Co-representatives in probate: good or bad?
September 7, 2010 5:05 PM Subscribe
Probate question: co-representatives or not?
My ex sister-in-law passed away in late July without a will. It was unexpected and she was found by her youngest daughter, who lives in the same Arizona town. Her only sibling, a sister, lives in Oregon.
The two sisters are in their mid-twenties and wholly unfamiliar with probate and legal issues, but they have a family friend who is a paralegal giving them some help. The very first thing they need to do, and still haven't, is get access to their mother's bank account in order to pay bills...mortgage,. utilities, mortuary bills, etc.
The sisters want to be designated as co-representatives, and have filed the paperwork with the courts. When they took notarized documentation to B of A, the bank told them that they don't allow co-representatives. Is that true?
Is the whole co-representative arrangement going to be more trouble than it's worth?
Thank you for any help, and you are not my lawyer.
My ex sister-in-law passed away in late July without a will. It was unexpected and she was found by her youngest daughter, who lives in the same Arizona town. Her only sibling, a sister, lives in Oregon.
The two sisters are in their mid-twenties and wholly unfamiliar with probate and legal issues, but they have a family friend who is a paralegal giving them some help. The very first thing they need to do, and still haven't, is get access to their mother's bank account in order to pay bills...mortgage,. utilities, mortuary bills, etc.
The sisters want to be designated as co-representatives, and have filed the paperwork with the courts. When they took notarized documentation to B of A, the bank told them that they don't allow co-representatives. Is that true?
Is the whole co-representative arrangement going to be more trouble than it's worth?
Thank you for any help, and you are not my lawyer.
I'd lawyer up. Its way more complicated, overall, than you think. At least find some low-cost assistance. The bank can't refuse you access to funds which are going into probate. A lawyer would clear this up quick.
posted by Ironmouth at 6:13 PM on September 7, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Ironmouth at 6:13 PM on September 7, 2010 [1 favorite]
In my experience, when dealing with retail banks and probate, banks refuse to do ANYTHING unless they've made you jump through every hoop under the sun. It typically has little to do with the law, and little to do with the bank's actual policy -- it's entirely about the fact that the individual bankers don't deal with probate that often and get freaked out by having to step outside their everyday doings. (I don't blame them, exactly, but surely there should be training on What To Do and Who To Call.)
You are almost always best off speaking to a manager right off and asking about their procedures.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:47 PM on September 7, 2010
You are almost always best off speaking to a manager right off and asking about their procedures.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:47 PM on September 7, 2010
One red flag here: these ladies are trying to do things themselves, with a "paralegal giving them some help". This is the kind of thing that needs a lawyer. They are predictably running into problems which a lawyer would be best able to handle.
posted by yclipse at 7:26 PM on September 7, 2010
posted by yclipse at 7:26 PM on September 7, 2010
Just went through this with my dad's death. Bank of America does not allow corepresentatives usually. It took our lawyer writing them a letter basically threatening them and citing the specific laws on corepresentatives four our state to get them to solve the problem. Sorry, but you are ABSOLUTELY going to need a lawyer to deal with BoA. And open your estate account somewhere not Bank of America. Other banks are more sane.
posted by An algorithmic dog at 12:11 AM on September 8, 2010
posted by An algorithmic dog at 12:11 AM on September 8, 2010
And while Bank of America can not refuse you access to the funds going into probe and you should not need a lawyer in practice they can do whatever the hell they want. And appealing this to upper level managers isn't going to help, it didn't for us. The only thing they listen to are lawyers and in writing.
posted by An algorithmic dog at 12:15 AM on September 8, 2010
posted by An algorithmic dog at 12:15 AM on September 8, 2010
Response by poster: Thanks everyone. We're contacting an attorney this morning. And valkyryn, great point about the online banking!
posted by Gusaroo at 9:53 AM on September 8, 2010
posted by Gusaroo at 9:53 AM on September 8, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
We're not talking about the law as much as we're talking about Bank of America's internal policies, so I think this is less a straight-up legal issue than a customer service issue, i.e. "Can I speak to your manager?"
Just because it's going to cause the teller a not-insignificant pain in the neck does not, in fact, mean that Bank of America does not do what you want them to. In fact, as long as both sisters have authority by the courts, it's going to be difficult for them not to go along with this.
Whether or not this is a battle worth fighting is going to depend on just how badly they want this to work out this way.
But there's a workaround: online banking. Even if only one sister is officially associated with the account as far as Bank of America is concerned, there's absolutely nothing preventing them from sharing login information and managing the account online.
posted by valkyryn at 5:45 PM on September 7, 2010