Starling Bank is one of the UK’s largest digital banks, with over three million personal account holders. It has no branches, but its Bereavement Team is reachable 24 hours a day by phone, email, or post – and through a partnership with Settld, you can notify Starling as part of a single multi-organisation process if you are dealing with several accounts at once.
This guide covers everything specific to Starling: the phone number, probate threshold, what happens to Spaces and Connected Cards, how joint accounts are handled differently from other banks, what the app-first model means in practice, ISA and APS allowances for surviving spouses, and what to do if the deceased held a business account. It also explains what Tell Us Once does – and does not – cover, and whether Starling participates in the Death Notification Service.
Quick reference:
- Phone: 020 7930 4450 (24/7)
- Email: help@starlingbank.com (mark it for the Bereavement Team)
- Probate required if: sole account balance exceeds £30,000
- Timeline: within 2 working days once all documents are received
Source: Starling Bank bereavement support, last verified 14 July 2026.
How to notify Starling Bank of a death
Starling has no branches, so the process is handled entirely by phone, email, or post. You do not need to be the next of kin to make the initial notification – anyone can contact them on behalf of the family.
Option 1: Phone (recommended) Call 020 7930 4450, available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Starling’s Bereavement Team handles these calls. Calling is the fastest way to freeze the account and get clear guidance on next steps.
Option 2: Email Send an email to help@starlingbank.com, addressed to the Bereavement Team. This works well if you are dealing with multiple organisations simultaneously, or if you prefer to communicate in writing. Include the deceased’s full name, date of birth, and date of death where possible.
Option 3: Post Write to: Bereavement Team, Starling Bank Limited, 5th Floor, London Fruit and Wool Exchange, 1 Duval Square, London E1 6PW. Postal contact is slower and best reserved for sending certified document copies rather than as a first point of contact.
Option 4: Via Settld Starling has partnered with Settld, a free online service that lets you notify multiple banks and institutions in one process. If you are dealing with accounts at several organisations, Settld can save considerable time. You can initiate the Starling notification at settld.care.
| Contact method | Details |
|---|---|
| Phone | 020 7930 4450 (24/7) |
| help@starlingbank.com | |
| Post | Bereavement Team, 5th Floor, London Fruit and Wool Exchange, 1 Duval Square, London E1 6PW |
| Via Settld | settld.care |
Source: Starling Bank bereavement support, last verified 14 July 2026.
Once Starling receives your notification, the account is frozen immediately. Direct debits and other outgoing payments stop at that point.
No branches – what that means in practice
With no in-person appointments available, everything is handled remotely. For most families this makes little practical difference. The one situation to be aware of is identity verification: if the deceased’s phone was their primary Starling login device and no one has access to it, mention this when you first contact the Bereavement Team. They can work around it – you are not required to access the app at any point.
You should not attempt to log in to the deceased’s Starling app or use their debit card after their death. Doing so could constitute fraud under the Fraud Act 2006. Contact the Bereavement Team and they will handle everything without requiring app access.
Tell Us Once: what it covers and what it doesn’t
Tell Us Once is a government service that allows you to notify several public bodies at once when someone dies – HMRC, the DWP, the Passport Office, DVLA, and your local council. It is free and can save a significant amount of time in the first days after a death.
Tell Us Once does not include banks. Starling Bank must be notified directly, separately from Tell Us Once. This applies to all banks and building societies – private financial institutions are outside the scope of the service.
After using Tell Us Once, the government guidance states explicitly: “To close or change the details of the person’s financial accounts, you’ll need to contact organisations like banks, mortgage providers, insurance providers” directly. Source: gov.uk – organisations you need to contact and Tell Us Once, last verified June 2026.
Death Notification Service: is Starling a member?
The Death Notification Service (DNS) is a free service run by UK Finance that lets you notify multiple participating banks in a single form – by phone on 0800 158 2227 or online at deathnotificationservice.co.uk. It is a separate service from Tell Us Once and covers financial institutions rather than government departments.
Starling Bank is not currently a member of the Death Notification Service. Starling must be notified directly by phone (020 7930 4450), email, post, or through their Settld partnership. The DNS will not pass the notification to Starling.
DNS members typically include major high-street banks: Barclays, Lloyds, Halifax, HSBC, NatWest, Santander, and Nationwide are among the founding members. Digital banks are inconsistently represented. Check deathnotificationservice.co.uk for the current member list before using the service.
Documents you will need
The documents required depend on the account balance. You do not need to have everything in place before making contact – notify Starling first, and they will confirm exactly what to submit.
Proof of death:
- A copy of the death certificate (Starling accepts a copy, not the original)
- Alternatively, a coroner’s certificate in the early stages before the death certificate is issued
Copy of the will (if one exists): Starling will ask for this to establish who has authority to deal with the estate.
Proof of your identity:
- A certified copy of your photocard driving licence or passport
- If you are an existing Starling customer yourself, certification is not required
Grant of probate or letters of administration: Required only if the account balance is more than £30,000. If the deceased left a valid will, you will need the grant of probate. If they died without a will (intestate), you will need letters of administration.
| Account balance | Documents required |
|---|---|
| £30,000 or under | Death certificate copy, copy of will (if any), your proof of identity |
| Over £30,000 | Death certificate copy, copy of will (if any), your proof of identity, grant of probate or letters of administration |
If you need multiple certified copies of the death certificate – likely if you are notifying several organisations at once – order them from the register office when you register the death. They cost £11 each in England and Wales. See gov.uk/order-copy-birth-death-marriage-certificate.
Starling’s £30,000 probate threshold is notably lower than most high-street banks (typically £25,000–£50,000). Even a modest current account balance can exceed it, so check the approximate balance as early as you can.
What happens to the account
Sole accounts
As soon as Starling is notified, they freeze the sole account. Outgoing payments – direct debits, standing orders, card transactions – stop immediately. This is intentional: it protects the estate from money draining away during the administration period.
If any of those payments covered shared household expenses – utilities, insurance, council tax, subscriptions – you will need to arrange alternative payment methods. Contact those providers as soon as possible to avoid service interruptions. If you need a list of what direct debits were active, ask Starling’s Bereavement Team to provide it.
Any outstanding debt owed to Starling – an overdraft, for example – is recovered from the estate balance before the remaining funds are released to the estate.
Once Starling has received all necessary documentation, they will transfer the remaining balance to a nominated account within 2 working days.
Starling Spaces
Starling customers often divide their money across Spaces – the bank’s built-in savings feature, which allows money to be ring-fenced for specific purposes (holidays, emergency fund, bills, and so on) within the same account. A typical Starling user might have several Spaces running alongside their main balance.
Funds held in Spaces form part of the same account and are included in the total balance Starling will release to the estate. You do not need to take any separate action to close individual Spaces. They are folded back into the account and handled as part of the overall closure. Source: Starling Bank bereavement support, last verified 14 July 2026.
Funeral cost payments
If you need to cover funeral costs before the estate is settled, Starling can transfer money directly from the deceased’s account to the funeral director. This does not require waiting for the full administration process to complete.
To arrange this, you will need:
- The funeral director’s final invoice (Starling does not accept estimates – only the confirmed final bill)
- The death certificate, if not already submitted
The payment is capped at the account balance. This can ease significant financial pressure in the days immediately after a death. Mention it specifically when you first contact the Bereavement Team – they can flag the account accordingly.
ISA and the Additional Permitted Subscription (APS)
If the deceased held a Starling cash ISA, the ISA wrapper ceases at death. The balance becomes part of the estate and is distributed according to the will or intestacy rules.
For surviving spouses and civil partners – the APS allowance: A surviving spouse or civil partner is entitled to claim an Additional Permitted Subscription (APS), an extra ISA allowance equal to the value of the deceased’s ISA at the date of death. This is separate from your own standard £20,000 annual ISA allowance and allows you to shelter a matching amount from tax – even if the ISA funds themselves pass to other beneficiaries under the will.
Key rules:
- You must have been living together as a couple at the time of death (separation before death removes eligibility)
- The APS can be claimed with Starling or transferred to another ISA provider
- The deadline is three years from the date of death, or 180 days after the estate administration completes, whichever is later
Contact Starling’s Bereavement Team on 020 7930 4450 to ask about their APS process. Source: gov.uk – what happens to someone’s ISA when they die, last verified June 2026.
Connected Cards: what happens to them
Starling’s Connected Card is a physical debit card linked to a designated Space in the account holder’s app. It is typically given to a trusted person – a family member, carer, or helper – to spend on the account holder’s behalf, from a capped balance (up to £200) with restrictions on ATM withdrawals and online purchases.
When the account is frozen following a death notification, the Connected Card stops working immediately. Any remaining balance in the Connected Space is included in the overall account balance and released to the estate.
If the deceased had issued a Connected Card to someone – a carer, for example – that person should be informed as soon as possible that the card will no longer work. The Bereavement Team can confirm the status when you call.
The Connected Card is not a separate account and does not carry any legal standing of its own. It has no bearing on the estate value or probate threshold.
Joint accounts
Starling’s joint account process differs significantly from most banks and other digital banks. When a joint account holder dies, Starling closes the joint account rather than converting it to a sole account in the surviving holder’s name.
This means the surviving account holder will need to open a new sole account – either with Starling or another bank – to receive their portion of the funds. If they do not already have one, open it before the joint account closes so there is a destination for the funds.
Steps for the surviving joint account holder:
- Notify Starling by phone (020 7930 4450) as soon as practicable
- Provide the death certificate
- Open or identify a sole account to receive your funds
- Starling will close the joint account and release your portion to the nominated account
- Review any direct debits that were running on the joint account – they will be cancelled when the account closes
How this differs from Monzo: Monzo keeps the joint account open after a death and converts it to a sole account for the surviving holder, who retains full access throughout. Starling’s closure approach can catch surviving partners by surprise if they relied on the joint account for everyday spending.
Source: Starling Bank Account Schedule – Joint Current Account, last verified June 2026.
Bills splitting and the Settle Up feature
Starling’s bill-splitting feature allows account holders to request repayment from other people for shared transactions. If the deceased used Starling’s “Split the Bill” or “Settle Up” features to share costs with others, any pending requests they sent or received will be cancelled when the account is frozen.
Outstanding payments owed to the deceased through Settle Up (money others owed them) do not automatically transfer to the estate – anyone who owed money to the deceased person via Starling’s app will no longer receive a Starling payment request. If those amounts are material, they should be pursued through normal estate recovery processes. A solicitor or probate specialist can advise.
Starling for Business and sole trader accounts
Sole trader accounts
Many self-employed people use a Starling personal account for their business income and expenses. A sole trader is not a separate legal entity – the business is the person. When a sole trader dies, their Starling account is treated as a personal account and follows the standard bereavement process described in this guide.
The estate inherits both the assets (account balance) and the liabilities (any overdraft or debt). If the deceased had outstanding business debts or invoices, these are matters for the estate. The executor or administrator should gather records of business income and expenses – Starling’s in-app export tools allow transaction history to be downloaded, which may be useful for tax purposes. Contact the Bereavement Team to arrange access to that data if needed.
Limited company and LLP accounts
Starling offers business current accounts to limited companies and limited liability partnerships (LLPs) registered at Companies House. These are company assets, not personal estate assets. The death of a director or LLP member does not automatically mean the business account is frozen – the remaining directors or partners retain access and control.
However, if the deceased was the sole director of a limited company, the company itself may need to appoint a new director or be wound up before the account can be fully dealt with. This is a matter for Companies House and the company’s articles of association, not Starling’s bereavement process. A solicitor with experience in corporate matters can advise. Source: Companies House: changes to a company, guidance on director changes.
Probate and the £30,000 threshold
Probate is the legal process that grants an executor authority to manage and distribute an estate. Starling’s threshold for requiring probate is £30,000 – considerably lower than the £25,000–£50,000 thresholds used by most high-street and digital banks.
If the sole account balance is £30,000 or under, Starling can release funds without probate, once they have the death certificate, the will (if one exists), and your proof of identity.
If the sole account balance exceeds £30,000, you will need either:
- A grant of probate (if the deceased left a valid will and named an executor), or
- Letters of administration (if the deceased died without a will, or without naming a valid executor)
The threshold can still catch families by surprise – particularly if the deceased used Starling as their primary current account with meaningful savings alongside it. A balance of £35,000 or £40,000 requires full probate from Starling even though the same amount at Barclays (£50,000 threshold) or Nationwide (£50,000) would not. For the full picture across every major UK bank and building society, including which ones don’t publish a fixed figure at all, see our UK bank probate thresholds comparison.
If you need to apply for probate, you can apply directly through the government service at gov.uk/applying-for-probate. For a straightforward estate, the process typically takes 4–16 weeks from application to grant – see our guide to how long probate takes for a full breakdown.
Joint account balances do not count towards the probate threshold – that applies only to sole accounts.
Scotland: The Scottish equivalent of probate is confirmation, administered through the sheriff court rather than the Probate Registry. Starling will accept Scottish confirmation in place of an English grant of probate. The small estate threshold in Scotland is £36,000 (estates below this can use the simplified small estate procedure at the sheriff court without formal confirmation in some circumstances).
Northern Ireland: The equivalent is a grant of probate from the Probate Office in Belfast, or letters of administration if there is no will. Starling will accept these in the same way.
Inheritance tax and IHT423
If the deceased’s estate is above the inheritance tax threshold (currently £325,000 for a single person, or up to £1 million with residence nil-rate band and spousal transfer), inheritance tax may be due before probate can be granted. This creates a deadlock: funds are locked in accounts until probate, but IHT must be paid before probate is issued.
The IHT423 Direct Payment Scheme allows the Probate Registry to instruct a bank to pay HMRC directly from the deceased’s account, bypassing the deadlock. Major high-street banks participate in the scheme. Starling’s participation in IHT423 is not confirmed in published guidance – if inheritance tax is likely to be due, contact the Bereavement Team on 020 7930 4450 early to discuss options, and take advice from a solicitor or probate specialist. Source: gov.uk – IHT423 direct payment scheme, last verified June 2026.
How long does it take?
Once Starling has all the documents they need, the funds are transferred within 2 working days. Source: Starling Bank bereavement support, last verified 14 July 2026.
In practice, the timeline depends heavily on how quickly paperwork can be gathered:
| Situation | Typical timeline |
|---|---|
| Balance under £30,000 – no probate needed | 2 working days once death certificate and ID received |
| Balance over £30,000 – probate required | 2 working days after grant of probate received; probate itself typically takes 4–16 weeks |
| Joint account closure | Depends on documentation; Starling will advise on first contact |
| Funeral director payment | Can be arranged promptly once final invoice submitted |
The main delay in most cases is not Starling – it is waiting for the grant of probate when the balance exceeds £30,000. If you are managing multiple accounts at different institutions, notify all of them early, even before probate, so the clock starts running as soon as the grant arrives.
Things to watch out for
The £30,000 threshold is lower than several high-street banks. A balance of £35,000 in a Starling current account will require full probate, while the same amount at Barclays or Nationwide (both £50,000) would not. Check the approximate balance as soon as you can, so you know whether to begin the probate process at the same time as other estate tasks.
The joint account is closed, not converted. Unlike most banks, Starling closes the joint account when a holder dies rather than converting it to a sole account. The surviving holder needs a replacement account before the joint account closes. If they don’t already have one, open it early.
Direct debits stop immediately. When the account is frozen, all outgoing payments are cancelled. This can disrupt household bills paid from the account. Make a list of direct debits before or immediately after notification so nothing essential is missed – insurance, utilities, council tax, subscriptions.
No branches means no in-person verification. If someone wants to bring documents in person, that is not possible with Starling. All documentation is submitted remotely. If the deceased’s phone or login details are unavailable, tell the Bereavement Team from the outset – they can handle everything without access to the app.
Don’t use the deceased’s app or card. Attempting to log in to the deceased’s Starling account or use their debit card after death is not permitted and could constitute fraud. Contact the Bereavement Team instead.
Settld can save time. If you are dealing with multiple banks, insurers, and utility companies at once, Starling’s partnership with Settld means you can notify them as part of a single multi-organisation process. This is particularly useful in the first week after a death when the volume of notifications can feel overwhelming.
Funeral payment requests are time-sensitive. Starling can pay a funeral director directly before the estate is formally settled, but only against a final invoice. If you are in early discussions with a funeral director and only have an estimate, wait until the final bill is confirmed before requesting the payment.
Spaces money is not separate from the estate. Some families assume that money in a named Space (such as “Holiday” or “Emergency Fund”) belongs separately to the purpose it was named for. It does not – all Spaces are part of the same account and form part of the estate.
Starling is not in the Death Notification Service. Unlike most major high-street banks, Starling is not a DNS member. If you use the Death Notification Service to notify other banks, you will still need to contact Starling separately.
Comparing Starling with other banks
Starling’s £30,000 probate threshold is lower than several UK high-street banks and building societies, including Barclays and Nationwide, which both use £50,000. If the deceased held accounts at multiple institutions, the probate requirements will vary by bank – check each one individually rather than assuming they match.
For the exact threshold at every major UK bank and building society we’ve verified – including which ones don’t publish a fixed figure at all and assess each case individually – see our full UK bank probate thresholds comparison.
Summary
To notify Starling Bank after a bereavement, call 020 7930 4450 (24/7) or email help@starlingbank.com marked for the Bereavement Team. The account is frozen immediately on notification. Starling’s probate threshold is £30,000 – lower than most banks – so check the balance early. Once all documents are in, funds are released within 2 working days.
Key contacts:
- Phone: 020 7930 4450 (24/7)
- Email: help@starlingbank.com (Bereavement Team)
- Post: Bereavement Team, Starling Bank Limited, 5th Floor, London Fruit and Wool Exchange, 1 Duval Square, London E1 6PW
- Via Settld: settld.care
What to have ready:
- Copy of the death certificate
- Copy of the will (if one exists)
- Your proof of identity (driving licence or passport)
- Grant of probate or letters of administration (only if balance exceeds £30,000)
For a broader overview of what happens to bank accounts when someone dies – including the difference between sole and joint accounts and how the notification process works across multiple banks – see what happens to bank accounts when someone dies.