being sued by bank

a bank in california is sueing my wife. my mother died in march she had check overdraft protection conected to her checking account. my mother lived with us for the past 8 years, she was quite ill, my wife had to care for all of my mothers needs which included picking up her medications. in 1995 my mother suggested that my wife put her name on my mothers checking account so she could pay for moms medicians using her own money. this was agreeable, however about 3 years later un-known to us my mother agreed to have a overdraft protection put on her checking account. at my mothers death we discovered that she owed the bank about 2800.00 dollars. my mother had no assets or insurance to cover even her funeral, my wife and I paid for all of my mothers housing, clothing, food etc as well as all funeral expenses. we did not benefit for the money my mom used for the overdraft protection since we did not charge her anything to live with us, the bank insists that since my wife's name is on the checking account she is liable for the money. i don't beleive there is a contract since my wife did not know about the overdraft protection and that it was added years latter without my wifes notification.... questions is, where do we stand legally?

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

My response:

Your wife is on the hook.

When your wife agreed to have her name placed on the account, she also signed an agreement to be "jointly and severally liable" for any debts incurred by the account - - and as a result of any person's acts who is on the account.

The rest of your post; i.e., your care for your mother-in-law is irrelevant insofar as the bank is concerned.

Sorry, but she's on the hook.

IAAL