Legal Question in Banking Law in California

On Feb 22, 2011, my ex-husband, Craig, passed away in Bakersfield, CA. My son, Chad, contacted Bank of America the next day after finding a debit card & checkbook to notify them of the death. A close relative informed Chad that a new account had been opened in Ridgecrest, CA just a few months previously with a check deposited of about $16,000 he had just received from a Worker�s Comp settlement. He was separated from his current wife & opened this without the wife on the account.

There still has not been a will found and the wife has not cooperated at all with anything. She has some medical problems such as bi-polar and is an alcoholic so my son doesn�t know from one day to the next what she is going to do. My son was under the impression his dad had filed for a divorce since they had lived apart for the previous nine months but nothing had been started yet. She has decided to claim everything which is probably her right for most of it in CA. She refuses to answer any calls, emails or text messages from any one on Craig�s side of the family and has moved back into the house. Supposedly she is gathering family items for my son and also told him he could have the boat, trailer, gun safe and contents, even though he doesn�t know when she will allow him to pick them up. He lives in a different county about four hours away so he is not able to just drop by.

I live in Texas and I visited my son in May and we happened to be in Ridgecrest about May 19th and decided to visit the branch that the account had been opened to find out what would be done with the money. It turns out that forty days after a death, if someone shows up with a death certificate and there is not a beneficiary on the account that they can claim the money. Well, around that time the wife went to the branch in Bakersfield and claimed the money. The day we went to the bank there was $.53 left in the account. The VP was the lady helping us and I commented that I thought it strange that no beneficiary had been posted on the account since they were separated and I felt he would have listed his only child. She continued looking and excused herself for about thirty minutes. When she came back she said �well, we will be apologizing to you for a long time�. My son was the beneficiary on the account but for some reason someone at the Bakersfield branch paid the wife the money instead of notifying my son. Even though it is not my son�s fault they have still not paid him the money. The bank keeps giving him the run around and says they have to collect it from her before they can issue him a check. Now they are not even returning his calls or if they do talk to him and say they will contact him again on a certain day and time, they don�t.

Is the bank correct that they don�t have to issue my son a check until they receive the money back from her? It was not his fault they made the mistake. He didn�t even know he was the beneficiary but the wife did. On top of the shock & grief of losing his father four days before his father�s 59th birthday, he is being jerked around by the bank, when they should have contacted him after they were notified of the death. Is there anything he can do to pressure them to pay the account out to him and should he also receive any interest that he would have received on the money if it had still been in the account? Does this qualify as pain and suffering by them stalling and making him worry if he will receive the cash? He had to borrow the money to purchase an urn for his father�s ashes.

Please give advice on what his rights are or at least what specialty type of lawyer should be seen if we need to pursue this.

Thank you in advance,


Asked on 6/22/11, 4:55 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
James Goff James R. Goff, Attorney at Law

If as you indicate the father died intestate, i.e. without a will. Then the relatives will share the assets of the estate 50%-50%. The bank was at fault in paying the bank proceeds to the wife when the son was the beneficiary. He does not have to wait for the bank to recover the proceeds, they were guilty of negligence. The son should ask the bank who is their insurer as the insurance company will pay. It is unlikely that son will get interest as the time involved is minimal, but it is possible. You should advertise in a local paper to see if any attorney prepared a will. The loss here is mixed, the bank issue is a tort so you want a litigation lawyer if the bank and insurance company don't pay up. The estate problems should be addressed by a trust and estate attorney. The amount here appears minimal so may have trouble finding help. Is the home owned or rented? If the father owned the home, the wife may not be entitled to anything or no more than 50%.

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Answered on 6/22/11, 4:42 pm


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