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Estate Administration - Joint Bank Accounts

Posted by: admin    Tags:      Posted date:  July 31, 2012

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When a bank account is held by more than one person and one of the joint account holders dies, the other account holder(s) may take the original death certificate to the bank who then register the death and transfer the funds into the names of the remaining accountholders. The funds may be used immediately although the deceased’s share as at the date of death will be taken into account for inheritance tax purposes.

There was a lengthy, complex and emotive case recently (Dakeford v Cotton & other – 25/5/2012) relating to joint accounts held by a deceased and one of her children, initially so as to facilitate signing the account but later passing to the child (in exclusion of the other children) by way of survivorship. This challenge, which was unsuccessful, was still costly and time-consuming for all parties. Witness statements were submitted by most family members and family disputes were aired in public.

At Ziadies we recommend taking professional legal advice on such matters and setting out the parties intentions clearly to avoid a difficult situation arising following a person’s death.