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Small Estate with debts - How to obtain Citibank account statements

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rebeccah

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? California

My dad passed away a few months ago. I held his Durable POA while he was alive, and I am nominated executor of his will, with my brother as alternate executor. All of his accounts had named beneficiaries, except for his main checking account at Citibank - Citibank doesn't allow named beneficiaries on checking accounts. He died with about $16,000 in his Citibank account and no real estate, and all of my siblings and I have received our beneficiary payouts/asset transfers from his other bank account and his brokerage accounts and IRAs. We've pooled a portion of our inheritance into a joint account with my brother and me as owners, for paying Dad's multiple years of un-filed income taxes, and I have not opened probate.

In order to complete Dad's income tax returns, I need his records from his main checking account at Citibank. I've spoken on the phone with their Estate Services department multiple times, and I get different responses each time about what exactly I should do, but they boil down to submitting a Small Estate Affidavit either by fax or by mail, together with a notarized Letter of Instruction and other documentation (if I fax, now I'm supposed to have the notary attest that she saw the original death certificate). But I'm not interested in distributing the account yet - legally I'm not even supposed to until all of Dad's estate's debts have been paid.

Does this make sense? Two notarizations plus an attestation by the notary just to get the account records, and then again later when we distribute the account?
 


First I am sorry for your loss.

I am concerned that you are doing things out of order. If at all possible, should open probate before distributing funds, and all bills should be paid before any remaining funds are distributed.

You should probably contact an estate attorney before doing more.
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
(if I fax, now I'm supposed to have the notary attest that she saw the original death certificate).
As a California notary, this confuses me. This is not one of the official functions of a notary. If they're asking the notary to just sign something on the side saying that s/he saw the original, but not in any official capacity, that's fine I suppose, but it really has nothing to do with notarial functions. You are paraphrasing, so it's possible that they're asking for the notary to "certify" the copy of the death certificate. If that is what they're asking, then a California notary is unable to do that.
 

zddoodah

Active Member
It sounds like your father's estate is of such a size as not to require formal probate.

That being said, your particular question raises no legal issue. Give the bank what the bank wants. If I were you (and I have been and currently am in a similar situation), I'd take everything (in particular, a certified death certificate) and visit a branch office.
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
What is the name of your state? California

My dad passed away a few months ago. I held his Durable POA while he was alive, and I am nominated executor of his will, with my brother as alternate executor. All of his accounts had named beneficiaries, except for his main checking account at Citibank - Citibank doesn't allow named beneficiaries on checking accounts. He died with about $16,000 in his Citibank account and no real estate, and all of my siblings and I have received our beneficiary payouts/asset transfers from his other bank account and his brokerage accounts and IRAs. We've pooled a portion of our inheritance into a joint account with my brother and me as owners, for paying Dad's multiple years of un-filed income taxes, and I have not opened probate.

In order to complete Dad's income tax returns, I need his records from his main checking account at Citibank. I've spoken on the phone with their Estate Services department multiple times, and I get different responses each time about what exactly I should do, but they boil down to submitting a Small Estate Affidavit either by fax or by mail, together with a notarized Letter of Instruction and other documentation (if I fax, now I'm supposed to have the notary attest that she saw the original death certificate). But I'm not interested in distributing the account yet - legally I'm not even supposed to until all of Dad's estate's debts have been paid.

Does this make sense? Two notarizations plus an attestation by the notary just to get the account records, and then again later when we distribute the account?
You could move the citibank money into an estate account and then use that money to cover his taxes first. It would be easier to refund all of you from the pooled money account, than to distribute the citibank account. Therefore using the citibank account first to pay his debts/taxes makes more sense.
 

rebeccah

Junior Member
First I am sorry for your loss.

I am concerned that you are doing things out of order. If at all possible, should open probate before distributing funds, and all bills should be paid before any remaining funds are distributed.

You should probably contact an estate attorney before doing more.
You misunderstand. All I wanted was the records so I could complete the tax returns. THEN I was going to request the funds. I kept getting confusing and contradictory information on the phone.
 

rebeccah

Junior Member
As a California notary, this confuses me. This is not one of the official functions of a notary. If they're asking the notary to just sign something on the side saying that s/he saw the original, but not in any official capacity, that's fine I suppose, but it really has nothing to do with notarial functions. You are paraphrasing, so it's possible that they're asking for the notary to "certify" the copy of the death certificate. If that is what they're asking, then a California notary is unable to do that.
Yeah, it just seemed completely wack. I finally decided not to fax, and then I decided not to mail, either, and I went to a branch and spoke to someone in person.
 

rebeccah

Junior Member
You could move the citibank money into an estate account and then use that money to cover his taxes first. It would be easier to refund all of you from the pooled money account, than to distribute the citibank account. Therefore using the citibank account first to pay his debts/taxes makes more sense.
It's a small estate so no formal probate, so technically no "estate" account, but I did open up an account specifically for drawing from to pay the taxes, and all of the siblings have contributed to it from the funds that were transferred to them directly, outside of probate. It turns out it will not be a problem to put the Citibank money there, too.
 
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rebeccah

Junior Member
It sounds like your father's estate is of such a size as not to require formal probate.

That being said, your particular question raises no legal issue. Give the bank what the bank wants. If I were you (and I have been and currently am in a similar situation), I'd take everything (in particular, a certified death certificate) and visit a branch office.
Thank you. That's what I ended up doing, and the banker was very helpful. Got Dad's credit card account closed, too.
 
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