Farra is a death administration assistant for UK families. Get step-by-step guidance for registering a death, applying for probate, notifying banks, and managing bereavement admin. From essential documents to practical checklists, Farra simplifies estate paperwork and funeral-related tasks so you can focus on what matters.
First, the name. abrdn is now Aberdeen. abrdn.com redirects to aberdeeninvestments.com, the parent is Aberdeen Group plc, and the pages for people managing their own savings and investments — including bereavement — sit on aberdeenpersonal.com. Any abrdn-branded link you follow will land you there.
Second, the figure. There isn't one. Aberdeen publishes no value above which it requires a grant of probate and below which it does not. A pension is paid at the scheme's discretion outside the estate, so a grant is not what releases it. For everything else, Aberdeen routes you to a team by account number and that team tells you what it needs — so ask, rather than working from a figure someone has put on the internet.
No. The business was formed from the merger of Aberdeen Asset Management and Standard Life Investments, was called Standard Life Aberdeen and then abrdn, and now trades as Aberdeen. It is a separate company from Standard Life the pension and insurance brand, which belongs to Phoenix Group. It runs investment platforms, ISAs, SIPPs and funds — and it names no value at which a grant becomes necessary on any of its bereavement pages.
What the product type does change:
Aberdeen Group plc is registered in Scotland, and the Stocks and Shares ISA and Personal Portfolio are provided by Aberdeen Platform Limited, also registered in Scotland. That is where the company is, not where the estate is administered: if the person who died lived in Scotland you will be applying for confirmation rather than probate, and if they lived in England or Wales you apply for a grant of probate however Scottish the provider is.
Note: If the deceased held a Standard Life pension (now administered by Phoenix Group), the relevant guide is our Standard Life probate threshold guide. For the broader context, see our probate threshold guide for 2026–27.
Aberdeen says that if you have a financial adviser or a solicitor, they can contact Aberdeen on your behalf.
Our estate administration checklist can help you manage all document submissions across institutions.
Aberdeen does not publish a single bereavement phone number covering all of its savings and investment products, so a number quoted elsewhere as “the abrdn bereavement line” may not be the team that holds the account.
Contacting abrdn is part of the wider task of notifying financial institutions after a death. The bereavement team will confirm what is needed and send a claims pack.
Aberdeen does not appear on the member list published by the Death Notification Service (DNS), which covers banks, building societies and a small number of insurers and share registrars. A DNS notification will not reach Aberdeen, so you have to contact it yourself.
Aberdeen does not publish whether it accepts form IHT423, the Direct Payment Scheme form that lets a bank, building society or NS&I pay inheritance tax straight to HMRC before the grant is issued. Ask the team holding the account rather than assuming either way, and see our guide on probate delays and IHT interest.
Aberdeen publishes no figure, and no official source publishes one either. Any “4 to 6 weeks” or “4 to 8 weeks” quoted for a platform is an estimate rather than a service standard, and how long it actually takes depends on which team holds the account and whether a grant is needed at all. For the part of the wait that is the grant itself, see the complete UK probate guide for 2026 for the full timeline.
The group has changed names repeatedly, which matters here only because correspondence in a dead person's filing cabinet may carry any of them. The distinctions that affect estate administration are:
If you are unsure which company the person held an account with, the account number is the quickest tell — EL, SM, WP or SP is a platform account with Aberdeen, and an Investor Reference points to Aberdeen Fund Managers. For what each route to administering an estate involves, see our DIY probate versus solicitor cost guide.
Before you assume you need probate
Do you actually need a grant — and what would it cost?
A abrdn balance is only part of the picture. Whether the estate needs probate at all depends on the whole picture — property, other accounts, and how everything was owned — not a single threshold. It is worth checking before you start filling in forms.
Guide reviewed July 2026. Bank thresholds change and can vary by account type — always confirm the current figure with the provider before relying on it.
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