My father, who has been ill for a long time, put me on his joint account. I saw some improprieties of the woman he was living with writing a check to herself. He had vision issues when his Parkinson's disease shakes were really bad but I'm sure he trusted her to put his checks for bills in front of him to sign, as she has done for a long time, and didn't know he signed this large check to her. When in the hospital he was asked if he knew why he wrote this check and he couldn't remember signing a big check to her. After seeing this and knowing she still had the checkbook I removed all the money in the account and opened an account in my name only. I asked her to hand over the checkbook and register and wanted his bills directed to me to pay. I paid the bills I got (which were limited) from her and some rehab facility costs. He passed away recently and though I only had the account for a couple of months I want to know if I can keep the funds as a gift from my father, who really wanted to make sure I got it instead of her, and not put it in an inheritance fund. It's over $100,000.00. I would claim it in the year 2009 as a gift and would pay gift taxes on it. I think $13000.00 of it I wouldn't have to claim.

What country are you in? Also when did the funds change hands? How much difference will this make to the estate left behind?

What does your father's will say? Did he gift his money to you before he died? You say your father put your name on his 'joint' account, how did you close that account? Did your father give permission or sign anything for the account you closed? I can't answer your question because I'm not a lawyer, but your question raises a lot of other questions for me.

If the money was in a joint account with you are joint owner that you took the funds out of, then the money was legally yours at the time, That is how many people pass funds from one person to the other at their death, they list the other as joint owner and when they die, the other person just owns the account, no probate no will,

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Originally Posted by Fr_Chuck

If the money was in a joint account with you are joint owner that you took the funds out of, then the money was legally yours at the time, That is how many people pass funds from one person to the other at thier death, they list the other as joint owner and when they die, the other person just owns the account, no probate no will,

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What Im questioning at this point is it looks like the OP took the money out and closed the account before the father had passed and turned it into a single account holder in their name. That could raise a red flag.

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Originally Posted by Fr_Chuck

If the money was in a joint account with you are joint owner that you took the funds out of, then the money was legally yours at the time, That is how many people pass funds from one person to the other at thier death, they list the other as joint owner and when they die, the other person just owns the account, no probate no will,

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I removed the money due to questionable activity. Then made it an account that only I could access. He couldn't write out checks or even go to the bank himself. He became more ill after he put me on his account. I didn't even have the opportunity to ask him if he wanted to sign the new account. I also thought that when he got out of the hospital he would tell me what he wanted me to do. He had been in hospitals before and came home once after he put my name on the account. The next hospital stay he wound up in a rehab facility and then back in the hospital where he died. His mother died and the State took the money for Nursing Home expenses. I knew he didn't want this to happen to his funds. I thought he'd live for awhile and I would give him funds as he needed them when he got out.
If the money was in the joint account would that have been a better idea? Like I said the questionable activity and not knowing how many checks this woman he was living with had him sign made me take the path I did.

thisisit agrees : yes because she took 'their' money and made it 'her' money before he died, that might cause a problelm?

Yes because the money being joint at that time means that OP wasn't entitled to all of it. The new account should have been joint also. The banks by law have to report the transaction when it's that kind of money. Then the goobermint can step in and freeze it until they get answers. If it had been done as Fr_Chuck had suggested then there is a common paper trail and the money belongs to the OP by way of surviviorship. Everthign would have been accounted for. As it is now there may be legal questions and lawyers involved that could cost a lot of money without benefit.

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Originally Posted by thisisit

What does your father's will say? Did he gift his money to you before he died? You say your father put your name on his 'joint' account, how did you close that account? Did your father give permission or sign anything for the account you closed? I can't answer your question because I'm not a lawyer, but your question raises a lot of other questions for me.

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The Will just divides all assets. One of the people in the Will is the woman he was living with. By putting me as joint on the account it showed that he was not wanting it ever to go to her. The account was not closed just depleted of most of the funds.

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Originally Posted by califdadof3

thisisit agrees : yes because she took 'their' money and made it 'her' money before he died, that might cause a problelm?

Yes because the money being joint at that time means that OP wasnt entitled to all of it. the new account should have been joint also. The banks by law have to report the transaction when its that kind of money. Then the goobermint can step in and freeze it until they get answers. If it had been done as Fr_Chuck had suggested then there is a common paper trail and the money belongs to the OP by way of surviviorship. Everthign would have been accounted for. As it is now there may be legal questions and lawyers involved that could cost alot of money without benefit.

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The money I had in the new account was only used for expenses for him. None of it was used for personal gain. I wanted this to be seen as me not taking advantage of the money while he was alive. I just wanted to protect the money from her. My sister, also an heir, said I should keep the money because my dad wanted me to have it.

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Originally Posted by perkywoman123

The money I had in the new account was only used for expenses for him. None of it was used for personal gain. I wanted this to be seen as me not taking advantage of the money while he was alive. I just wanted to protect the money from her. My sister, also an heir, said I should keep the money because my dad wanted me to have it.

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Im not saying what you did with the money once you had control of it is wrongful. But this new system that is in place watches all. And if it smells money then it jumps into action. Its sad but true. They want to know its not drug money or terrorist money and if taxes are due. So keep your eyes out.

Just in case everyone is wondering about my tin foil hat . Lol

Ref:

Bank Secrecy Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Originally Posted by califdadof3

Just in case everyone is wondering about my tin foil hat . lol

Ref:

Bank Secrecy Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Just wanted to mention that I work for a financial institution and the BSA is for cash transactions that are deposited to a bank. I open accounts with hundreds of thousands of dollars all the time. Just like in this case it was a check transfer of the funds. This isn't money laundering. It has a paper trail and has not recently had much in the way of funds added to it.
Thanks for trying to help.
I forgot to mention that my father was able to make me his POA just before he died, which showed his trust for me in handling his assets, health, and business affairs. I think this will also prove that he willingly wanted me to have the funds in his accounts (personal and business) and no one else. What do you think?

I wish it worked like that. A POA is just what it is and it ends at a persons death. Im not arguing that you got the money. Its just in today's environment you need to be careful how its handled in a situation like this.

[QUOTE=Comments on this post
thisisit agrees : I'm sure you were doing the best you could, I hope it all works out for you
Give yours Agree Disagree *Required*
.[/QUOTE]



Please read the rules of the site concerning reddies and greenies - the "comment" feature is not there to add questions or comments. It is there to "rate" the answers.

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Originally Posted by JudyKayTee

Please read the rules of the site concerning reddies and greenies - the "comment" feature is not there to add questions or comments. It is there to "rate" the answers.

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Just looking to see if anyone else had similar experiences. Actually I did do my own divorce papers and had an attorney put them into effect. With lawyers charging at least $175 an hour you need to explore as many people's experiences and internet information as you can before involving a lawyer who will do the same things with his colleagues and legal aides at a hefty fee. I definitely will have a lawyer involved because it is to complicated to do on my own. There are more factors involved then I've written. Unfortunately it was a lawyer that started some of the problems when he didn't get me the POA or new Will to my father and myself in a timely manner. He drew up the original Will and we trusted him to get the papers to us quickly. He was a friend of the family and we believe he didn't want to give us the papers with the changes. We will be exploring the issues of some legal action against him. My father was no longer able to make these changes as he slowly went down hill. I got another lawyer to do the POA and was going to deal with Will issues after my dad got out of the hospital along with issues of how he wanted me to do things with the money. You never really want to think someone will be dying soon and you think you have time but unfortunately I didn't have time. Now dealing with the Will is a mess. The person he chose as executor doesn't want to do it and told him so and the co-executor is a bank. Waiting to hear about whether they will bow out also or take enormous fees to do the work. So much could have been solved if the first lawyer was timely.
Not sure how this website works but as I said just exploring other people's experiences. This site had a law section so that's why I put the questions on in the first place.

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Originally Posted by califdadof3

I wish it worked like that. A POA is just what it is and it ends at a persons death. Im not arguing that you got the money. Its just in todays enviroment you need to be careful how its handled in a situation like this.

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I know POA ended at death. I was just mentioning that because it was asked whether my dad signed something that said it was okay to make my own account with the money and his name not being on it. He added me as joint before I was POA which shows he would have no issues with me doing things with the money. He knew he could trust me and that I devoted myself to taking care of him for years. I have only used this money for his needs. It was a surprise that he wanted me to be joint on his accounts. He was making a personal statement to me when he did this that he wanted the money not to get into someone else's hands. It's the Executor issue that is a mess and didn't have to be. I would get at least this amount of money when all is said and done. I just wanted to know if others had a similar experience and could tell me more before I went further into the legal process.
I know you are right that abuses of elderly and other such issues these days exist and need to be scrutinized but everyone knows how I loved and was devoted to my dad. It was never about money but about the fact he wanted this money to be mine. After all if he didn't put my name on his account it would have gone into his estate and divided. Obviously he didn't want it divided.

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Originally Posted by perkywoman123

Just looking to see if anyone else had similar experiences. Actually I did do my own divorce papers and had an attorney put them into effect. With lawyers charging at least $175 an hour you need to explore as many people's experiences and internet information as you can before involving a lawyer who will do the same things with his colleagues and legal aides at a hefty fee. I definitely will have a lawyer involved because it is to complicated to do on my own. There are more factors involved then I've written. Unfortunately it was a lawyer that started some of the problems when he didn't get me the POA or new Will to my father and myself in a timely manner. He drew up the original Will and we trusted him to get the papers to us quickly. He was a friend of the family and we believe he didn't want to give us the papers with the changes. We will be exploring the issues of some legal action against him. My father was no longer able to make these changes as he slowly went down hill. I got another lawyer to do the POA and was going to deal with Will issues after my dad got out of the hospital along with issues of how he wanted me to do things with the money. You never really want to think someone will be dying soon and you think you have time but unfortunately I didn't have time. Now dealing with the Will is a mess. The person he chose as executor doesn't want to do it and told him so and the co-executor is a bank. Waiting to hear about whether they will bow out also or take enormous fees to do the work. So much could have been solved if the first lawyer was timely.
Not sure how this website works but as I said just exploring other people's experiences. This site had a law section so that's why I put the questions on in the first place.

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I was not addressing you. In fact, I posted the comment I was addressing.

As far as Attorneys and the fees they charge I have found that you get what you pay for - in your case obviously using a family friend was an error (and I realize you are looking into claiming against him) and that makes it all the more important to get competent, paid legal advice now.