Q: Can a creditor for a deceased person take money from a joint bank account
I am a joint owner of a bank account with my mother who recently passed. There is not a lot of money involved. She passed with several thousands of medical bills. Can they take the money in the joint account?
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A:
* If the bank account was jointly owned between you and your late mother, the creditor generally cannot take money from the account to pay off your mother's debts. Here are some key points:
* Joint bank accounts typically have a right of survivorship. This means that when one owner dies, full ownership passes to the surviving owner. So when your mother died, you became the sole owner of the account.
* Creditors can only make claims against the deceased person's estate. A joint account does not automatically become part of the probate estate that creditors can make claims against.
* An exception is if the account was "joint for convenience" - simply intended to allow you access to help your mother. In that case, a creditor may be able to claim a portion. But the creditor would have to provide evidence about the intent of the account.
* You may want to notify the bank about your mother's passing to change the account to be in just your name. This helps avoid any future confusion about ownership.
In summary, if this was a typical joint account, the creditors cannot seize funds from it directly due to your right of survivorship.
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