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While on line I discovered I could opt in to have my accounts passed on to him upon my death.
Another warning here. Don't take the advice of people on a Forum, of people who are comingling their names on accounts or relying on online banking.
Please see an elder law attorney to do POA papers, and submit the POA when the elder is no longer competent to act on account.
And please know that if there is a Trust you need BOTH POA and Trustee of Trust to manage said accounts. You will need perfect records. There are thousands of things that can go WRONG with having accounts with your name on it. The elder can say "You stole my money". The IRS can come calling and saying "Whose money is this and why is your name on the account". Medicaid can say "This elder has a lot of money, but whose is it". Just a ton of questions.
The RIGHT WAY if you want to manage the bill paying and finances of your elder is to get documents WHILE THEY ARE COMPETENT to manage their Trusts as successor trustee and their accounts as POA WHEN they are NOT competent.
See an attorney. Remember, this is a Forum and it is clear from this thread that everyone is doing just about anything and everything that can be imagined. Which will cause problems. Medical advice needed? See an MD. Financial Advice needed? See a bank, an accountant, an attorney. Legal advice needed? See an attorney.
If the state has an inheritance fee ( Pennsylvania one of the only ones and terribly high) then you only pay on the half of acct because half is your name.
I also suggest TOD ( transfer on death) to bank and car and home so those go straight to your family to sell and not in the probate of waiting for estate to close
Dad also set up his investments accounts, home, and car TOD, so I guess everything is in order. He has tried hard to get everything taken care of to make it easy for my sister and I. The only "condition" that exists is that my sister gets the car, not me, since he gave mom's Toyota Highlander to me last year. I'm a 4WD mountain girl and the Subaru would better fit with her city lifestyle.
MY APOLOGIES.. if I am asking a question in a question post, like I said I'm new to this site, and this gave me courage to FINALLY ENGAGE in comments, questions other than just reading for hours and wanting to ask questions!! Thank you
See an elder law attorney and try to get this all cleaned up. And to others. Please stop adding your name to your parents accounts thinking that this is a good answer. It is not. It is a bad answer that will cause problems in the future when it is too late to address them due to dementia in the elder. It can cause all kinds of mess when there is a need to act for the senior, in record keeping and in the government coming down like a ton of bricks, adding their own accusations to the elder who is screaming "You took my money".
This has to be done right. Sorry. It just has to. And I am amazed that the banks themselves are not cautioning people who are attempting to add their progency to their accounts as anything but POD. Our own accountant warned about co-mingling and the mess it can cause with IRS.
Turns out a POA or added signature to a checking account will not be accepted if the bank accounts are in a trust. If her money is not in a trust, you will not need to worry about this.
If it is in a trust, you will need to take over the trust to access the money, which will require her to be legally incapacitated.
I manage all her finances by getting digital access. But, to do this, I had to take her physically into her bank and she gave her permission.
Once she dies, if you are her executer or successor trustee, you will need to submit the death certificate to the bank, along with any necessary documents.
Relying on online banking to skid by all this could end in a disaster. Please see an elder law attorney to get this worked out the right way, if you haven't already.
Say mom's will wants to divide everything 'in the estate' equally by all surviving children. The only things you are dividing is what is left in mom's name at the time of death. When people start moving things for various reasons (trying to hide from Medicaid, to keep things out of probate, etc) - there may not really be anything left 'in the estate' to divide with all the children...and no guarantee mom's wishes would ever be met. And can create a lot of family drama.
If you are the only person listed on a transfer upon death for the bank account, it becomes your money and will not be a part of the estate. You would not be bound to share with siblings. Will that create problems with siblings for the rest of your life? If you list all of them on the transfer upon death for the bank account, all of the money would belong to each of you ---- if one went to clean out the acct, they could.
In my situation, I was additional signer on the acct for same reason you are. I didn't call bank at time of death to close account because there was still a few outstanding debts to be paid. I made siblings aware of balance at time of death and will record any further expenses. When all that is done, expenses to maintain house will come out of that acct until house is sold or we figure out what we'll do with it. Of course, me and all the siblings agree to do it this way and have never had any argument about what belonged to our mom. From what I've read on this forum and personal stories I've heard, our cohesive family in regard to money issues is a rarity.
If you think there will be problems with other heirs, you need a level head and a sharing heart over the finances --- or an atty to advise
If it’s overdrawn or the actual POA comes in and removes all the money, checks bounce etc.
Maybe both of you are banking at the same bank, they can recover funds from your personal account
A Trust would protect you from that, I found out the hard way.
When your mother passes on, all you will have to do is bring a copy of her death certificate to the bank and have her name removed from the account. It's that simple.
Joint accounts with right of survivorship (aka "POD," pay on death provision) pass to the joint owner upon death. This is probably the most common form of joint account, and the one usually used by married couples.
BUT there are such things as joint accounts where the account owners are not equal (one is junior, the other senior) and without POD provision. These would become part of the estate and would be locked at the time of death, and remain so until the asset has gone through probate.
So, assuming your name is on the account, you might want to talk to the bank. Or to your mom if you wish to change them, should these not be as you wish (for whatever reason).
When Dad passed, his estate went into Probate, and since I was the Ex of Dad's Will, I needed to change that bank account to read Estate of John Smith, so I could continue to write checks for bills coming in.
Once probate was finished, then any money left in that account would go to whomever was named in his Will.
I was on my parents's account for years, but I never wrote checks on it until I took over their finances for them. Know that that money belongs to your mother, and she is trusting you not to abuse your position as a co-signer on the account. That money is to be used for her expenses and care, not yours.