If you are the heir of someone who has a Swiss bank account, upon his or her death you are entitled to the funds on the account. As soon as the bank is notified in writing of the holder's death, the account is frozen until the heirs come forward.

If the bank is not notified of the holder's death, it will wait up to 10 years from the time the last contact was made before taking any further steps. Usually the bank will try to contact the account holder to see if he is still alive after a few years but the legal maximum it can wait is 10 years. After 10 years, the account is considered dormant and a different procedure is applied.

As long as they have the required documents (see below), heirs have the right to receive information about the account. The distribution of estate has to have taken place, however, before any withdrawals can be made. Banks are quite careful when dealing with heirs to avoid the risk of having one heir appropriating the deceased's money at the expenses of other heirs.

Required documents
Heirs can prove their quality with the following documents:

• A death certificate
• An inheritance certificate or a copy of the will
• A copy of your passport

Most banks require that these documents be authenticated by a Swiss Consulate or with an apostille.

The inheritance certificate is a neutral document that can be lodged against anyone to whom the deceased owed a debt. By neutral we mean that it is generally possible to obtain this document from the authorities of the country where the death occurred without having to specify that you need it to get money from your father's Swiss bank account.

If you do not know the name of the bank.
If the heirs assume that a Swiss account exists but don't know in what bank, they can contact all of the banks, who will provide them with information upon receipt of the aforementioned documents. The search can prove to be complicated, however, since there are over 400 banks in Switzerland and not all of them ask for the same supporting documents.

Assistance of a Swiss professional is most important. We can help you search for assets and deal with Swiss banks on your behalf. Just contact us.

Other pages of interest:

Dormant accounts in Swiss banks