Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in North Carolina
My fathers wife died last year, she had two daughters, one daughter was the executor of the will,and her name along with my fathers name were on her bank account, as soon as his wife died her daughter took the money out of the account and put it into her personal account and paid the funeral costs and any other bills from that.The will specified that everything was to be split equally between the 3, so after all of the bills were paid from that money the remainder was split. Now that the house that did belong to the wife was sold the daughter is trying to recoup the money back from the sale of the house is this legal since the bills have already been paid?
1 Answer from Attorneys
The daughter should not have done that. Bank accounts are not probate assets. If the bank account was joint with another person then the daughter and husband would have split it. I don't understand your comment about recouping money by the daughter. The daughter acted improperly so I am not sure what she is trying to recoup or why. Your father needs to see a probate attorney who practices in the county/state where your father and his wife lived at the time of her death.
An estate should have been probated. Funeral expenses should have been paid from estate funds. To the extent daughter paid out of her own funds, then daughter would be entitled to reimbursement if she has receipts to show that she paid estate expenses. The net probate estate would be divided among the beneficiaries under the will. The bank account is not a probate asset unless the funds are needed to pay the bills. If there is enough other money then it is not a probate asset. The bank account gets divided among the survivors on the bank account.
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