Around 70,000 “dead” bank accounts in which money is still standing. Invites to solve a painful problem for the residents

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Edgars Pastars, the senior legal advisor of the Financial Industry Association, tells Latvian Radio what to do with the money in the bank account of a deceased relative.

“As it happens in life – usually they take the deceased’s bank card and go to withdraw money for the funeral. Usually over a hundred, 300, 400 euros, which is also not very legal, but the financial sector understands these things and we do not report them, if they are in a reasonable amount, of course .

If the inheritance is not significant enough, therefore, none of his relatives registers it with a notary, as a result of which there are balances in the accounts – one hundred, two hundred, three hundred euros,” says the expert.

The industry association calls for the regulation to be improved so that there is no need to wait 60 years for this money to be included in the bank’s income.

“This money should go to the state revenues much faster,” says Pastars.

Meanwhile, the managing director of the Council of Sworn Notaries of Latvia, Gatis Litvins, tells Latvijas Radio that if there are a few hundred euros in a bank account, relatives most often do not start the inheritance process, and problems arise if the deposits are in banks located in foreign countries.

“If within the European Union, then somehow a notary can trigger the instruments provided for by the European Union legislation. But if the accounts are in third countries, then the situation is close to hopeless. And the same also applies to all these modern digital assets like cryptocurrency and so on ,” Litvins explains to Latvian Radio.

Latvian banks have about 70,000 accounts whose owners have died, but the money remains, reports Latvian Radio.

Read more on the “lsm.lv” portal.