[twh22]

I was added to my Mom's checking account as POA when she hospitalized and later died. Notified the bank and attempted to close the account and was told I had no authority to close the account (they had already been notified that she was deceased by Soc. Sec.) I tried to explain to them that she had several ACH's that would be coming through and did not want them to be paid and we did not want to get hit with nsf fees. Now the account has a negative balance that continues to grow because of the nsf fees. What should we do?

[Fr_Chuck]

One if there is little or not estate, just ignore them.

But you POA ended at her death, so if you were not actually added as a signer or owner of the account you can do nothing.

How is ( if there is someone) going to be over the estate, they are the only one now that can do anything

[walt17]

FrChuck is almost right. Being able to sign checks is different from being a co-owner. You need to be owner, co-owner, or beneficiary to access the account or close it.

Otherwise you will need a court order. And the attorney and court fees can easily run from several hundred to a thousand dollars. That is why there are so many unclaimed banking accounts.

Since you have no liability you can ignore it. But since you were POA, be prepared to deal with the bank and bill collectors. They will want someone to pay.

[ScottGem]

If checks were written legally on the account, her death did not change the obligation to make good those checks. You should have made sure there were sufficient funds in the account to cover those checks unless there were no funds in the estate.

If you signed those checks , even as POA, and you were aware there would not be sufficient funds to cover, that could be considered fraud.