I can’t give you a “bright line” standard for how long you should wait to take unilateral action to remove the name of a deceased joint owner from account records. Obviously, the longer you wait, the greater the chance you’ll run into year-end reporting challenges and the greater the risk that you’ll handle a deposit item (such as a check payable to the deceased individual) inappropriately. If family members or the other joint owner (they aren’t always family, after all) hasn’t acted within 30 days or so (your institution should decide what it will accept as a waiting time), I recommend sending a sympathetic but matter-of-fact letter to the effect that “we need to take care of updating account records,” etc. State in the letter that you’ll need a copy of the death certificate for the file. In other words, start the conversation. You may have to be firm but sympathetic. You can’t let things drag out forever. As for a new signature card, I recommend it. Signing the card marks a milestone for the surviving owner. It will also give the bank an opportunity to get an updated exemplar signature and current ID information. But I don’t feel that a new signature card is a “deal breaker.” If you can’t get it for some reason, annotate the old card with the date of death and put a copy of the death certificate in your file.
Removing a deceased joint owner
Answered by:
Question:
When should we remove the name of a deceased owner if the family has never contacted the bank to request it be done? Is a new signature card required if no one else is being added in a joint ownership situation?
Answer: