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If you are the heir of someone who has a Swiss bank account, you also inherit the account itself. 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 10 years from the time the last contact was made before taking any further steps. If the bank has no contact at all with the account holder or the heirs after 10 years, the account is considered dormant and a different procedure is applied.

Along as they have the required documents (see below), heirs have the right to know the account balance on the day of the death and to verify any transactions that have been made since the date of the last statement approved by the account holder. The distribution of estate has to have taken place, however, before any withdrawals can be made.

Required documents
Heirs must prove their status to the bank with the following documents:

• A death certificate
• An inheritance certificate or a notary certified copy of the will
• A piece of ID

Foreign documents that are authenticated by a Swiss Consulate or contain a marginal note will help make the recognition process go smoother.

The inheritance certificate is a neutral document that can be lodged against anyone to whom the deceased owed a debt. It is generally possible to obtain this document from the authorities of the country where the death occurred without having to specify how it will be used.

If you don't 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.

Other pages of interest:

Dormant accounts in Swiss banks Preparing your estate