HOW TO CLAIM YOUR EXTRA ALLOWANCE

YOU must use your allowance within three years of the date of death, or 180 days of completion of the estate’s administration, if that is later.

Your partner must have died after December 3, 2014.

There is no need to wait until you have obtained probate to claim the allowance. But you can’t just transfer the account into your name. The provider has to close your late partner’s account, check you are entitled to the allowance and open an account for you.

The first step is to inform the provider of your partner’s death. Then you must fill in an Isa additional permitted subscriptions value request form. It can ask for details, such as the sort code and account number of your partner’s Isa. Once you have been given the value you complete a form to apply for the Isa —including the amount you want to put in the account. You also have to sign an eligibility declaration form.

If you want to transfer the Isa to another provider you need to fill in a transfer authority and an allowance transfer declaration form. Not all providers accept these.