How to Access a Deceased Person's Bank Account

By The HeirLoft Team · June 30, 2026 · Updated July 15, 2026

To access a deceased person's bank account, you make a claim through the bank's estate process — you don't log in. If the account named a payable-on-death (POD) beneficiary, that person claims the funds directly with a certified death certificate and ID, usually without probate. If it didn't, the account runs through the estate: the executor or administrator claims it with letters testamentary once the probate court appoints them. The same claim-not-login rule covers brokerages and payment apps — wherever the money sits, the institution verifies the death and your authority, releases the funds to the estate or the beneficiary, and closes the account.

This is an organizing overview of the official, lawful process — not a set of legal or financial steps you're cleared to take. It's a sub-topic of the broader digital estate checklist for executors; start there for the full picture, and use this piece for the financial slice.

Your authority comes from the law, not the login

Whether and how you may deal with a deceased person's financial accounts is governed by law and each institution's process — never by whether you happen to have their online-banking password or PIN.

• It's a claim, not a login. Financial institutions do not hand over account credentials or let you take over the deceased's online banking. They verify your authority, then release the funds to the estate or beneficiary and close the account. Do not log in as the deceased — using their PIN, card, or recovery codes, or moving money before you're authorized, can violate the account agreement and the law, even with good intentions. That holds even for a parent's account: being the child or next of kin doesn't by itself grant access.
• Your authority comes from documents. In the U.S., a fiduciary's access to a decedent's assets is governed by the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA) and by state probate law — both of which are adopted and applied state by state, and vary by jurisdiction. What you may claim, and what proof each institution requires, depends on the state, the will, and any beneficiary designations. The Uniform Law Commission keeps the official overview of the Act. Because it varies, this is a question for the probate or estate attorney handling the estate.
• Use official channels only. Each institution has an estate, bereavement, or deceased-account services process. That process — plus the authority granted through the will and probate and your attorney's guidance — is the door to use.

With probate or without it: the paths into the account

The query most families are really asking is whether they can reach the money without going through probate. Sometimes yes — it depends on how the account was set up, and the answer can differ account by account within the same estate:

• Payable-on-death (POD) / transfer-on-death (TOD) accounts — no probate. A bank account with a POD beneficiary, or a brokerage account with a TOD registration, passes directly to the named person and generally bypasses probate. The beneficiary claims it from the institution with a death certificate and ID, often without full estate administration. If you're the executor, confirm which accounts carry these designations — they may not run through the estate at all.
• Joint accounts with right of survivorship — usually no probate. Where the deceased co-owned the account, ownership typically continues in the surviving co-owner. The survivor notifies the institution with a death certificate so the deceased is removed from the account; the details are the institution's process and state law.
• Small estates — abbreviated process in many states. Many states let heirs collect modest accounts with a small-estate affidavit instead of full probate. The dollar threshold and the waiting period vary by state, so whether an estate qualifies is a question for the attorney or the local probate court.
• Everything else — through probate. Accounts with no beneficiary and no co-owner run through the formal estate process: the executor or administrator, once appointed, claims and consolidates them into the estate under court authority, and they're distributed per the will or state law.

Two designations people often misread: a power of attorney ends at death, so an agent under one can no longer act on the account. And some brokerage firms let a customer name a FINRA trusted contact person — someone the firm may reach out to about the account, which is not account access, trading authority, or a beneficiary designation. FINRA publishes investor education on trusted contacts and on transferring a deceased person's account on its own investor site (finra.org).

Before you contact the bank

Institutions will ask you to prove the death and your authority before they release anything. In broad strokes, gather: a certified copy of the death certificate, your government ID, and — for accounts running through the estate — letters testamentary or letters of administration (the court document naming you). For deposit accounts, the FDIC's consumer guidance on deposit insurance explains how insured deposits are treated, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Managing Someone Else's Money guides lay out a fiduciary's responsibilities. Then contact each institution's estate / bereavement / deceased-account services line — search "[institution] estate services" or call the number on a statement — rather than deep-linking to any specific bank page, since those change often.

How to find a deceased person's bank accounts

Accessing an account assumes you know it exists — and finding them all is its own task, because there's no central registry of where someone banked. Work through the sources that name institutions:

• Statements and the tax return. Twelve months of bank and card statements show where money moved, and the deceased's most recent tax return lists every institution that paid interest or dividends — one of the fastest ways to surface accounts nobody knew about.
• Physical mail. Statements, annual privacy notices, and 1099 forms keep arriving for months; watch the mailbox before forwarding it.
• The email inbox — usually the most complete map. Banks, brokerages, and payment apps all send statements, "your payment posted" notices, and low-balance alerts. The same discovery step that starts every estate applies here: see how to find a deceased person's subscriptions and recurring charges, and let HeirLoft's Subscription Autopsy surface the recurring charges — and the accounts behind them — automatically.
• Unclaimed property, for the long-forgotten ones. When an account sits dormant long enough, the institution turns the balance over to the state. Every state runs a free unclaimed-property search — start from the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators or the U.S. government's unclaimed-money overview.

Start by surfacing what existed

The recurring side is the most time-sensitive

Of everything financial, the recurring charges are what keep moving until someone stops them, so they're worth surfacing first. Cards and bank accounts keep paying subscriptions and memberships after death, and each has its own cancellation or bereavement process — see how to cancel a deceased person's subscriptions, platform by platform. Knowing what's drawing on an account also tells you which institutions to contact and in what order, which is why surfacing the recurring charges early makes the rest of the financial work faster.

If you're planning ahead — spare your own family the claim scramble

If you're reading this to make it easier on your own family rather than as an executor, the highest-leverage moves are the ones that decide these accounts in advance: set POD/TOD beneficiary designations on your bank and brokerage accounts, name the accounts in your will or trust with your attorney, and leave a clear record of what exists and what you want done with it. That record is about decisions, not passwords — see how to leave an organized list of your accounts for your family, and, since forgotten recurring charges are the hardest part to reconstruct, the subscriptions you forgot you're paying for.

This is one item on a larger checklist

Financial accounts are one category in an executor's work, alongside the email account that ties the digital estate together and the social and photo accounts that need their own handling. Self-custodied crypto and domain names follow a different path — with no institution to petition, registrar account recovery for domains and private-key/seed-phrase custody for crypto — covered in how to handle a deceased person's crypto and domain names. For how all the pieces fit together, start from the digital estate checklist for executors.

To be clear: this is about organizing and routing each account to its proper, lawful process — not a recommendation to take any particular financial action, and not a substitute for legal or financial advice. What you're permitted to claim or close, and in what order, is a question for the attorney handling the estate.

Frequently asked questions

How do you get access to a deceased person's bank account?

You don't log in — you make a claim through the bank's estate process. If the account named a payable-on-death beneficiary, that person claims the funds directly with a certified death certificate and ID. If it didn't, the executor or administrator claims it for the estate, usually with letters testamentary issued through probate. Either way, the bank verifies the death and your authority, releases the funds, and closes the account.

Can you access a deceased person's bank account without probate?

Sometimes. An account with a payable-on-death or transfer-on-death designation passes directly to the named beneficiary and generally bypasses probate, and a joint account with right of survivorship usually passes to the surviving co-owner. Many states also offer a small-estate affidavit process that lets heirs claim modest accounts without full probate. Which of these applies is a state-law question — confirm the right path with the probate or estate attorney handling the estate.

How do I find all the bank accounts of a deceased person?

Work from the paper and the inbox: twelve months of statements and the tax return name the institutions that held accounts or paid interest, physical mail surfaces the rest, and the email inbox — statements, payment notices, and recurring charges — is often the most complete map of where the person actually banked. For accounts that went dormant years earlier, search the state's unclaimed property office, since banks eventually turn abandoned balances over to the state.

Can I use my deceased parent's debit card or online banking to pay their bills?

No. Don't use a deceased parent's or relative's card, PIN, or online banking login, even for legitimate bills — the death ends any authority to use those credentials, and moving money before the estate authorizes it can violate the account agreement and the law. Bills that must be paid are handled through the estate; the executor and the attorney handling the estate can direct which payments are proper.

Who can access a deceased person's bank account?

Whoever the law says the money now belongs to, or whoever has been given authority over the estate: a named payable-on-death beneficiary, a surviving joint owner, or the court-appointed executor or administrator. A power of attorney ends at death, so an agent under one can no longer act. If none of these describes you, the bank cannot give you access, whatever your relationship to the person.

See what you're really paying for

Nothing here is legal or financial advice. Fiduciary access to a decedent's assets varies by state and situation — for your specific case, consult the probate or estate attorney handling the estate.