Joint checking account question

[Mistee]

A family member and her boyfriend put their money together. They were not married. She passed away. What happens to the funds in the checking account now? The checking account is in the names of Mary "or" Jack on the checks. Does he have to turn this checking account over to her estate now? He has paid her funeral expenses out of the checking account and has written other checks from this account since she died. Sbe passed away in June and the Will is just now being probated. He wants the remainder of the money in the account and feels he is entitled to it now even though family member is deceased.

My thoughts were he should have turned over the checkbook to the personal representative or atleast the personal rep should have asked for it and if he did not surrender it to her then what? This boyfriend is not named in the Will and the deceased family member's paychecks went into the account for June and he was still writing bills on that account. Should he have been?

Just wanting to know what is the law on joint checking accounts; especially among non-married couples.

I'm sure the attorney will advise the family. Just being nosey beforehand I guess. lol

[mdcrim]

Not a lawyer but I think the assets in the joint account probably go to him. It is as much his account as it was hers. Again, just a guess, but if someone were to fight that, good luck proving how much of the joint account was actually her asset. Sorry.

[snafu]

The laws are slightly different, depending on where they resided. If he can establish a common-law relationship [conjugal relations] he can likely establish entitlement to all assests acquired during their time together. Depending on details he can likely have the will over-turned as out-of-date as surviving spouse has vast rights and sympathy of the court who should not discriminate on the basis of gender.

[graceful]

Depends on the type of joint account that they had. One of the more common is Joint Tenants with Right of Survivorship - JTWROS. In which case, the balance in the account is legally entirely his now.

What Is a Joint Tenancy with Right of Survivorship (JTWROS)? | article Personal Finance & Investing Information

The main benefit of a JTWROS is that upon the death of one joint tenant, no probate administration is required to transfer the property. The property automatically passes to the surviving joint tenant(s), hence avoiding the expense and delay of probate court.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

I think the money goes to him and need not be passed through any court's or executor's judgement. You and I could have a joint account like that, Mistee, and if I die, the account is still yours. It does not matter whether you never even put a cent in it. It does not matter if we were married, just friends, or just two people who, oddly wanted to share an account. I die: you get the money. It is still your account.

He could at any point have emptied the account when she was alive anyway. It was not an account that required joint signatures for checks to be written.

[boosami]

I agree with the others in general. I have a joint account and in my state if she dies the money belongs to me, at least in my state. The bank mentioned this when we opened the account.

[Mistee]

The state is Alabama btw.

You people are very astute on this forum. I would never have thought of all the scenarios that all of you presented. Thank you for all your help.

graceful - This is what my husband and I have. Thanks for the article cause it will help to be armed with this when the family gets together.

Joan; I think that is a good point you made. Would this work in the place of setting up a trust account?

[Mistee]

Good advice here says family members. Pays to know what one's rights are when co-signing any agreement with anyone.

[TBH]

I don't know the law, but I would argue that he should get the account, especially if they were living together. He should be allowed to pay bills from the account, especially if he's still shouldering responsibilities that they entered into jointly (rent, utiliities, etc).

My significant other and I are not married, but we do have several joint accounts, own a house together, and have a child together, so we've thought a lot about this issue. And yes, we do have wills naming each other as beneficiary! I worry about this issue, though. If our joint accounts go into probate, how is the surviving parent supposed to keep the household afloat? I'm not sure what the laws are in our state. I should ask our lawyer. To be absolutely sure we wouldn't suddenly be locked out of our joint accounts, we each maintain a separate credit card, checking account, and savings account so we'd be able to outlast probate if one of us died and our joint accounts got frozen.