Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Pennsylvania
I was incharge of an estate account for my family. I took money out of it without their knowledge and also changed bank statements to the attorney. I was in the process of putting the money back when the bank acocunts got linked together with my atm card. The money that was left in the account was spent without my knowledge. I just found out about a month ago that the account is negative. please help, I have aboslutely no idea what to do
1 Answer from Attorneys
You say you were in charge of an estate account. Were you appoined as executor of an estate? If so, you should not have opened an estate account where you had your personal accounts. More importantly, you never should have used estate funds for your own use.
What do you mean that you "changed bank statements to the attorney?" If there is an estate attorney, then you need to tell the attorney what you have done and arrange to get both of the accounts in the black as soon as possible. You might have to step down as the executor.
What money was left in what account? The rule is that if you have money in one account but have an overdraft in another, the bank can exercise its right of set off and apply the funds from your solvent account to cure the negative balance in the other.
At the very least, you need to make sure the estate account is solvent and that the estate has not suffered any kind of financial loss because of what you have done. With regard to your own personal account, if there is a negative balance, then you need to start repaying the bank back so that the bank will not dip into the estate account.