I am a coexecutor of my deceased brother's will. I did not use probate since he made me the beneficiary of his insurance policies. Two of the checks that I received were written in his name. One bank would not cash them. So I took them to another bank which did cash them but I did not inform that bank that my brother was deceased. Should I return the money to that bank?

Insurance beneficiaries are outside of wills and probate. The checks should have been made out to you, assuming that you are an adult, and there's no confusion about age.

You need to clear up that confusion.

And yes, you committed a crime by cashing checks made out to him. It may never get noticed. I once made out a check for a down payment on a condo to the sellers, and my lawyer had me sign their names on the back and she put it in her escrow, even though I was the writer of the check and it's a very different situation. Just saying, checks do get tossed around. Doesn't make it legal or ethical.

What about your co-executor? She or he isn't a beneficiary of any insurance policies? This isn't sounding quite like complete and accurate details.

I'm surprised the bank cashed them at all. The insurance company should have made them out to the "estate of ...." and then you as executor could have cashed them. Did you endorse the check over to yourself? No ID needed?

You both know that the OP thinks he committed fraud (from your answers)when in fact it seems to me it was a misdirection of information. Now, he is probably more confused then ever. I don't have an anawer because our rules on the other side are a little more stringent and you people down there don't follow any??

In all of your states there are different rules that must be followed, it is ridiculous.

Why didnt you wait until AK or Scott could have answered that.

What drivvle.

You can't cash a check made out to a deceased person, even if he endorsed it over to you before he died. Even if he wrote a check on his account. When someone dies, ALL bank transactions involving the deceased must cease. It doesn't matter who was confused or why.

OK, then what ever happened to POA, Power of Attorney. I had POA over my mom's account; she had a will that was written up by her and signed by her; her best friend was her executor. It didn't matter. When she passed away, the bank honoured my signature to release all funds to my account. That was not difficult. So why is it so difficult in so many states ?

.. Should I return the money to that bank?

No. The funds don't belong to the bank. Do you mean the insurance companies? Maybe, with a request to re-issue the checks to you individually.


The insurance company should have made them out to the "estate of ...."

Not if OP was the beneficiary. It should have made them out to OP.


I had POA over my mom's account; she had a will that was written up by her and signed by her; her best friend was her executor. It didn't matter. When she passed away, the bank honoured my signature to release all funds to my account. That was not difficult. So why is it so difficult in so many states ?

The bank made a mistake. The POA didn't survive your mom's death. The executor could have sued you and the bank for the money.

One thing that is being missed here is that probate was never filed. Therefore the executor was never formalized. It is my understanding, that until probate is filed and the executor confirmed, anyone acting as executor is doing so unofficially.

The OP refers to "Two of the checks that I received" being in the deceased name. As noted an insurance carrier would never do that. If there is a named beneficiary of a policy, then the check would be made out to the beneficiary. If there were no surviving beneficiary then the checks would be made out to the estate of..., never in the policyholder's name.

So something is not right here. I think we need clarification from the OP as to the source of those checks.

As for fraud, the only way fraud would come into play here is if the issuer of the check refused payment because of an improper endorsement. If the check was honored, then there should be no problem with the bank. If the check was honored, then it would be up to the insurer to charge the OP if they wanted to pursue it.

AK, I know the POA does not survive death. The executor would not have sued anyone. She was quite elderly at the time, and was executor in name only. My mom and I had a joint bank account for years with the same bank.

... One thing that is being missed here is that probate was never filed. ...

Either that or, since OP was beneficiary of the life insurance policy or policies, OP didn't need to administer the checks as probate assets (if indeed they were not a part of the decedent's estate). OP indicates that "I didn't use probate", which suggests the above, whether or not a probate petition was filed.