Any advice on a banking question for Dad's estate planning?

Be sure you are on the bank account as an "or" joint owner. That gives you immediate access to the account both now (while Dad is still living) and immediately following his death, with no necesity of proving his death. An alternative is to title the bank account as "TOD" (transfer on death) so that you have ownership following his death, upon proof he has died (i.e., you have to show the bank the death certificate first).

On small accounts, there is little risk by putting your name on a parent's bank account as joint owner, but if you are sued or divorced, that money may be at risk, unless and until you can prove that money originated from your father and not you.

Joint tenancy with right of survivorship instead of joint tenancy. The right of survivorship should transfer to you outside probate. Some banks also have TOD transfer on death. Ask the bank which they recognize and what they need signed. Medicaid will treat the addition of you to accounts as gifting, so if that’s a consideration talk with a lawyer.

Dimeolas,
Yes, you are correct. No what your dad is telling you isn't true.
When you have a joint account, when one passes the other is automatically sole owner.
Im going through this right now.
If you dont have your name on his account as “joint”, the account with his name only will go into probate for the estate. Unless, he puts you as beneficiary. Then you will have access to the account but you will have to take down the death certificate after he has passed, to the bank, fill out paperwork etc.

A joint account is also guarenteed that the money cant be considered part of “estate funds”. This means that you will ONLY be able to pay bills for the estate with it, any money left over goes to the estate in probate.
With a joint account or you as beneficiary, you can do what you want with the money and the court cant stop you. If the bank account goes into the estate, you have to keep records and be accountable for everything you spend from that bank account.
Also, my advise to you, have your dad appoint you as administrator or exeutor of his estate, now. Otherwise, you have to be court appointed after he passes. Which can take a lot of time. The judge can deny you. Then you have to get a lawyer to fight for you. Do it now. It will save you a MASSIVE headache later on.

Be aware!
Everything needs to be on paper! After they are gone there is no more “he said” My dad said a lot of things before he passed but nothing was ever put on paper, so there was no way to “prove” to the court anything he told me before he passed away.

My name was on Moms account and Medicaid never questioned it. It was Moms money. I was on it so I could pay the bills.

Just realize, when Dad passes his SS and any pension he may have stops. You will not have them to help offset bills.

Does Dad have a Will in place, if not and he can make informed decisions, then get one done. This will make Probate a lot easier. If he dies with no will, then the state controls the situation.

Our neighbors were in foreclosure 2 yrs before the bank evicted them. So, if Dad passes and you can't pay mortgage and taxes it will be a while before your evicted. I just heard of a couple who continued to pay taxes but not their mortgage knowing it would take the bank a couple of years before they evicted them.

Probate should not take that long if a will is in place. You will just need to show that all debts have been satisfied. Follow Dads wishes. If you can't afford the house, then sell it. Then Probate can be closed.

I agree that medicaid will view this as gifting so be careful. Although the plan to keep our parents at home, something can happen at the blink of an eye that can turn every plan upside down in a split second..... so before you do anything at the bank, I would speak to a recommended elder attorney on this issue.

When my friends with dementia issues made me their durable power of attorney, I went with them to the bank to have the papers notarized there, so the bank people met me then. They were relieved someone was able to step in an manage their finances. I sign the checks and put in parenthesis POA after my name. I am also executor of their estate when that time comes. I also had all their mail sent to my address so I could catch any bills and the phony come-ons that they were being bombarded with and couldn't figure out what to do about. The wife has since passed and everything was held jointly, so the husband had it all. He is living in a memory care apartment and I continue to pay all his bills, making sure not one cent comes to me. I don't have to account to anyone with this arrangement, but act as though I do. The only money that leaves the bank is to pay a documented bill. Any check to him that comes in the mail is deposited to his account in its entirety. This system has worked very smoothly the 5 years it has been in effect. The biggest project was emptying out their townhouse and selling it, which took about 2 1-2 years. I have other things in my life to manage and pay attention to, so I didn't put any pressure on myself to get it done quickly. There was plenty of money in their accounts to ease the pressure on this. Once sold, their townhouse is paying another 20 months of memory care fees. The husband is physically healthy at age 92, but can't remember hardly anything from one minute to the next. He is intelligent and coherent, but without that memory, could not begin to function on his own. We have been friends for almost 50 years and I am grateful we can still maintain this friendship. We joke about being "brothers of another color" since he is a black man and I am a pale Swede.

I am not an attorney but what I do believe when someone dies and bills need to be paid is that you get a death certificate from the County Clerk where you live - this is where you take the will and other documents and they issue a death certificate. You take that to the places where money was held by the deceased. Then you can take l00% of all funds and put them into NEW 'ESTATE OF (NAME)' ACCOUNT. Then out of that account, you pay all bills. DO NOT USE YOUR MONEY _ it will complicate things down the line. Call your local county Probate Office and they can help you with what you need to do.

Another thought is that if he is still alive and has money in the original joint accounts with his deceased wife, you could obtain a Power of Attorney so you would have access to the accounts in case he can't do it himself. POA stops on death and that is when you need to show you are the Executrix of the Will and must open an estate account to pay all bills. I would suggest calling an elder attorney as to the best situation where you live to avoid problems.

My own experience is that Banks (or their staff) act differently irrespective of what the law says. I have known banks to refuse to allow access to a joint account by the survivor who now owns it legally, and banks who have allowed withdrawals from an account in the sole name of the deceased if it was under a certain amount. Banks who have allowed money for the funeral account, banks who wouldn’t. My only suggestion is not to accept the answer from the clerk on the desk, go to the manager, and say you will go to head office if you get an answer that you know goes against the law on a joint account.

contact an elder law attorney immediately they can answer your questions
do not wait
I contacted one and thanks heavens I did in my state you can have a quick pro quid deed that if he had gone on Medicaid I would not have lost half of the house
sadly he died unexpectedly, but we did have a will in place
does your dad have a will for you you to inherit the house also to leave you any IRA or any other money
it won’t be cheap but I would have lost half of 300K and his money from his IRA
you need expert help to answer your questions
only an ELDER LAW ATTORNEY can answer your questions as a friend found a regular attorney can not know the answers