father's international credit card

What is the name of your state? MD for US matters, international: AUSTRIA

Hi!

First off, this might be a bit complicated and I hope I can manage to explain the circumstances properly and clearly...

My family is from Austria, and from 1989 to 1996 we stayed in the US because my dad had a job there. Since then my parents kept a checking account in the name of both of them, and a credit card in the name of my father. Currently, the checking account has a balance of about 200 USD, while the credit card account is charged with about 4500 USD.

Unfortunately, a couple of weeks ago my dad died and my mom took over the financial matters.

Aside from the accounts there are no assets whatsoever left in the US. In Austria, he left a car and an apartment (originally running in the name of both of my parents), however, there are also several loans to be paid off. The sum of the Austrian accounts, loans, and properties basically comes to zero, possibly even in the negative.

The questions I have are:

1. What law will be applicable concerning the US accounts? local MD/US law or Austrian law?

2. if US law is applicable, will my mom be liable for the credit card debt and to what extent?

3. what are the next steps that should be taken by us?


Thanks a lot for any help and info that you can offer!

Sincerely,

Chris

Since your mother is joint co-owner of the account, all she needs to do is to contact the bank and inform her that she wants the money, and ask them to possibly issue it to her in Australian dollars.

Have you received a recent bank statement from this bank to verify that the account is still open? I'd be very surprised if the money is still at the bank, since most banks have to report inactive accounts that are more than 5 years inactive to the state's unclaimed property department. Please mention your father's name so I can see if there are any other unclaimed monies available for him, and your mother should also contact the company where he worked to see if they are aware of any unclaimed pension monies being held for him.

Thanks for your quick reply! However, I have to correct you, I'm not from Australia but from Austria - shouldn't matter much, though...

The account is definitely active since my dad went to the US several times on business trips and used the account there. Also, the credit card payments usually went through this account (the card is issued by the same bank)

The bank has been informed of my father's death, and they said that they need the death certificate (understandable) to remove his name from the joint account, I guess to close it as well.

About the credit card they said
"since he was the only primary owner, that credit card has to be paid off and closed. I have already informed our Lending Department about this situation and somebody will contact you to help you make arrangements for the payoff of this credit card."

This was about a month ago, noone has contacted us yet, so that didn't help much.

My father's name is Mr. Walter Rill, however, I doubt that you will find anything. But thanks a lot for checking!
He worked at the World Bank in D.C., and as far as I know, he had the option of getting his benefits paid out when returning to Austria and used that option. But it might be a good idea to ask them anyways.

Do you have any idea what law will be applicable for this matter?

The deciding factor in which probate law is the country or state where the death occurred, so in this case it will be Austria.

Does the credit card company know how to contact you or your mother at an Austrian address? That is probably why you haven't heard from them yet if all they know is the address you have on the bank account.

I'm absolutely positive the credit card company knows where to find us, since we get credit card statements to our address in Austria regularly.
I really don't know why they wouldn't contact us