We have a client that passed away on 5/27/21. His wife (almost divorced, not formally divorced as of DOD) stated she is going to be the executor of his estate and will provide the bank with Letters of Testamentary and death certificate. The wife stated that she believes there were unauthorized withdrawals in the deceased checking and savings accounts between the dates of 5/18/21 and 5/24/21, posted from the decedents debit card. The wife was only a joint account owner on the savings account, not the checking. Without proof of unauthorized activity due to the debit card owner being deceased, is there anything the wife can dispute since it was not her debit card that made the transactions?

You have a debit card that is linked to an individual checking account and a joint savings account? How can that be?


I would say that Letters of Testamentary probably meets this requirement:

2. Notice by third party. Notice to a financial institution by a person acting on the consumer's behalf is considered valid under this section. For example, if a consumer is hospitalized and unable to report the loss or theft of an access device, notice is considered given when someone acting on the consumer's behalf notifies the bank of the loss or theft. A financial institution may require appropriate documentation from the person representing the consumer to establish that the person is acting on the consumer's behalf.

Thank you! Once we receive the Letters of Testamentary and confirm the wife is acting as Executor, would that then be the time to move forward with the unauthorized claim? The deceased client had a current girlfriend whom might have been provided authorization to use the debit card. We have the girlfriend on camera making ATM withdrawals using the deceased clients card before the client became deceased. Would that matter at all in the unauthorized claim?

Without firsthand knowledge (whether the GF was/was not authorized to make the withdrawals on behalf of the deceased), how can the nearly-ex-wife claim the transactions were indeed unauthorized?

Seems to me the GF only has to claim she was given authorization. The decedent cannot refute the claim and, if authorization was given and not revoked (by notice to the bank), how can the wife assert otherwise?