QUESTION
Can the PR of an estate take PERSONAL possession of the decedents bank accts if the sig card lists them as JT with survivorship but the POA says no?
Asked on Jun 19th, 2012 on Estate Litigation - Florida
More details to this question:
My Father passed away and in his will left his entire estate to my Mother and I. He named a neighbor personal representative and also signed a power of attorney giving the personal representative authority to use my Fathers checking account to pay the bills of the estate and specifically stated in the POA that the checking account funds not be transferred to the personal representative or person with power of attorney under any circumstances. My Father also added the personal representative with the POA as a joint tenant with survivorship rights on the signature card at the bank. When we asked the personal representative to pay some of the estate bills from my Fathers checking account, the personal representative said that the checking account was left to him as a gift from our Father and that he would not be paying any of the estate bills from that account. Does he have this right?
1 ANSWER
4 Awards
As the Personal Representative of your father's estate, the neighbor must use the assets of the estate to pay the creditors. However, if the bank account in question was a joint account in your father and neighbor's name or the neighbor was named as the death beneficiary, the account is not part of the estate. Thus, the neighbor is not required to pay creditors from the account.
Answered on Jun 22nd, 2012 at 2:18 PM