Hi folks,

We are in a peculiar situation, hoping that we could get some advise.

Situation: over 12 yrs ago my wife had some savings (approx $7k) and opened an account with vanguard. On advise of her parents, the account was opened as a joint account with her brother, so if anything would happen to her, the family would have a way to access the account.

There has not been any monetary gain due to the tech bubble.

Recently, we have gotten word from my brother in law that he is in some financial problem and he might be foreclosed on or he might declare bankruptcy.

Our question is: what are our options(if there are any) to save what is remain in the account. We thought about closing the account, but we understand that if bankruptcy is declared, there is a possibility that this could be view as fraud.

How the situation in this account would be affect between letting the house be foreclosed vs going into bankruptcy directly?

Any advice is greatly appreciated, thank in advance

If your wife can prove that these funds were hers and hers alone, you can file a note with Vanguard to that effect. This will prevent it from being attached for any debts he has.

You might look to replace his name with yours.