In this video, Cindy discusses ... again ... why joint ownership on bank accounts, investment accounts, real estate, etc., are generally not a good idea and should never be done merely for "convenience".
My mom signed me on as owner of her accounts after my dad passed. I would never even think of touching her stuff! It has been 13 years now and I still feel the same!!
Same here. When my mother in law moved in with us, she put my husband on all her accounts. He was able to pay her bills as needed. When she passed away, he paid her outstanding bills, then split the remaining money evenly with his brother, as was stated in her will. This worked out because all parties were scrupulously honest and could be trusted.
My brother was on my mom's account. She also deeded the house over to all us kids, with the understanding that our eldest sister would live there until she dies or goes to the nursing home permanently. Mom passed in 2018. Now my brother is on my sister's account. We trust our brother. We trust each other. All is as it should be.
Thank you for sound advice. After all my immediate family passed I put a close relative on a new bank account. He also had an account by himself at the same bank. I only put in 1,500 in case I became ill and was unable to pay bills. I received my statement and found that a large amount was missing, called the bank and they informed me that he wrote a check and his account could not cover and they went to his next account the one with joint with me, I was able to close this account and asked him for the money, but he never gave it back. This is what I said when I was speaking to the bank, God protected me, because I did not have a huge sum in this account and it was a warning not to trust this person. When you are alone you are very vulnerable, but the Almighty has my back!
@@Jack_Russell_Brown I believe in freedom from religion. Sure you go ahead and believe whatever BS you want, just shut up about it …tired of the propaganda. They are always pushing the agenda. Stinks to high heaven, if you’ll pardon the pun.
It all depends on the persons involved. My wife and I have everything in joint accounts for convenience sake. Though all accounts are joint, only one manages the account. We trust each other and would never harm each other. It is in our character. I'm 91 years old and my wife is 76 years old.
I am a CPA and I agree with you. My mom did put me on her checking account. Our family is totally honest and integrity is ingrained in us. I actually help her out occasionally with finances, but she is very good with her money. It is truly about the family relationships and situation.
Trust may have nothing to do with it. If for example your son is involved in a traffic accident and gets sued, that account could be garnished as it will be treated as his asset. Or how about if the IRS decides, right or wrong, your son owes money. They could immediately seize all the money in that account. Listen very carefully to what Manasota Elder Law is saying. There are better ways to accomplish what you are trying to do. In fact what is not mentioned here is your son could just sign your name to the checks. Banks never check signatures. If he is writing a check for your benefit and even signs his own name, no court is going to care.
and realize your son gets 100% of that account upon your death. Maybe no big deal but if you have other kids it could create an issue. Happened when my Dad passed, I was listed as joint owner for convenience of paying bills and the attorney told us, that's my money. I refused and of course shared it with my sisters, but I didn't have to and could have created an issue.
Thanks for the clarification. Corrupt and immoral families need to worry about this. After my Father's passing I managed all my Mother's financial assets through "joint". In my mind I never considered any of her assets to be mine in any way. I did NOTHING without her permission. There is no Fear of God these days: Judgement is coming as current events clearly demonstrate. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. Proverbs 1:7
I understand where you are coming from however, I was an owner on my dad’s account. I paid his bills toward the end of his life. My two siblings knew and trusted me. I was able to write a check to pay for my dad’s funeral and other expenses. I was honest to a tee. I gave my brother and sister a complete accounting (every month) of every single cent until 2 years post death. I even bargained the pay-off balance on my dad’s car. All of it was the right move for our family but it may not be for other families.
Only weeks before my mother passed away, she added me to one of her checking accounts in case something happened. Well, she had a stroke and died just a few weeks later. Between the time of her death in the actual closing of her estate ( which had not been put in a trust, unfortunately) it cost almost $20,000 to pay various costs- utilities, estate liquidation, legal fees, and so on. I don’t know what we would’ve done if I had not had access to that checking account. It is absolutely essential to think these things through ahead of time and have a plan in place.
Absolutely, I was on mom's checking account to pay bills, as she was not able to. Six months after her death the utilities bill for the house are still on auto pay on that account. I just put cash in. Bill management is was LAST thing I had time or energy for the past 6 months. Her assets were held in her name alone with beneficiaries on those accounts. It all depends on honest relatives. Mom was worried I would take her money. I informed her my net worth was 4-5 times her. Shocked her into silence. In some states like Pa the surviving owner must pay inheritance tax of a joint account no matter how much money that person actually put in the account.
Word of advice to all. If you asset less and have to take care of parents estate with assets, bills, etc.. Most states let you file a quick and easy by yourself 'limited assets' form to give you power to administer the estate. With that you can get access to checking and savings account easily, if there isn't enough money there, when you find a reitrement account, stock account, you can add that, if it's not over the limit, and liquidate that to pay bills. If estate is turning out to be beyond what courts let you do on your own, then you have a few bucks to give a retainer to an attorney to do so. I seriously doubt anyone can be sure what parents have, so you might as well start out with this, assuming any property is morgaged to the hilt and worthless (like assume they were talked into consumer loans, reverse mortgages that MOST elders now fall prey to effectively eliminating assets they hoped to give kids and kids hoped to get) There is certainly no point assuming parent had $100,000's paying an attorney, and then finding out after mortgages, loans, bills, there isn't even enough to pay the attorney, leaving you holding the bag.
@@kevinbossick8374 That is not entirely true, depends on state, what the wishes of the prinical are, timing of the listing, how the DPOA is worded and etc.. Example you can name your wife as DPOA and benificiary.
"For convenience" my mother put my brother on her account, since he lived so close to her. He slowly drained it. She died poor and we (the other siblings) never knew. After she passed he and his wife took a long lavish vacation to Vegas to gamble. There you go.
My sister’s bank wouldn’t accept her POA and told us that we should just add a joint owner to the account. I was the joint owner but I never would have touched her money. Maybe banks need to be educated.
This is a common problem, as the bank is concerned about their liability. In my state, the typical PoA and state law allows suing the bank to accept the PoA, but that’s not cheap either.
My sister engineered the sale of mom's home in the last year of her life and money went into joint account. This is the same sister who sent texts in the last few years of her life to my brother, the POA that "mom is mental" . This has completely devastated the family and it is essentially irreoncilable situation now.
My dad did this naming my brother against my fierce adamant advice not to. He trusted him…. Well my brother drained his account. My father passed away and his estate was greatly depleted then emptied out. Just don’t do it. The lure of $ is too strong for people.
Thanks. We have a daughter who is really pushing and I am happy to hear that I can make her an agent rather than a coowner when we finally have a POA. I wasn't sure how to do it. My mother made me a co-owner on a savings account, which allowed me to remodel their condo so we could put it on the market. She was deep in dementia and it really made everyone's life easier that she did that.
Ability to manage money makes all the difference as well as trust and closeness to your child. It is possible to have a smaller checking account to pay monthly bill from and have a children have access, but the bulk of the assets are better kept separate. The step up in capitol gain at death is priceless.
Before I listen to your video, I already knew what the content was probably going to cover, but I wanted to say you did a wonderful job and presenting it and I think your voice is very soothing, but has a level of comfort and leadership. Hopefully, hopefully take this as a compliment because it’s meant to be thank you for posting this.
My mother put me on her account after Dad died. I never touched a cent I shouldn’t have. Her banker, whom she’d known for years, commented that he’d seen a lot of families have problems with joint accounts, which made her decide that I was “stealing her money”. I took myself off her account, even though she was mentally slipping. Our relationship never recovered. Thanks, Banker Dave😡
Something similar happened to me. Ugh. As you said, relationship never recovered. I wrote ONE check on that account to pay for services she had received and now I’m a thief.
I was joint on my parents’ account. They trusted me and so did my siblings. My brother had access to the account to see all the activity. My daughter is joint on all my accounts and is completely trustworthy. Conversely, I’ve personally known of people who were victims of strangers who came and took over their money.
Yeppers.....I had a joint acct. w/my husband. I was working, he was not. We split. It was the overdraft notice that alerted me to what he had done. Lesson learned. Never again.
It's good to have this information. What is really important here is that some not all people would be such thieves. My husband was on his mom's account. He never took one dime out. Then my mother-in-law's health declined. A social worker came over and suggested she put his name on the deed of her house. Here was the issue. My husband was at work, I was caring for his mother. I cared for her because that was how I was raised. She was his mom, so I did this for him. Anyway, during the consersation between the social worker and my mother-in-law it was suggested I could sign a paper saying I would never take the house. My mother-in-law was dead silent. I looked at her (mother-in-law) and I told her although I could not guarantee I would stay with her son I told her I would never sign anything. Why? My husband was his parents' only child (his father was dead), my husband was barely involved in his mothers care. The skilled nursing home staff she stayed at before going home thought I was her daughter, they never saw her son. If there was an issue with her and her treatment I handled it, I was called. I was the one who took her to the doctor and made sure she got the help she needed. I never ever expected anything in return. Nothing. So after this lovely talk I thought about it. I was very upset. My husband couldn't believed his dear sweet mother would think I would steal her house. Well, he found out differently. That entire incident caused marital issues. I stopped caring for my mother-in-law. I stayed away for about 10 1/2 yrs. My husband chose to spend holidays with his lying mother. It wasn't until near the end that I spoke to her again. I talked her into moving into a senior living apartment because she couldn't take care of her house anymore. My husband could not get her to do anything. About a year later I talked her into moving into assisted living in the same compex but before she moved in she fell and never recovered. Not all people are thieves. Old people can be paranoid ( I am older but hopefully will never get to that point.) My mother-in-law blew it. So did my husband. I have never over spent, I have always been responsible, much more than my husband. I never gave either for these a holes a reason to think I would steal. I did not ear this woman's house. That is how I was raised.
you are a prime example of the fact that there are still some decent people in this world amongst all the trash, when my mom died my two sisters and i went to the lawyers office to settle things up and when we told the lawyer we had divided things up among us withoug a fight he couldnt believe it because he had never seen this happen before, i have seen too many times were aholes come out of the woodwork when money is involved and i was trying to help someone who had a sister that screwed things up but i found out how and i told him he was the fault for all the problems and i dont talk to him anymore,
This is why I refuse to deal with in-laws and regarding care I leave it to their family. I did not want to be sued. I had more than one occasion where she fell and I had to pick her up, it was very difficult. She was about 170 lbs.
@@dtraveler3080 You could have hurt yourself picking her up. My back is shot after many years of caring for my mom. When my back fully gave out we had to start getting help. What a price to pay for caring.
No you didnt take the house. But I can see youre pretty darn good at keeping score and holding a grudge. Thats the kind of people that die alone. Good luck.
I work in banking in Florida and you are correct except here any one person on the joint account can close the account. You both do not need both parties to close the account. Maybe states have different rules.
My mother died with none of us on her accounts, and no POA, We could not get the bank to give us a dime for her medical and home care, which was 12,000 a month. We were left helpless, as she thought she could stay home alone. The other side of the coin.
That's awful. That likely could have been avoided if your Mom had spoken with an estate planning attorney and had appropriate planning documents in place long before she became ill. But many people think these things will somehow magically take care of themselves... they don't. :(
My wife’s grandma had a major stroke that put her in assisted living and memory care. I don’t know all the details, but she had not put anybody on her accounts nor planned to transfer any of her wealth to my mother in law before she became disabled. Bottom line, the State took all her money and equity in her house before Medicaid would kick in and pay for the medical bills. All $350k she thought she’d be able to give to her daughter, the state took it all.
I had a joint account with my older brother. I sold my home for a large sum. At that time my brother emptied the account. I had to threaten him with nasty lawsuits to get my money back. He returned the money and I haven't heard from him again.
I am on my Mother in law account so I can send a check to the nursing home every month. I have never spent any of her money on myself. I have to buy things she needs, I pay for them out of my own money. I can see how unscrupulous people would take advantage. You should be very careful.
Yep.....I learned this lesson the hard way over 40 years ago. I'm sure you've heard the sad story about the wicked stepmother and the two ugly stepsisters.
The reason why I allowed joint accounts is due to cancer. I almost died several times. At least he can have access to all my monies after I die without probate. I trust my husband, and I am 100% vulnerable to dying anyway. My wishes.
My grandmother did that with her account and made mother her POA. My mother took everything and then wanted to put her in a home. My sister did have the lawyer add her as a caretaker if my mother says she can't take care of my grandmother. My sister challenged my mother on the nursing home. She back down. She wanted my grandmother's monthly checks from the United Mine Workers from my grandfather working 30+ years in the mines. If my sister challenged her and she didn't back down, then she would lose stealing that. It was a nightmare. We couldn't do anything about her stealing everything. My grandmother was abused by my mother as well. We couldn't get the doctors who saw the evidence of the abuse or the social workers to step in. Truth of the matter officials don't care about the elderly in these situations. We did not have the money to go to court and our hands are tied in the situation. My mother actually told me she could do anything she liked to my grandmother and there wasn't a thing my sister and I could do. I never spoke to her again. My grandmother died shortly after. Soon after that my sister died. My mother ended up without anything and ended up in a nursing home all alone. One of her great grandkids did to her what she did to my grandmother.
Trust is not something you just give out it has to be earned. Another one was when this lady going on a first date with a fellow decides to run a little trivia game. So the trivia was "mothers maiden name" and a few other questions that the Bank uses to bypass a password. She later found her Bank card missing and when she went to the Bank later to get another card. She found her accounts had been emptied.
Spouse never wanted joint accounts. She found out how much $$ I had from inheritance & employment eventhough she made way more. Taking advice from coworkers to divorce & get half. Ooops.. judge said $$ never comingled & she signed papers because didnt want anything to do with business & properties, she felt above the debt free, budget life I lived. She paid spousal support for 13years, had to give 1/2 her retirement 80k & I got all the properties, life insurance until is paid naming me as beneficiary. She found out the STATE wouldn't let her bully me anymore. So... sometimes MEN do come out of separation far better. I've lived in same home for 30years and debt free for over 20years, she has 1500.+ house payment for first time ever & must pay all her expenses because she lost her punching bag.
Y do u want her money? Alimony is disgusting except in cases of wives never working for income and doing childcare instead. Then it should be limited to a few yrs to get a skill to support herself. Child support pd always ofc. I didn’t n don’t want a dime of my ex’s. And I could severely use it. It’s as gross to me as any criminal’s $.
Thank you so much! I’m stunned by my lack of knowledge. I was given incorrect advice from a financial advisor. You have just saved me money and given me peace of mind. Happy holidays from me to you! 🎁🎉 I’m a new subscriber!!
My late mother left me as a joint owner on a checking account. And that worked out well, I never knew it until shortly before she passed. Since I was named the executor via her will, it was a godsend to clear the estate through probate, which took nearly two years (!) despite an uncontested will. My wife and I have also set up a similar situation. Both our son and our daughter. We're not worried about them stealing from us. Also, we've set up trusts for both of them so that with luck, probate gets shortened.
Can a co-owner of a bank account ( my sister who has POA and trustee) take all the money out after father passes away, even though in the trust it says to share funds with the brother.? Can she not honor that if she doesn't want to? Thanks for your help🤝
My mother understands joint accounts and is getting older. I'm glad she trusted me enough to add me to her account so that I can monitor and help her out down the road should she ever need it. Sucks there are people out there that would take advantage of someone in this situation.
No one believes the child they trust would do such a thing to them until after it happens. It’s a harsh way to discover who your beloved child has decided to be. I used to work with older people, helping them with their movement issues. I saw firsthand-and far too many times-the devastation those lovely people wore after learning of their child’s betrayal. It was complete. They are told there is nothing that can be done to remedy the situation so they are left feeling utterly helpless and often still at the mercy of the one who betrayed them. I still cry thinking of what their kids did, and the way their whole body wore their pain. When one says they were crushed, that’s what it looked like.
I have an opposite concern. I'm a joint owner on my 93 year old mom's account, but my elder lawyer says I can't take out large amounts because I can't prove I was the source of those deposits. I was desiring to do this so that the assisted living home wouldn't take all mom's savings, and leave me with nothing. But I'm told if I was going to do that, it should have happened over 5 years ago.
It’s a tricky situation for sure. My mom and I are the only family members left, she is in a long term care home with Alzheimer’s and I am the sole survivor and sole supporter of her, I am the sole beneficiary of her estate as well as executor…. I Am joint on her bank accounts.
You should also mention that kids need to be sure to close their juvenile accounts that had the parents as joint owners. My ex husband just stole $20K from my daughter. When I had him sign off on all of my accounts when we divorced, the bank didn’t include that childhood account and he was still on it. The money she had in it was money she borrowed for a home improvement project.
Joint accounts work pretty well between husband and wife if there are no children. Also a good idea to put the house in JT as between husband and wife. Avoids probate.
Well, yes, both names have to be on the deed for a joint tenancy to be created. And of course you can also have JT on bank accounts too.@@YeshuaKingMessiah
A friend of mine put her daughter on her account...$78 thousand dollars. Her daughter bought new furniture and remodeled her home and drained her account.......
Wow, this is certainly important information. I always thought that a Joint Account meant a 50/50 share among one another. Oh, the messes that I could have gotten into in the past and unknowingly at any time now. Glad that I got established with you already, even though I realize now that I still don't know, or comprehend a lot of the info, at least I got the ball rolling. Thank you.
Joint only means 2 people on the account. Each owner has 100% rights to ALL the money unless there is some kind of legal proceeding (divorce, pribate, etc.) where the courts decide how funds will be distributed.
It takes ethical fortitude of the individual being added as a co-owner to an account to exercise discipline. My parents added me to their accounts over twenty years ago, and I've never made a transaction on any of those accounts, but I could if THEIR NEED arose...not mine. I don’t see this kind of ethical backbone in many of my age group (55-65) much less, if at all, in the youth of today. Mom passed 18 years ago and Dad has since added one of my sisters, who is 60, to his account and she has zip, none, nada ethical backbone when it comes to taking money from him. This is largely due to her never engaging in personal financial discipline in her life the way I have. Subsequently she abuses the privilege of convenience...
My CPA told me to take my girls off my accounts. Not because they may take it but because if one of us is sued all on the account is in peril of having to lose as much as is needed to pay suit if anyone one the account loses said suit.
I learned this the hard way as executor for my sister's estate where "for convenience sake" she had included one of her four children as a co-holder of a particular account. After my sister's death, the daughter decided to keep the money to herself and nothing could be done to change that. I feel quite certain my sister never was aware of what it meant to add the daughter to the account. I observe that many people are encouraged to do this sort of thing as a means to avoiding probate.
Yes, sadly many bank employees don't understand the legal ramifications and give customers "free" legal advice that's incorrect and/or incomplete. Back in the day, there used to be true "convenience" bank accounts where someone had signing power, but not ownership. Those are long gone, but many older folks think this is what they're getting.
The information is not just useful but it's true. These things happen, so you REALLY NEED TO TRUST that joint owner. My husband and I have everything in joint ownership and we have a family trust. Our son will eventually own everything, in the meantime we trust him 100%. Not all families are the same ,so sad as it may be ,you might not be able to trust that your kids will do right by you.
2 story Mansions with the Elder of the family holding financial matters in a sick bed that he can not say he can will forward to his heir of sound mind and body, when the sickness could spread by association. He could get so financially sick the family has to isolate him in a Hospital so they also do not catch the sickness and have to vacate living in his Mansion.
I took care of my mother for four years , my sister was getting bank statements for the checking account without my knowledge ! She did not trust me , she thought I was after everything . She was awful and I never took a dime !!!
My sibling tried to give me grief about spending $ I told him to come get our parent (lived with me) He shut right up Siblings are lazy is my take, 75% of them from my life watching it all, not just my experience And there was plenty a’ money at the end 🙄
Also if you put your child as joint owner on any account, bank, home title..ect, if they get married and divorced any thing they are on becomes part of the divorce settlement. You could end up losing your home.
My bank recommended a small, separate triple joint checking account. I can move money in and out of that account if necessary, but my daughter isn't co-owner of our main accounts.
For all the good sons, daughters, and spouses out there, you have my admiration - and my envy. My sister (although I regret having to call her that) moved into our mother's house to "help her" and rented out her own townhouse because she wasn't living there. At the age of 91, despite incipient dementia, a new will was written (the old one was a mirror of Dad's will, leaving everything to the spouse, or to the 2 daughters equally) that left 95% of everything to Sis, 2% to me, and 1% each to my 3 sons. Of course, living out of state, I knew nothing until mom passed, about 3 months after the date the new will was signed. When I asked over the phone about a will, the only answer I got was "I haven't done anything illegal." Right. And I've got a bridge in Brooklyn you might be interested in buying; I'll sell it cheap. OK, maybe it really wasn't illegal - different state and all that - but it surely wasn't moral, fair, or just. It was simply the way that person rolls. I guess I'm not one of her favorite people either.
You can do a power of attorney and most major banks will do it but operationally it’s a nightmare, because the tellers have no idea how to deal with a poa, they have to call anther department that calls another department and you end up sitting in the branch forever.
Unfortunately, you're correct. Something went terribly wrong during the COVID pandemic and customer service at the banks and investment firms has really deteriorated. I don't know whether the new hires are just poorly trained or the banks have instituted some new internal procedures that are at odds with Florida laws. But, yes, I hear about the nightmares children face when trying to help their parents by using a durable power of attorney. I just had an instance where the bank refused to add the daughter as POA until they got permission from her father! Luckily, he's only slightly incapacitated and they caught him at a good time, but what if he'd been unable to speak to them?? The whole purpose of the DPOA is to avoid these situations, and FL law makes it clear it must be accepted by the institution except in a very limited number of situations enumerated in our statute. I'm now having to tell my elderly clients to bring the DPOA to the bank themselves, with their child, and have them added to the accounts BEFORE it's needed.
Too bad if you have to wait because poa is the best way to handle accounts properly. Wouldn't you want that if someone was trying to take your money out??
It's not games if it's your only recourse. Move that money. Move it, then have a conversation, to close the account. Its not a game to choose an immediate boundary after something like that. See if you can get your name off it. Change all bills to new accounts, get multiple new accounts even, change passwords and pin numbers, don't use the same ones. Its not playing games. Now if you said I'll keep the account with you if you do this or go back and forth etc, that might be games. But the other is a firm boundary. A joint account should have communication for large withdrawals, any withdrawals if the understanding is that its her money and he just helps. So any violation of that understanding should be met with some new boundaries. Its a big deal.
I’m joint with my 89 year old mom. She can’t take care of it herself. I would never abuse it - that would just be so wrong. My dad and her earned that money - it’s not mine. But, I can understand - some people have no scruples and when they get desperate that money is like a drug.
I am the son (not the one you speak of) my mom wanted me joint for the same reason, I told her to make a new second account and make that joint, and leave the primary as it was but make me the POD (pay on death). I did that to protect her from anyone suing me and going after the joint account, We keep a meager amount in the joint account.
Had no idea there were different tiers of joint ownership of a bank account. A. Joint ownership with survivors benefits. B. "Agent" can only take money on behalf of the elder. C. Beneficiary status. Is this the same for a credit union?
If you can't trust your kid or significant other why on earth would you give them anything? As POA they can still bankrupt you, you just get to sue them, paying attorneys many $1,000's of dollars and taking year(s). It's so sad it seems MOST parents have no child they trust and most people in relationships can't trust their significant others. Real condemnation of our world. I'll blame not having a kid you can trust on two working parent families, most of them now, so there's no one to raise the kids right, nor is there money to pay schools for pre and post school advanced highly structured and supervised care that would replace that. The latter is more complex. Back in the day divorce was rare as the legal fight was expensive and uncertain, so women, usually just accpeted the abuse, or at least indifference, cheating, etc and probably devoted the effort to raising kids right so they wouldn't and would be trustworthy to care for her in old age. What unitl the 70's and 80's it was still legal for husbands to rape their wives in most states. Also, until 70's and 80's womens jobs were incredibly limited, again forcing them to accept any abuse especially if children were there to care for. So easy divorce, splitting assets, jobs all helped women escape abusive marriages, but led to more children in poverty than ever thanks to dead beat jobs, lower pay for same work for women, simply lower income as they take time to care for children, and fathers lower ability to pay child care, since they have to effectively pay for two households, on 2/3, 1/2 the income it takes via two worker families now a days. Children stripped of care left to own devices and it's 'Lord of the Flies" all over, and kids stealing from parents in their old age. If you can't trust a kid or significant other and might need care as you age more than most, see an attorney, advisor, minister, etc. and see if putting all assets into a trust or annuity that can be used to get you into a better nursing home / care facility might be advisable, hiring a care giver to do bills w attorny reviewing books. Etc.
The bank my mother used did add me as a convience owner a few years back but yes I could use all her money. However I was concerned that if I got sued, her money could be claimed. They told me as convience signer that could not happen. If we did POA then she would loose control of her money once POA took effect and she didn't want that.
@@YeshuaKingMessiah She died and things worked out fine. The only problem I had was with a different bank not wanting to cash in her CD because the POA was too old. They finally let go and I was able to pay her nursing home bills until she passed away.
My son and I have an account together and we have individual accounts. If he needs money it's easy for me to transfer into the joint account. After two marriages I found that a joint bank account with a wife is an absolute never ever again situation.
Cindy Clark you're wrong, in a joint account one person can close the account all they have to do is empty the account to zero balance then they could unilaterally close that account now. But you must have a zero balance first, before you close it.
That’s a mute point. If there is no value remaining in the account…nobody cares if it stays open or closes. The whole point is about the contention of controlling value while it’s in the account. And as surely as you can bring that account down to zero by emptying it…so can your joint co-owner of the account. The only thing in a dishonest joint account membership is…”who does it first”… Who would even bother closing an account with zero balance…just walk away…your bank will surely close it for you after a certain specific period of time.
It's a sad thing to think children will do this... I have my son joint on my account and he doesn't even know about it... I did it so he has all my funds instantly if I die. I wanted it to be joint with survivorship. My son would never take money that is not his.
My bank closed A joint account over the phone, and the other party put all the money in their name only, I had no notice from the bank, and could not ask the bank any questions about where the money went, only said the other party closed the joint account. I guess different states have different banking rules.
One thing we have to remember is if a parent or parents don't put their kids on their accounts then ultimately the state tacks what's left in accounts the house vehicles etc, I would rather have my Daughter take possession of what was mine rather then the evil state local or federal government nonetheless I did add my daughter as a beneficiary so she would get little I have.
That's true, if she's named as a joint owner. She could be named as POA (agent on a power of attorney), though, to help her Mom, but not have any ownership in Mom's assets.
When my son was a teen I took him to the bank and opened a checking account with both of our names on it. Well he is in his 30's now and working a long time putting his wages into this account, it is now prettty hefty. Question is, when I die does he have to pay inheirantance tax on this money?
My parents never wanted to add anyone on their bank account. But when my dad die we couldn’t get any of his money to pay for his funeral or any of his bills and taxes due. We had to wait until we got his death certificate, which took months because of co vid. We weren’t able to bury him for months. If one of us would have been on his account we could have been able to get to the money right away and have his funeral and pay his bill which keep coming even though he was dead, pay taxes on his house. Even as you say to be a power of attorney on his account, that ends the min. he dies.
Mom's bank allows for a "convenience" person on the account. My name isn't on Mom's account. I am not a joint owner. I am a "convenience" person which means I can act on her behalf as necessary. I don't want to be joint. I don't want my financial history and status tied to my mom's.
Well I spose there's times where people aren't trustworthy....but I was... I took the hit financially to preserve my moms acct, and she's gone and I let her money go to her estate....pat myself on the back
Two of my siblings were my mother's POA but one was joint owner on mom's checking and savings. Upon mom's death an estate account was not opened. So now do we have any right to disclosure of my mom's balances at time of death and what has been paid since?
Joint owner won all the assets in the joint accounts the minute your Mom died. Doesn't really matter what happened before her death - no one but the joint owner would have received anything once she died. An estate account would not be not required if Mom's only assets were the bank accounts and they were held in joint name. The joint owner would have no legal obligation to pay for anything on behalf of your Mom after her death - the bank account assets are solely his/hers to spend as he/she wishes.
I went to the bank and used power of attorney forms to add myself as power of attorney to my dad’s account. He is 81 and in poor health. How do I know if the bank did it correctly, adding me as an agent rather than a joint owner? I also don’t want to have any liability if he were to get in any kind of legal issue.
Look at the titling of the account on a bank statement. If they added you as Agent, you should see "POA' somewhere in the titling. If you see Dad's name and your name, and no POA, then it's like a joint account. But confirm with the bank - even an 800 number person could tell you.
