Currency In Deceased Person's Safe Deposit Box

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Question:

I have read several scenarios on currency in a deceased person's safe deposit box. We have one that I am not sure will meet the definition of "transaction" Case is single renter deceased, box drilled upon non-payment of rent. $18,000 in currency was in the box, that along with other items was verified under dual control and put into safe keeping. Later, staff started tracking down the estate or likely survivor. We found his spouse, and she had no idea he had the box. Upon proper documentation of her right to have box contents, she was given the currency, and no one at the branch considered that a CTR might be required. Since the dollar amount was never placed in a bank account of any kind, there was no transaction that the CTR software could see, so it did not appear there, or in BSA AML monitoring software. It is well past time to file. Do we need to start a back-filing request to FinCEN?

Answer:

Was there a
* deposit,
* withdrawal,
* exchange, or
* other payment or transfer
of more than $10,000 in cash?

Since your bank had already removed the cash from the box and had it in your control, my opinion is a reportable "transfer" took place when you gave it to the spouse. If a co-worker wanted to debate the point my response would be: "Filing it is less time consuming than talking about it, we are filing it and going on to what's next."

The fact that it did not show up on your system is a partial explanation for why it was not filed in a timely fashion, not an excuse for not filing it at all. Write a brief memo to file explaining the oversight.