How to manage a deceased estate

If you have a friend or family member who has passed away and they are a member of BCU, please contact us to let us know as soon as possible.

You'll need to complete the Notification of a Deceased Member form and return it to us at mail@bcu.com.au or at your nearest bcu branch.

Download Notification of Deceased Member form - PDF (54 kB)

You will also need to inform:

• Other financial institutions where the deceased holds accounts.
• Any relevant government departments such as the Department of Human Services, Department of Veterans Affairs, and Australian Taxation Office.
• Insurance, superannuation and utility providers.

To be able to finalise their accounts, we will need to receive documentation and instructions from the executor(s) or authorised administrator/next of kin(s) of the estate.

You can bring original documents to any bcu branch. Our staff are able to copy and certify the copies of original documents for the purposes of finalising the estate. 

Please find below a list of documents that may be required to finalise the estate. Understandably, you may not be able to access all of the below documents at once.

• Death Certificate
• Last Will and Testament
• Grant of Probate may be required where the member has a Will and held more than our specified amount in deposit accounts at bcu. For your information the executor(s) must apply for the Probate.
• Letters of Administration may be required if there is no valid Will and the Member held more than our specified amount in deposit accounts. Generally, it is the deceased’s spouse or next of kin that will apply for Letters of Administration.
• Identification documents (if you are not an existing account holder of bcu).
• Written instructions from the executor(s)/administrator for the finalising of deposit accounts.
• A Next of Kin Claim, if there is no valid Will and the member held less than our specified amount in deposit accounts.

We may be able to pay the outstanding funeral account, as evidenced by a tax invoice from the funeral home. If sufficient funds are available, bcu will debit funds from the estate and pay the invoice amount to the funeral home directly.

If you do not have any of the above documentation, please seek independent legal advice.

Note: The above list is a guide only and may change depending on the specific requirements of an estate.

If you present the original documents at your local branch, our staff can assist you in certifying copies for BCU Bank purposes only.

You can find out more information on who can certify official documents on our Certification Form.

Download Certification Form - PDF (77 kB)

If the deceased member did not leave a Last Will and Testament (or the document cannot be located), an original or certified copy of Letters of Administration may be required.

bcu’s requirement to finalise the deceased estate will depend on whether the value of the deceased member's assets held at bcu is higher than our specified amount.

Letters of Administration are issued by the Supreme Court to ascertain who should administer the deceased member's estate. This is designed to protect the deceased member's assets and provide permission to a named administrator to gain the information required to administer the estate.

To assist with the requirements of the application, you may need to seek independent legal advice.

If funds are required from the deceased's account to pay for funeral expenses, please present a formal tax invoice from the funeral home to your local branch. Our staff will arrange to make the payment to the funeral directors.

If there is not sufficient funds held to cover the full invoice amount, we will close the membership and account/s and pay the balance as part payment.

Expenses for things such as flowers, the wake, headstone and memorials cannot be paid or claimed from the Deceased's accounts.

If an account is held in a single name only, all accounts, credit cards and overdrafts will be restricted, and no further transactions may occur.

A surviving joint owner may continue operating an account as per normal if the account has been established with either party authorised to sign. Our branch staff may assist in arranging for the account to be amended to the sole survivor's name only. We will contact you in relation to any joint lending.

As circumstances are different for each member, there is no specific timeframe for settling a Deceased's membership. We are required to wait a minimum of 30 days from date of death to close and finalise deceased accounts if surplus funds are held after meeting funeral costs. 

Once all required documentation has been provided, our staff will assist in arranging for the membership and accounts to be closed and disbursed.

You may like to open an "estate of the late" account and have the funds released to it. An "estate of the late" account is used when an executor requires an account to be opened to collect/manage the estate of a deceased person.

Cheques made payable to the deceased or cheques made payable to the ‘estate of the late’ may be deposited to an "estate of the late" account.

This is usually due to the complexity of the estate or the instructions in the Will, which results in the estate not being able to be finalised for some time.

If there is no Last Will and Testament, you may be required to provide BCU with original or certified copies of the Letters of Administration.

Letters of Administration are documents issued by the Supreme Court, giving authority to a legal representative (in most cases the next of kin) to collect and distribute the assets of the estate, in the absence of a valid Last Will and Testament.

There are a number of people and organisations that can help you while you are going through this difficult time and you shouldn’t hesitate to reach out for support while you are grieving.

• Department of Human Services (Centrelink)
• NSW Trustee and Guardian
• QLD Public Trustee