survivorship to the surviving spouse — completely outside the will and probate process. The surviving spouse becomes sole owner. To update the Land Registry: complete form DJP (death of joint proprietor) with a certified copy of the death certificate — no solicitor is required; (3) Joint property held as tenants in common: the late spouse's share does NOT automatically pass to you. It passes via their will or intestacy rules. If they left their share to you, probate may be required to update the Land Registry. If they left their share to children, you become a tenants-in-common owner alongside those beneficiaries — this is a significant practical risk if you were not protected by a life interest trust in the will; (4) ISA Additional Permitted Subscription (APS): when a spouse or civil partner dies, the surviving spouse is entitled to subscribe to ISAs using an Additional Permitted Subscription equal to the value of the late spouse's ISA holdings at the date of death (or date of administration, whichever is higher). This inheritance of the ISA allowance must be claimed within 3 years of death (or 180 days after estate administration completes, if later). Apply to the ISA provider with the death certificate and APS application form. The APS preserves the tax wrapper — the inherited amount does not use your own annual ISA allowance of £20,000; (5) Premium Bonds: cannot be transferred to a surviving spouse as Premium Bonds — they are held for up to 12 months in prize draws and then paid out to the estate. They cannot be converted to your own Premium Bonds; (6) Life insurance: if the policy was written in trust for the surviving spouse, it pays directly and bypasses probate. If it was in the late spouse's sole name, it forms part of the estate and may require probate before payment.

Beyond the immediate first steps, the following tasks need to be completed in the weeks and months after the death: (1) Update your own will immediately: your will may name your late spouse as executor, primary beneficiary, trustee, or guardian. These appointments do not automatically update. Make a new will with updated executors and beneficiaries. Do not leave this — if you also die without updating your will, the estate may end up in unintended hands or intestacy; (2) Update pension nomination forms (expressions of wishes): your late spouse may have been your nominated beneficiary for your own pension. Update the nomination with each pension scheme, SIPP provider, and employer. Each scheme has its own form. Also review death-in-service nominations; (3) Transferable Nil-Rate Band: the late spouse's unused NRB (£325,000) and unused RNRB (£175,000) transfers to the surviving spouse's estate on the second death. This can reduce or eliminate IHT on the second death. The executor of the survivor's estate must claim the transferred NRB on form IHT217 (excepted estates) or IHT402 (larger estates). Ensure the paperwork from the first death estate is kept — particularly IHT returns, estate accounts, and solicitor correspondence confirming the NRB/RNRB position; (4) Single person council tax discount: you may be the sole occupier of the property — apply for the 25% single person discount from the local council; (5) Probate on the late spouse's estate: even if most assets pass to you automatically (joint tenancy, life insurance in trust, pension nominations), some sole-name assets may require a Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration. Check with each bank and financial institution to confirm; (6) DWP state pension review: request a state pension statement to confirm your new state pension rate after inheriting any entitlement from the late spouse; (7) Professional advice: if the estate is above the IHT threshold, there are complex assets (property abroad, business interests, significant savings), or there are children from a prior relationship, a short appointment with a solicitor or financial adviser to review the overall position is worth the cost.