The quickest way would be to open individual accounts and then, once you’ve both been verified, open a joint account.
I think I’d be withdrawing it before sending any notification of death.
I love that typo! Grant me some improbables as well please. 
It’s probate of course.
Re joint bank accounts, Google tells me that the funds should go to the surviving joint owner on death (on production of a death certificate), as long as the account is set up as “joint tenants” - which is the default in the UK.
But if it’s been set up as “tenants in common”, you may have to wait for probate to go through.
That’s anew one on me - didn’t realise bank a/c s could be set up that way.
Sneaky! But I like it.
I reckon if NS&I saw there was a lot of money in the joint account AND the survivor lived abroad, they would probably err on the side of caution and insist on grant of probate. But who knows.
At least if you had separate accounts, you could be certain that a surviving spouse would always have access to their portion of the funds. With the rest to follow later.
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Lloyds offshore (Jersey Based) is only eligible to non UK residents and you can have both euro and GBP accounts. Excellent interest rates too.
Last time I looked they weren’t great but have not looked lately. I have banked with LLoyds for over 60 years so it might be easier to transfer money there. I will investigate. Not sure what you would class as excellent! Thanks.
There is one infuriating problem with online access to NS&I accounts. I am regularly logged out and informed that I have used the back button, when I have not. It is a known problem but NS&I say it is a security feature and the problem lies at my end. I believe it may have something to do with using wifi or a mobile internet connection, which is what I use. Sometimes it’s ok, most times not.
Must confess I hadn’t looked lately but 2ish years ago and with quite a large minimum investment (100k +) they were around 5% for a one year maturity. Much lower now having checked. Even so, they offer a sterling account and if you already bank with them they tend to make it easy on you. I still have my UK lloyds account too, now registered to my French address. Zero hassle.
Skipton also have offshore accounts with decent rates.
(Edit..) Worth noting both Skipton and Lloyds only cover up to £50,000 per person (I.O.M and Guernsey) not the 85K the UK government covers.
NS&I’s website is a hot mess - my mother has an account with them and getting logged is a nightmare sometimes, especially since she doesn’t have a mobile phone (due to being 100 years old ad deaf!) which is the almost obligatory means fo doing two-factor authentication these days.
I have had a look to see if Lloyds Jersey and Skipton Guernsey are covered by the same licence but it seems that they are not covered by UK FSCS but by their own. We have been with Skipton Guernsey since 1999 and that is where my savings are at present. As the money is for a deposit on UK house when we finally sell here, I do not want to put it at risk as the coverage is only 50K per person.
The interest rate at Skipton is pretty good and it makes sense to leave the money there if there is no risk to collapse but who knows these days.
Judging by the negative posts regarding NS & I I wonder if I am better leaving well alone. Our internet is not brilliant and I hate mobile phones and avoid using it as much as possible, so do not want to complicate further with all the admin that seem to accumulate on a daily basis.
This sounds as if we have a lot of money but believe you me, we have scrimped and saved just like we did when we were first married in order to get that property in the UK. Pity we cannot sell yet.
The help and advice and personal experiences have really helped me, so thank you to everyone who has contributed to this post.
They ARE very good on the phone, I have found.
Hi Elizabeth, I can recommend Standard Bank based on the Isle of Man. We turned to them when our Investec account ditched us. We have a current account with S Bank which doesn’t charge if you keep an average of £5k in it. Also a savings account on 396 days notice which in April 2024 was paying 5%. I looked recently and it is down to 3.8% which is still a great rate. They do other periods of notice at lower rates. IOM is treated as a UK bank.
I did explore NS&I but got in a real mess with them. They seemed unable to transfer a call and also unable to handle those of us who have no UK address. Good luck…
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Thanks for the information Katy, very useful but I have now decided to stay with Skipton and take the risk that they don’t get into financial trouble. They seem pretty stable and the service I get is very good and easy. The interest rate on an Easy Access account has dropped to 3.65% but I can transfer money immediately with no hassle. I do not want to tie my savings to a fixed term as I may need them in a short space of time but still want to get a reasonable return in the meantime. My UK savings bank is dismal to say the least so I try not to keep more than an emergency sum there.
I’ve also found them very pleasant to deal with on the phone.
Apart from the initial clunky setup process, we haven’t had any problems. As regards receiving security codes, you can list up to 3 numbers with them. I’ve given them my own mobile number and my husband’s. But also our French landline and the security codes come through fine to that number too.