How to claim under a deceased estate

If you are responsible for the Estate of a deceased person or if you are entitled to funds we hold for a deceased customer we will treat you with respect and compassion and provide clear and accessible information to manage a customer’s account(s) in the event of their death. You can visit a Retail Branch where we can provide you with the information to help start the process or you may refer to the information below.

Bank of China is committed to assisting a person who is a Representative of a deceased customer to manage and finalise the deceased customer’s accounts. If there are special circumstances you would like Bank of China to consider in providing you with assistance please let us know.

How to notify us of a customer’s death

You should notify us of a customer’s death as soon as practicable by phone or in person at a Retail Branch. We understand that you may wish to speak to us in a language other than English, in which case please let us know and we can arrange for an appropriate staff member or an interpreter. We also welcome calls through the National Relay Service if have hearing or speech difficulties. If you have any other special communication or access needs please let us know and we make every effort to accommodate your needs.

If you are the authorised representative for the Estate of a customer (executor, administrator, next of kin) and there has been no Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration, we may ask you to provide the following documents to assist us to proceed on your instructions:

• Death certificate – original or certified copy. If you are having difficulty obtaining a death certificate, please contact us to discuss alternative documents that may be acceptable (for example, a verified copy of a medical report). 
• Will (if there is a Will) – original or certified copy
• Estate Declaration form – if an application for Probate or Letters of Administration will not be made.

OR

If there is a Court grant for administration of the estate, we may not require the above documents. A Grate of Probate or Letters of Administration are required by law in some circumstances and may be required by the Bank if the assets we hold for the deceased exceed a value set by our policy.

• Grant of Probate – (if there is a will). An executor will be appointed.
• Letters of Administration (if there is no Will). An administrator will be appointed.

If you will not be required to obtain a Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration, we can discuss with you how we may be able to assist with account access and closure.

In some circumstances we may ask for the following additional information:

• Account numbers for any account held by the deceased with Bank of China
• Contact details for any solicitor acting in the administration of the estate
• Contact details of the Executor/s or Administrator/s acting on behalf of the Estate
• Address details of any property we may hold as security

Identification of persons claiming

Anyone can notify us of a customer's death. However, we can only share information about the deceased customer's accounts with you or take your instructions concerning a deceased customer's accounts if you are an authorised representative of their Estate. An authorised representative includes: an executor; an administrator; next of kin; solicitor acting for an authorised representative. We will need to identify you and all persons administering the Estate. Unless you are already a customer of Bank of China we are required to obtain your identification information. We can usually identify you from:

• Australian Driver's Licence; or
• Australian Passport (current or expired not more than 2 years from the date) or Foreign Passport (current).

If a Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration have not yet been finalised, we will ask you to provide certified copies of:

• A signed Will naming you as the Executor(s); or
• If there is no Will, a death certificate naming you as the Next of Kin.

If you cannot produce these documents, please contact us to discuss. Please note that we may require additional documentation to the documents listed above.

Please note that if there are multiple deceased estate representatives, we may require instruction from all representatives.

At any point in time, you can appoint a lawyer to act on your behalf or on behalf of the estate. We may ask your legal representative to provide us with the documents outlined above and any other information that may assist us to determine authority to deal with the accounts.

Locating accounts

Following notification of the customer’s death, we will take reasonable steps to promptly secure any accounts in the sole name of the deceased by removing the deceased customer’s internet and app banking login credentials and restricting the types of debit transactions that can be performed on the account. Any credit payments to the account, after the hold is placed on the account may be returned to the sender. Any interest on savings accounts will still be paid until the account is closed.

If you provide original or certified copies of the Death Certificate and Will (or Letters of Administration), we will locate all accounts held by the deceased.

We will notify you, the Executor, the Administrator or your solicitor of what accounts are held with us and if any other documents are needed for the release of funds the settlement of those accounts.

For any accounts in the sole name of the deceased we will promptly identify and stop charging any fees that are for banking services that can no longer be provided, or will not be provided to the deceased’s estate, and refund any such fees that have already been charged since the customer's death.

We can provide the representative with a list of all the recurring payments and direct debits for each transaction and savings account.

We will cancel any credit cards where the primary cardholder is the deceased person upon notice of death.

Release of account funds to Executor or Administrator

Once we have received all relevant information reasonably necessary to ensure that an authorised person is entitled to give instructions to us in relation to the account, we will release the funds held in accounts to the Executor/Administrator/Solicitor after offsetting any amounts owed to us under any loan or credit card accounts, or by way of any other debt owed to us.

We can only release funds by bank cheque payable in the name of the Estate, or by depositing funds directly into account controlled by the Executor/Administrator 'Estate of' account.

Joint Accounts

If the deceased person is an account holder of a joint transactional or at call account or term deposit, the funds in the account will not form part of the deceased Estate. The account will become the property of the remaining joint account holder/holders.

If you are a joint account holder with a deceased customer, you may continue to operate the account subject to the Terms and Conditions of the account. When we receive the Death Certificate we will change the ownership of the account to the surviving joint account holders.

Funeral expenses and other permissible expenses

You may be able to access money from the deceased's account for funeral costs or to pay or reimburse other permissible expenses.

You can access money for funeral expenses from the available Estate funds. We require an original tax invoice for those expenses. Funds will be paid directly to the funeral provider.

To recover funeral expenses that have already been paid, we require evidence of payment (e.g. receipt, copy of bank statement) with the invoice before we can process the payment. Funds will be directed to you or to the person to be reimbursed.

If the account balance does not cover the total invoice for funeral costs, we may pay the balance of the account to the funeral director as a part payment.

Similarly, if there are other permissible expenses such as court filing fees for Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration, we may ask to see proof of invoice or receipt before we allow the funds to be released.

We may require Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration to release amounts above our policy thresholds.

Business Accounts

An estate's right to the deceased's interest in a Business Accounts may require legal advice.

Talk to our Retail Branch staff to find out what may be required.

Safe Deposit Boxes

As part of the process of locating accounts held by the deceased we will inform you of any Safe Deposit Boxes held by the deceased.

The documents and identification processes described above must be provided for a claim to access a safe deposit box. If you do not have the key to the box, additional costs for drilling the box may be incurred and you will be responsible for these.

If there are joint hirers of a Safe Deposit Box we cannot give access to a deceased's representatives as the rights to the box will belong to the surviving joint hirer/hirers.

Loan Accounts

The Bank has a right of set off, which means that we can set off amounts held in deposit accounts, against amounts owed to the bank under a loan agreement. After set off and subject to any payout limits that may apply, surplus funds will be released where we have established the appropriate claim to the funds.

If you have any questions in relation to any outstanding loan accounts, please contact one of our Retail Branches.

Joint loan accounts

Joint loan accounts can be changed to the surviving joint account holder's name. We will require the surviving borrower to also amend the name on title for any security for the loan. If the security property cannot be transferred to the name of the surviving borrower, we may require the loan to be paid out. If a loan account continues with the surviving borrower, it will operate under the original loan agreement terms.

The original loan may have been assessed on the income of the deceased and surviving borrower. If the loan balance cannot be serviced by the income of the surviving borrower, we may require the borrower to reduce the loan account balance to a balance that can be serviced by the surviving borrower. If a borrower experiences financial difficulties maintaining payments, they should contact the Bank as soon as possible for assistance.

Bank of China (Australia) Limited ABN 28 110 077 622 Australian Financial Services Number and Australian Credit Licence Number 28732