From 3 December 2014, a surviving spouse or civil partner will ‘inherit’ the ISA allowance of their deceased spouse or partner.
The move, announced in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, means that the survivor will effectively have a double ISA allowance after the death of their spouse or civil partner.
The transfer will not be automatic, however. The deceased spouse’s or partner’s ISA will have to be dealt with in the same way as any other assets of the deceased’s estate and the survivor will then have a one-off allowance.
However, the allowance is not available until 6 April 2015.
The ISA limit also increases from £15,000 to £15,240 from 6 April 2015.