How Long Do Banks Take to Release Money After Probate?

July 21, 2021

Even though death is inevitable for everyone, a lot of people don’t actually know much about what happens after a loved one passes away. Everybody has heard of wills and probate, but a lot of people do not know the specifics and logistics of this process.

One part of probate that often confuses people is what happens with the money held in the deceased’s bank account after they have passed.

Banks will release this money, but there are a lot of factors that can influence how quickly this money is released after probate. In this guide, we’ll be taking a look at how long it takes banks to release money after probate. So, let’s get started.

How Long Do Banks Take To Release Money After Probate?

There are lots of different factors that influence how long it takes for the bank to release money from a deceased person’s account after probate has been completed.

Banks do not always need probate to release the funds, but if they do, they will not be able to release the funds until they have all the necessary documentation.

But, once they receive all of this documentation, then it will usually only take between 10 and 15 working days for these funds to be released to the next of kin.

However, it is worth noting that it can take a long time for these documents to be received by the bank. So, it will take much longer than 10-15 days for the funds to be released.

In reality, it can take up to 6 months, or even more, for money to be released from a deceased person’s account if probate is required.

Do Banks Require Probation To Release Funds?

As we said earlier, banks do not always require probate to release the funds that are in a deceased person’s account. In fact, it is more common for funds to be released without a Grant of Probate than it is for them to be released with one.

Whether this grant is necessary or not depends on the financial institution that that individual banked with, as different banks have different limits for when a Grant of Probate is/isn’t needed.

These limits are almost always financial, so if the deceased only had a small amount of liquid assets in their account, then there is a good chance that a Grant of Probate will not be necessary.

Whereas, if an individual had a lot of liquid assets spread across multiple accounts, then a Grant of Probate will be necessary.

If a Grant of Probate is not needed, then it will usually take 10-15 working days for the bank to release the funds.

How Long Does An Executor Have To Distribute Funds?

Something else that can influence how quickly the bank can release money after probate is whether, or not, that individual had an Executor for their estate. If they did have an executor, then the process may take longer as there are restrictions surrounding this.

The executor of an estate will not have to release any funds or distribute any of the Estate until 2 months have gone by after the individual’s passing.

But, 2 months isn’t that long for people to make a claim on the Estate, so most executors will delay distributing the Estate until 6 months have passed.

This gives plenty of time for any relatives to come forward, and more time to organize the assets. However, the exact amount of time is decided by the executor, so it will vary from case to case.

How Long After Probate Will I Get My Inheritance?

What a lot of people don’t realize is that probate is a long process. This is why it is so important that people make a last will and testimony before they pass.

When an Estate has to go through probate, there is a lot of paperwork involved, and this just continues to add time to the process.

Even in the most simple of probate cases, it will often take between 3-6 months for the funds to be distributed to the beneficiaries. But, this is just an average, and more complex probate cases can take much longer to complete.

So, if you are expecting an inheritance from a straightforward probate case, then you may only have to wait between 3-6 months to receive your money.

However, if you are involved in a much more complicated case, you may end up having to wait over a year before you receive the funds.

Summary

In short, depending on the figure in the account of the deceased, the bank might not require a Grant of Probate to release the funds. However, if the figure exceeds their limit, it will take 10-15 working days for the funds to be released once the bank receives all the necessary documents for the Grant of Probate.