Joint Tenant on Mutual Fund

[Southerner]

What is the name of your state? Florida and Texas

I have an Unclaimed Property (Florida) client that I am working with. The husband and his former wife lived in Florida had a mutual fund account that he was listed as primary and she as a joint tenant. They divorced in Florida and have been divorced for over 35 years. He remarried in Florida several years after the divorce. He made a new Will with his new bride leaving her and his brother his entire estate. The husband died in 1991, his brother dies a few months later both in Texas and the ex-wife died in 1993 in Florida. His wife is still alive today at age 93 living in Texas. The State (Florida) asked for a Death Certificate for the ex-wife which I was able to obtain. After supplying the State with this they now say that the ex-wife (or heirs) were/was entitled to the money since she died last between the two of them. From what I have read so far the new wife would be entitled to 1/4 and possibly 1/2 of her husband’s estate concerning this account.

My question is does the ex-wife have any rights to this account. The account just list Joint Tenants nothing along the lines of right of survivor, pay on death, etc... The ex-wife has no known relatives and I have not found anything concerning a Will left by her.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Dandy Don]

What is the value of the unclaimed property?

Who is the client that you are working for?

The right of survivorship does not have to be explicitly stated--it is an automatic concept of law--since the ex-wife's name is shown, it automatically became hers when the husband died. The executor of his estate MUST have known that--why didn't he notify the ex-wife about this asset--could it be the current wife told him not to or did the executor automatically sympathize with the husband in showing contempt to the ex-wife? Hmm, hmm--I think yes. If someone from the ex-wife's family had known about this money, they could have hired an attorney to open up her estate and claim this money.

The mutual fund company should have made an effort to locate the heirs before they turned this money over to the state. You can now, if you wish, pay about $100-$200 to hire a genealogical researcher to locate this lady's heirs and then later ask the heirs to reimburse you for this expense, or I can do it for you at no cost if you will post the lady's name and date of death and city/state of death--I do genealogical research.

It is very unlikely that the lady has no heirs--intestate probate guidelines normally state heirship as first going to the lady's spouse or children, then to her siblings, then to her parents (if still alive), and then to her nieces/nephews, if any, etc. The death certificate should have shown the name of the family member who reported the death.

If no heirs are found, after a certain number of years, the state gets to keep the money.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])

 

[Southerner]

Thanks Dandy Don for your comments.

<What is the value of the unclaimed property?> Approx 17,000.00
<Who is the client that you are working for?> I have an agreement with the surviving wife.

The persons I contacted were unaware of this money. The brother of the husband was the executor but in his passing and by the provisions in the Will’s the wife became the Executor. There was no mention of this account specifically in the husbands Will and the fact that 35 years had elapsed since the divorce only adds credence that the account was forgotten or the husband would have used the account or money long before he died.

I am getting all kinds of conflicting information. In reading the Florida Statues, depending on how the account is set up the ex-wife may co-own the account but not the contents, the husband’s estate may be entitled to half of the account with the ex-wife’s estate owning the other half. Who funded the account also seems to have a bearing on it.

The Mutual Fund Company may have made some attempt to locate the heirs. Remember this is an account that was opened in the early 60’s and probably did not get entered into the database until the late 80’s with stale contact info.

I will be glad to post the subjects name and place of death: Mae Wallach Miami Florida in April of 1993. I have her Death Certificate and the informants name is listed I have not be able to contact her and have not located any direct relatives of the deceased. This event is almost 17 years old.

I have requested from the holder of the moneys the account paperwork where they derived that the account was co-owned. That may settle it.

I am a Private Investigator here in Florida and 100% of my business is locating and returning all aspects of unclaimed property. After 10 years I still seem to see new twist frequently concerning the financial records of family member from siblings to cousins not having any idea that they are owed any money. I usually have very good luck with this cases but this one is proving to be more difficult than what I normally would allow.

Florida is one of those states that although they use the money it is always available to be claimed by the rightful heir.

Thanks again for the help and any help you can provide. The state allows a maximum amount to be charged to the heirs for the claim (20% or 1,000.00 max) so I have to be careful how I spend to keep from going in the hole and to try and make a profit.

 

[Dandy Don]

Do you know for certain that probate was officially done for the husband's estate or were you just told that? What is Mrs. Wallach's maiden name? What is the name of the informant (who is most likely deceased by now after so much time has passed)?

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])

 

[Southerner]

I have a copy of the husbands Will and was told it was administered but I can find out for sure. I will also have to find out Mae's maiden name. The informants name is Marian Hoelfer @ 20500 W. Country Club Dr.# 107 Miami Fl. Father's name was Abraham Blume Mother's name was Minnie Wolfe. Blasberg Funeral Home @ 720 71st st. Miami handled arrangements.

Thanks

 

[Southerner]

Dandy Don, Any more on this subject...

Robert

 

[Dandy Don]

Due to either bad handwriting or perhaps a misunderstanding, it seems to me that the letters in the last name have been mistakenly transposed--my resesarch shows it should be properly spelled Hoefler. I doubt that she is related but she is probably a friend of the family who may not want to give out any information about her friend. If we assume the decedent's maiden name was Blume, you may need the assistance of a professional genealogist to find out if there are other siblings. This may be one of those cases that reaches a dead end with nowere else to go.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])

 

[Southerner]

Thanks for your effort Don. I am just about at the dead end. My last effort was to exercise an obscure state statute where we can sign an affidavit saying my client is the last “known” surviving relation and that if someone should come forward at a future date with substantial proof that they are entitled to all or part of the money then the claimant will have to deal with that at that time. It’s looking good in that the State has had ample time to make the decision and just deny the claim but haven't so they are apparently looking at this in further depth. Again thanks

Robert Sebring