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Estate accounts at Online banks?
April 19, 2019
4:58 am
Top It Up
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When the individual dies, the POA is no longer valid - everything shifts to the Estate, the Executor, and the powers granted the Executor in the Will.

The individual in Post #19 never mentioned anything about whether or not the estate went through Probate; curious about that.

April 19, 2019
5:21 am
Briguy
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Top It Up said
When the individual dies, the POA is no longer valid - everything shifts to the Estate, the Executor, and the powers granted the Executor in the Will.

The individual in Post #19 never mentioned anything about whether or not the estate went through Probate; curious about that.  

Thanks for the clarification.

I'm also wondering why more children don't make their elderly parent's accounts joint with themselves, so in case of death there will be fewer issues ( assuming the parent trusts their child not to take money out for themselves while the parent is still alive ).

April 19, 2019
12:22 pm
Norman1
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Briguy said

I'm also wondering why more children don't make their elderly parent's accounts joint with themselves, so in case of death there will be fewer issues ( assuming the parent trusts their child not to take money out for themselves while the parent is still alive ).

Because it doesn't work legally. We found previously that there will be a presumption of resulting trust on death in such situations.

April 19, 2019
12:57 pm
Briguy
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Norman1 said

Briguy said

I'm also wondering why more children don't make their elderly parent's accounts joint with themselves, so in case of death there will be fewer issues ( assuming the parent trusts their child not to take money out for themselves while the parent is still alive ).

Because it doesn't work legally. We found previously that there will be a presumption of resulting trust on death in such situations.  

Oh ok, thanks for the clarification !

April 19, 2019
1:15 pm
Top It Up
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My mother's executor, who was nothing more than the equivalent of a 40-watt light bulb in brightness managed to finesse the exclusion of a 6-figure joint bank account (with my sister) through the probate.process.

April 19, 2019
1:21 pm
Briguy
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Top It Up said

From personal experience that's not always true. My mother's executor, who was nothing more than the equivalent of a 40-watt light bulb in brightness managed to finesse the exclusion of a 6-figure joint bank account (with my sister) through the probate.process.  

I think there are other advantages to a joint account too besides possibly avoiding probate. I have a power of attorney with my mother's bank account with an accompanying ATM card. When I tried depositing a cheque for her with the ATM card, the machine promptly ate my card. When I phoned the bank's telephone banking, they had no clue I existed since I'm not officially on the account, and couldn't help me. I ended up phoning the bank branch and had to talk to 3 different people and got different stories about what to do, since I didn't want to have to drag my disabled mother in just to get another ATM card for me. Finally one person finally told me I could just come in by myself to the branch where she banks with 2 forms of ID and get another card.

April 19, 2019
2:10 pm
AltaRed
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Top It Up said
My mother's executor, who was nothing more than the equivalent of a 40-watt light bulb in brightness managed to finesse the exclusion of a 6-figure joint bank account (with my sister) through the probate.process.  

It is normal to exclude probate on JTWROS bank accounts (I forget how my father's joint accounts with his surviving spouse were handled 25 years ago) but not legal obligations with respect to creditor liabilities. If a creditor had to chase these funds in order to settle debts, that creditor would have come after sister. With a few exceptions like registered accounts and pensions, all of a testator's assets are subject to debt payment obligations.

Have to be careful of the 'specifics' in each case.

April 19, 2019
6:12 pm
Norman1
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The specifics do matter. The presumption is different when the account is joint with a spouse. The presumption is one of advancement when the account is joint with a spouse.

The presumption of resulting trust on death is rebuttable, just like the presumption of the accused's innocent in a criminal proceeding.

Top It Up's mother likely knew about the presumption and provided her daughter with the necessary evidence to rebut the presumption.

In a case found earlier, judge ruled that the deceased's actions ended up creating a trust before death, with the surviving joint account holder being the trustee. As a result, the funds in the joint account were in a trust before death and, consequently, were not part of the insolvent estate and rendered the presumption of resulting trust moot.

April 19, 2019
6:22 pm
AltaRed
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Interesting, but I doubt most people would think about that sort of thing when creating a JTWROS account.

Most times, advisor/CA/Legal websites caution against JTWROS with others than a spouse, e.g. adult child, because of the vulnerability of half the funds being exposed to a bankruptcy by the child, becoming property subject to division in a divorce, etc.

April 19, 2019
6:29 pm
Top It Up
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I was just about to reply in a similar manner to @AltaRed's comment. The joint arrangement with my sister was known to all family members and was done solely to provide an aging woman with access to ready cash (withdrawals by my sister whenever my mother requested) for household incidentals. There were no thoughts about presumption, death, estate, or probate in her decision.

April 20, 2019
3:24 am
Briguy
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Norman1 said
The specifics do matter. The presumption is different when the account is joint with a spouse. The presumption is one of advancement when the account is joint with a spouse.

The presumption of resulting trust on death is rebuttable, just like the presumption of the accused's innocent in a criminal proceeding.

Top It Up's mother likely knew about the presumption and provided her daughter with the necessary evidence to rebut the presumption.

In a case found earlier, judge ruled that the deceased's actions ended up creating a trust before death, with the surviving joint account holder being the trustee. As a result, the funds in the joint account were in a trust before death and, consequently, were not part of the insolvent estate and rendered the presumption of resulting trust moot.  

Didn't really understand this point. If you have a joint account with a parent what kind of written instructions would the parent have to leave for the bank account to be considered a trust?

April 20, 2019
8:58 am
Norman1
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Briguy said
Didn't really understand this point. If you have a joint account with a parent what kind of written instructions would the parent have to leave for the bank account to be considered a trust?

The legally proper way would be to a "declaration of trust" document that formally creates a trust.

In the Ontario court case Lowe Estate v. Lowe (2014 ONSC 2436), it was a handwritten note with instructions along with the circumstances.

The deceased had not done those after-death gifts as bequests in his will because he had doubts about his executor following through. Among the instructions to the trustee, the deceased's nephew, for the joint account was $35,000 to his granddaughter, a single mother living in the US. Granddaughter was estranged from her father. sf-frown Her father was the executor.

April 20, 2019
9:03 am
Briguy
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Norman1 said

Briguy said
Didn't really understand this point. If you have a joint account with a parent what kind of written instructions would the parent have to leave for the bank account to be considered a trust?

The legally proper way would be to a "declaration of trust" document that formally creates a trust.

In the Ontario court case Lowe Estate v. Lowe (2014 ONSC 2436), it was a handwritten note with instructions along with the circumstances.

The deceased had not done those after-death gifts as bequests in his will because he had doubts about his executor following through. Among the instructions to the trustee, the deceased's nephew, for the joint account was $35,000 to his granddaughter, a single mother living in the US. Granddaughter was estranged from her father. sf-frown Her father was the executor.  

Thanks for clarifying. I wish this forum had "like" symbols you could click to say thank you.

April 20, 2019
4:59 pm
Norman1
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AltaRed said
Interesting, but I doubt most people would think about that sort of thing when creating a JTWROS account.

Most times, advisor/CA/Legal websites caution against JTWROS with others than a spouse, e.g. adult child, because of the vulnerability of half the funds being exposed to a bankruptcy by the child, becoming property subject to division in a divorce, etc.

The presumption of resulting trust or of advancement only comes into play when a joint account holder dies. There is no rights granted by the presumption until death.

April 20, 2019
5:08 pm
Norman1
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Briguy said
Thanks for clarifying. I wish this forum had "like" symbols you could click to say thank you.

That's okay. "Thank you" works just as well. sf-smile

If you are contemplating putting something like that in place, then it would be good to get advice from a lawyer who practices in the area.

I suspect it is highly significant that the trustee (the nephew) was not one of intended recipients of the funds from the joint account. Lot of times, the surviving holder is the recipient of the funds from a joint account. Not sure a trust can legally be formed when the intended trustee and intended beneficiary are one and the same!

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