Joint accounts with survivorship go to the survivor. Otherwise they can be worded to go back to the estate. The survivor is the other joint holder. Many elderly people do not realize when they put a child on a checking account, it is the child's when they die unless specified. That leaves the other children with nothing from this account.
For instance, my mother has between 40 and 80 thousand in one checking account. She put my brother on it as a joint holder. As far as I know he has rights of survivorship. It is his money. She assures me he will "share" with me. I am not so sure but nothing I can do about it. He is on this account after all to pay her bills when needed. To quote her, "that is the way I want it."
Now if he keeps the money, it will ruin what is left of a shabby relationship anyway. I would never do that to him. But time will tell. So if you want to take the money after your Mom's death, you probably can but think about the damage this may do to your relationships. It is not worth it.
If I understand you correctly, if mom specifies that $100 is to be divided equally amongst her four children in her will, but eldest child is joint owner of $50 which is held in the checking account, upon mom's death, that goes entirely to eldest child as joint owner? Is that correct? Lorain also mentioned CD's...do you happen to know if the same rules apply to CD's as to the bank account? So if the remaining $50 was in CD's, and only eldest child was on the CD as joint owner, hypothetically, eldest child would own everything (liquid assets) upon mom's death, regardless of what the will says. Am I correctly stating what you have said? (Money muddles my otherwise fine brain!)
Lorain, do you mean now, or after your mother passes? Do you have siblings? Does your mother have siblings? Does your mother have a will? All of those factors will affect the answer to your question.
Lorain, I don't know what you mean by "my share." If you jointly own the account, all of it is yours when your mother dies, unless the account is set up some other way.
If the account is supposed to be shared upon your mother's death, it might be best to set that up in advance, especially if the persons to do the sharing may be upset about the arrangement.
Depends on how the accounts are set up. Some accounts have instructions for the funds to go back to the estate, many do not. In most cases the money is owned by the joint holders, but if you have siblings there could be some very unhappy people. You need to give more information. My brother is jointly on my mother's accounts with the orders to divide it with me. We will see if that happens. As she has it now, it it totally his upon her death.
For instance, my mother has between 40 and 80 thousand in one checking account. She put my brother on it as a joint holder. As far as I know he has rights of survivorship. It is his money. She assures me he will "share" with me. I am not so sure but nothing I can do about it. He is on this account after all to pay her bills when needed. To quote her, "that is the way I want it."
Now if he keeps the money, it will ruin what is left of a shabby relationship anyway. I would never do that to him. But time will tell. So if you want to take the money after your Mom's death, you probably can but think about the damage this may do to your relationships. It is not worth it.
If I understand you correctly, if mom specifies that $100 is to be divided equally amongst her four children in her will, but eldest child is joint owner of $50 which is held in the checking account, upon mom's death, that goes entirely to eldest child as joint owner? Is that correct?
Lorain also mentioned CD's...do you happen to know if the same rules apply to CD's as to the bank account? So if the remaining $50 was in CD's, and only eldest child was on the CD as joint owner, hypothetically, eldest child would own everything (liquid assets) upon mom's death, regardless of what the will says.
Am I correctly stating what you have said? (Money muddles my otherwise fine brain!)
Helpful as always, Jeanne, Thank you.
http://www.ehow.com/info_12017340_can-poa-joint-account.html
If the account is supposed to be shared upon your mother's death, it might be best to set that up in advance, especially if the persons to do the sharing may be upset about the arrangement.