My father who I was estranged from for over 20 years, died without a will. About a year before he died, we were reunited. We opened a joint bank account here in NY which I used to pay his bills at the skilled nursing facility where he resided. After he passed, I went to the bank to inform them that he passed away. They took his name off the account.

I have since found out that he had an IRA for $4500 in Florida but no beneficiary assigned.. After making some phone calls and talking to the bank I realized that I would have to hire a lawyer and it just would not be worth the trouble to try to gain access to this money.


I recently started receiving calls from an adult home that claims that my father lived there and that he owes them money. Am I responsible for this debt?

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Originally Posted by jbg1007

... he had an IRA for $4500 in Florida but no beneficiary assigned.. After making some phone calls and talking to the bank I realized that I would have to hire a lawyer and it just would not be worth the trouble to try to gain access to this money.

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I wish I were wealthy enough to throw money away like this. For the price of a few phone calls, I would bet you can find a Florida attorney more than happy to take care of this on a contingent basis.

On the other hand, if I were as careless with money as you appear to be, I wouldn't have any for long.

All it takes, by the way, is an affidavit filed with the court, I believe.

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Originally Posted by jbg1007

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I recently started receiving calls from an adult home that claims that my father lived there and that he owes them money. Am I responsible for this debt?

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I assume you mean to ask whether you are responsible for paying this debt out of the New York account. Assuming, under NY law, you became sole owner of the joint survivirship account, no.

This is happening in NY State? The money in a JOINT bank account - not an account for the benefit of someone, not using a Power of Attorney - belongs to either one of you. You could access it or he could access it. When he died, it all belonged to you UNLESS there was a lien placed against the account by the nursing home when your father was alive. I've seen that happen, sometimes with the consent of the owner.

The Florida account? It belongs to his estate, not to you. If you don't want to claim it, go through whatever the paperwork is, give the info to the nursing home and let them go after it.

That way the other residents of NY who are in nursing homes don't have to pay extra because your father didn't pay his nursing home bill.