AboutJim Meadows Expertise I can respond to most questions concerning consumer and business relationships with US financial institutions. My expertise touches on deposit and loan issues and particularly on strategies to navigate through bank policies personell and practices. I have a degree in Economics, attended law school, Graduate Shool of Banking, and Commercial Lending and Compliance Schools.
Experience I have twenty years experience as a bank CEO. Most of those years were spent operating a bank focused primarly on serving consumer/retail needs. I helped pioneer deposit and loan products for low/moderate income individuals. I currently serve on multiple bank boards and am Chairman of a Commercial Bank in Atlanta.
Question if im the only child of my mother can i close her checking account, if so how. she has no will or anything like that. my uncle tells me i need a note from the funeral parlor to show them that its paid in full/ this isa a question that is worrying me as we have no way of knowing what to do can u please help me thank you
Answer Pam, The answer to your question depends strictly on state law, and on how the account was held. For example, a joint account usually becomes the property of the surviving account owner(s) immediately.
If an account is held only by an individual who dies, his or her estate becomes the owner. From a practical perspective, the account can't be used until someone is appointed by a court to represent the estate.
In some states, small-balance accounts of deceased individuals can be claimed after a statutory waiting period by the decedent's next of kin. The bank should be contacted for details as to documentation required, the length of the waiting period, the limits on the size of accounts that can be handled in this way, and indeed whether the state allows such a procedure at all. Jim
