What Happens If One of the Holders of a Joint Current Account Dies?

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Published on 13/04/2026

When one of the holders of a joint current account dies, the funds in the account are generally presumed to belong equally to all account holders. In most cases, the surviving account holder can still carry out transactions on the account, such as credit transfers and other payments, but only in respect of their own share.

Let's look at the details.

What can joint account holders do?

When you open a current account, you are required to provide the bank with a specimen signature. This allows the bank to verify that transactions, particularly payment transactions, have genuinely been authorised by you.

If the current account is held jointly with one or more other people, for example between spouses, a parent and child, or siblings, each account holder must provide their signature. This enables two or more people to operate the same account.

A joint current account can be:

• Either-to-sign, where each account holder can operate the account independently;
• Joint-signature, where the signatures of all account holders are required to authorise transactions.

It is also possible to specify which transactions require the authorisation of all account holders and which can be carried out independently by individual holders.

The signing arrangements can be changed from joint signature to either-to-sign, or vice versa, simply by notifying the bank.

What happens if one of the account holders dies?

If one account holder dies, the funds in the account are generally presumed to be owned equally by all holders, unless a different arrangement has been formally established or evidence exists to the contrary. For example, if a joint account held by a mother and son contains €10,000, €5,000 is considered to belong to the mother and €5,000 to the son.

The share of the funds belonging to the deceased becomes part of their estate and passes to their heirs, such as children, a spouse or other relatives.

To gain access to those funds, the heirs must provide the bank with certain documents, including:

• the death certificate;
• documents proving who the heirs are;
• the declaration of succession, where required.

The heirs may then decide how to deal with their share of the funds. They may:

• become account holders in place of the deceased, if the bank allows it;
• close the account and divide the funds among all those entitled to inherit.

What Happens to the Account While These Formalities Are Being Completed? Can the surviving account holder continue to use the account?

If the account operates on an either-to-sign basis, the surviving holder can generally continue to use it after the death of the other account holder, but only in relation to their own share.

If the account operates on a joint-signature basis, banks will often freeze the account following the death of one of the holders, as they are no longer able to obtain all the signatures required to authorise transactions.

Authorising someone to operate an account through a mandate

Did you know that, in some cases, an alternative and more convenient solution than opening a joint account is to grant a mandate?

This can be particularly useful for people who are unable to visit a bank branch in person, for example because of physical limitations or because their working hours are incompatible with branch opening times.

A mandate allows the account holder to authorise a third party to operate the account without making them a joint account holder. The powers granted may be more or less extensive depending on the arrangement (some institutions refer to broader powers as a power of attorney).

The account holder may also restrict the mandate to specific types of transactions. For example, an employee may be authorised only to make deposits on behalf of a company.

A mandate can be revoked at any time by simply notifying the bank. The authorised person can never close the current account.

Under a mandate arrangement, the authorised person:

• is not an account holder;
• acts on behalf of the account holder;
• does not own the funds held in the account.

When the account holder dies, the mandate automatically comes to an end. This means that the authorised person can no longer operate the account, the account is frozen, and the funds become part of the estate and are dealt with through the succession process. 

What is the difference between a joint account and a mandate?

The main difference between a joint account and a mandate concerns responsibility.

With a joint account, responsibility is shared equally among all account holders. For example, if the account becomes overdrawn, all holders are jointly responsible.

With a mandate, responsibility rests solely with the account holder. At the same time, any financial difficulties affecting the authorised person do not have consequences for the account holder.

There is also a difference in ownership of the funds. Under a mandate, the money held in the account always belongs exclusively to the account holder and never to the authorised person. By contrast, in a joint account, ownership of the funds is generally shared equally among the joint account holders.