Inheritance right of minor great grandchildren

[liddlebeebee]

What is the name of your state Ohio


My question involves a recent issue with my 17 year old niec. The way I understand it is my niece inherited approximately $40,000 from her great grandma. I am unclear about a will but apparently her name was on an account as a sub account of her paternal grandmother's. Her paternal grandmother siphoned the account moved the money to her own and closed my nieces account. The family feels there's nothing my niece can do that the grandmother was well within her rights since the niece is a minor. Everyone was disappointed because niece was going to use the money for her college fund.
I think something sounds wrong here and that if the great grandma had an account in nieces name then niece is legally entitled to it in adulthood. I don't know the law though. And the family can't afford a lawyer so I don't know if/what they can do. I don't know if anything fishy has actually occurred or if what the grandmother did was totally allowed. The grandma told my niece not to expect a dime and that the trip to Disney world they took her on was all she could expect.

Because my niece is a minor did she really have no legal claim to the $?


Sorry if this is the wrong forum I didn't know where to post this. I just want to help my niece.

 

[justalayman]

i have no idea what you are referring to when you speak of a sub account of paternal grandmothers account. Either it was paternal grandmothers account or it wasn't and either the neice had an actual account or she didn't.


it won't do any good to play guessing games here. If you can relay an accurate accounting of the facts, post them.

 

[FlyingRon]

Yes, there's not enough detail here. However, if it was a joint account, the joint owner is perfectly allowed to retrieve money from it. Similarly if the "heir" is only a beneficiary, she's only entitled to what's left in the account when the account holder passes. If however it was a custodial account with the great grandma as custodian, the money became the childs when it was put in there and is not hers to pull back out. You really need to contact whoever administered this estate for the details.

 

[Dandy Don]

It was probably an account under the Uniform Gift to Minors Act (UGMA) where the donor or a custodian that the donor designates places funds in account for the benefit of the minor which the minor can use (when the minor reaches a certain age) to pay for college.

You will have to look at your state's law to see what the rules are for UGMA accounts and whether they can be terminated.