Bank won't le me open Safe Deposit Box

luna9371 said:

What is the name of your state? Florida.

My mother passed away 4 years ago and instead of doing probate for her i had to do it with my father because he passed away 3 motnhs after my mother. Because of this there is a safe deposit box (in my mother's name) which still not been opened. Only time that it was opened was to see if there was a will in there.

It also seems that the bank now cannot find the original agreement for my mother's safe box and without that I cannot open the safe box. The bank is giving me a hard time to open this safe box (i have the keys) and now they are telling me that they cannot find any information on my mother's accounts nor the safe box.

I want to file a petition for summary administration...HELP PLEASE

Elizabeth

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Dandy Don said:

There may not be a Florida attorney reading this message board so you truly need to consult with a probate attorney or a business law attorney to review Florida law about safe deposit boxes to decide if you have grounds to proceed.

Seems like you are being BS'ed by the bank. They wouldn't necessarily need the original agreement in order to access the box. They wouldn't necessarily need to keep "information" about her account--all they need to do is open it at your request, IF you have letters testamentary authorizing you as executor. Do they keep an account signature card that records the names and dates of any one who opens the box? Look at the card to see if anyone else other than authorized family has been in the box.

What year was the box opened (the time that you mentioned that it WAS opened) and who opened it? It's hard to figure out why you want to get in the box again if someone has already seen the contents and determined that the will is not there. There might be a requirement that once the box has been opened to see if there is a will, that that may be the only legally allowable time it should be opened.

After you have consulted with an attorney, if you wanted to you, you could file a complaint with the state or federal banking examiner's office--if you mention the name of the bank here and the city/state it is located in, I can get the bank examiner's contact information for you.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])

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Dandy Don said:

There could be a reason to file the complaint--why didn't the bank tell her that she needed letters of administration? They are stonewalling for no reason--if she never found out she needed letters, and probably even after she does get them, they are still being uncooperative and will probably continue to stonewall her.

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Dandy Don said:

There could be a reason to file the complaint--why didn't the bank tell her that she needed letters of administration? They are stonewalling for no reason--if she never found out she needed letters, and probably even after she does get them, they are still being uncooperative and will probably continue to stonewall her.

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