Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Virginia
Estate accounting
My mother passed away and I am the executor. I had her will probated. She had my name put on her checking acct., so I could sign checks for her. She only had a couple thousand dollars and her house, nothing else. When I went to her bank with her death certificate and showed them the paper showing I was to take care of her estate. I was told to continue to use the checking acct. for any bills that are hers. This was two months ago and I just read that one should close out the deceased checking acct. and set up an estate acct. and have the money transferred to it. Is this necessary, beings her acct. is only used for her and always was? I have kept records of each thing that I have done, plus have receipts, bank statements etc. If it is a necessity to close out her checking acct. and open an estate acct. What do I do do about the the checks that have been written to pay towards medical expenses, funeral etc.?
My brother and I are joint heirs of her estate and we are in total agreement on everything, so this is not a problem.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Estate accounting
The advice from the bank is correct. Virginia presumes joint accounts are held with right of survivorship, so you need not change the account. Technically, the account is yours, subject to claims of your brother that the account was set up that way for convenience only. Since you and your brother are seeing eye-to-eye on the estate, you can continue paying off debts and closing out the estate. You and your brother automatically inherit the house, so I doubt if any formal probate is necessary.
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