State of Virginia Law on Survivor's Use of Joint Bank Acct

[marylandwoman]

What is the name of your state? VIRGINIA IS STATE MY QUESTION PERTAINS TO

My mother lives in Virginia. My father died 6 months ago and her acct, lawyer, etc are telling her she can't have access yet to either of their 3 joint bank accts until a tax return is filed on my father's estate.

Sounds fishy to me - a joint acct is a joint acct - right? JTWROS - as a survivor, the monies now become hers?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, as my mother is concerned she will run out of funds to keep the household going BEFORE she is allowed to touch the accts.

Jane

 

[anteater]

What is the name of your state? VIRGINIA IS STATE MY QUESTION PERTAINS TO

My mother lives in Virginia. My father died 6 months ago and her acct, lawyer, etc are telling her she can't have access yet to either of their 3 joint bank accts until a tax return is filed on my father's estate.

Sounds fishy to me - a joint acct is a joint acct - right? JTWROS - as a survivor, the monies now become hers?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, as my mother is concerned she will run out of funds to keep the household going BEFORE she is allowed to touch the accts.

Jane

Let's be practical. If the accounts are JTWROS, who, other than the bank, is going to stop your mother from claiming the joint acccount funds? Has she tried?

 

[Dandy Don]

If the executor has not already gotten access to the monies in the account, your mother needs to ask the bank to transfer this money into account with only HER name on it. Attorney and executor may be trying to mislead your mother on this so they can put the money in the estate and thereby claim a larger executor fee. And even if executor has already transferred the money to an estate account, your mother needs to insist that the money be returned to her--it's hers, and THEY SHOULD KNOW what right of survivorship really means, and she doesn't have to wait for a tax return--that is pure BS. If what they say is true, they need to explain the reasoning behind their statement.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])