Did You Leave Them On Your Bank Account?

[tnd]

So, what are you all doing? What did you decide for yourselves?  I know that no one can or should give legal advice on here and so I am not asking for any. I am just curious as to what others are doing. My husband and I shared a joint checking account. I figured that once I move and have a new address, I will have new checks printed with just my name on them. I haven't decided about whether or not to leave his name on the account. I think I will probably either have his name removed or open a new account in just my name. Hopefully this will head-off any personal questions when I write a check, etc. I honestly do not want to have to explain to people that my husband passed away. Friends or new acquaintances will be alright, but I don't want to explain it to cashiers or businesspeople. 

[SSC]

My daughter and her husband are financial advisors.  They advised me to remove my husband’s name from our account even though I didn’t want to.  This is due to taxes, identity theft, and even the security of the account.  If I’m not mistaken my credit union required it of me anyway.  I have to admit I hated having the account solely in my name.  It felt disrespectful and having checks printed with only my name was strange.  Our whole married life we had joint accounts with total transparency so for me this felt like I was doing something wrong.  
 

 

[foreverhis]

The answer is yes and no. 

Some accounts, such as his IRA, had to be transferred to my name as his beneficiary and renamed to an "Inherited IRA."  Our small investment account and the checking/savings linked to it had to be transferred to me as individual accounts.  I took him off our safe deposit box when I added my sister and gave her his key.  I would have done those even if the government didn't require it because those are the most vulnerable to fraud and identity theft.

I originally kept him on our regular checking and what we called our "short term" savings where we kept a couple of thousand for emergencies.  He's still on the small savings account, but I was required to remove him from our regular checking when I added my sister because that type of joint account requires approval of all people on it, even if there's a death certificate on file.  That was a year ago and it was a really hard day.  The reason he is still on the savings account is that the bank representative said I should keep him on one account just in case anything ever came in with his name on it because then it would be easy to deposit a check (or whatever) as "Me, executor for Him." 

I canceled his credit cards, except one that I wanted.  The bank just changed that account to my name because his death certificate was already on file.  A few months after he died, I removed him from the cars and had them retitled as "Me, ToD (transfer on death) Daughter."  Ditto on all of those regarding fraud and identity theft.

He is still on a few utility accounts.  I only take him off when I'm required to do so because the "account holder" was always him and some changes require approval.  When I changed internet and cell phone providers, obviously those were set up in my name alone and the old accounts closed.  I plan to put our house into a trust so our girls can avoid probate when the time comes, but until then the only change is that I paid off the remaining mortgage with his life insurance and a new trust deed was issued removing the mortgage bank and making the property free held.  Our property tax bill now comes with "the heirs of Him" and "Me" on the property owner's section.  We owned everything JTRS (Joint Tenants, Right of Survivor), so there's never been an issue with that.

So I guess my answer overall is a "yes, when I have to."

[foreverhis]

11 minutes ago, SSC said:

 It felt disrespectful and having checks printed with only my name was strange.

I so get this!  We've done mostly online bill pay for more than 15 years, so we only wrote maybe 10 checks a year.  Just last month when I wrote a check to an appliance repairman, I realized I only have a few left.  I went online and ordered one box, choosing a different design, and cringed when I had to fill in the information for me and my sister, but not John.  It did feel strange; I was so sad that day.

[KayC]

The bank made me take his name off.  

[Roxeanne]

Feel strange here in Italy 'cos we have no choice...we had to do the succession anyway!

No way you can save the name of a deceased person everywhere

[annie123]

The bank manager told me to leave my husbands name on our joint account.  If a check comes in with his name on it, no problem, his name is on the account, and sure enough I received several checks in his name only, I was told to sign my name for deposit only.  It has been 14 months and I still haven't taken his name off.   When I changed my will to put my children's name on, the lawyer told me that the bank manager gave me good advice.

[DMB]

I removed husband from joint account AFTER I had his name removed from everything else, like bills, car titles, insurance policies etc. So that way if I had a claim or something the check would only come in my name.  I still have to go in and make my children payable upon death on 2 accounts now.  Even though I have a will, they would only need to present a death certificate to have access to the money which would be much quicker. 

[tnd]

Thanks everyone for the replies. Glad I asked.

[Malisacher]

My Bank told me to keep my husband on our joint account for at least  a year ...In case anything came in his name and then i could deposit into our account...I will probley take him off after a year or so..

[tnd]

On 2/20/2022 at 4:06 PM, Malisacher said:

.I will probley take him off after a year or so..

Malisacher:  That seems to be a good idea. You never know. Something concerning an old 401K or retirement account might come in or an inheritance from someone. A year seems to be pretty reasonable. I figured I'd wait until after I've moved and have a new address. My husband passed in June so by the time I get a place it could very well be close to a year. Thanks for replying.