Can I Close My Deceased Aunt's Bank Account if I'm a Joint Owner?

Full question:

I am a power of attorney on a joint savings account with my aunt who has recently died. Can I close the savings account and open my own bank account.

• Category: Wills and Estates
• Subcategory: Probate
• Date: 04/07/2025
• State: New York

Answer:

The answer will depend on whether the estate has been probated and the type of ownership of the account. If you were joint tenants with right of survivorship, the account passes outside the probate process to the surviving joint tenant. If the account was held as tenants in common, it's possible the aunt named a beneficiary to inherit her share. The account may need to be probated to have the aunt's name removed from the account. A power of attorney is no longer valid when the maker dies. Letters testamentary or an heirship affidavit is often used to collect the assets of the deceased and distribute the estate.

When a person dies, their assets are distributed in the probate process. If a person dies with a will, an executor is named to handle the distribution of the estate. If the person dies without a will, the court appoints an administrator to distribute the decedent's assets according to the state's laws of intestacy. In cases where the decedent didn't own property valued at more than a certain amount, which varies by state, the estate may go through a small estate administration process, rather than the formal probate process. To dispose of the real property interests of the decedent, the executor or administrator executes an executor's deed or fiduciary deed.

Some assets pass outside the probate process, such as to a named beneficiary on a CD, insurance policy, or bank account, or a joint tenant with right of survivorship in an account or other assets. Such assets are called transfer on death assets and pass directly to the beneficiary outside probate. The answer will depend on whether the assets had a named beneficiary or joint owner on the account.

Joint tenancy is a form of ownership by two or more individuals together that differs from other types of co-ownership in that the surviving joint tenant immediately becomes the owner of the whole property upon the death of the other joint tenant. State law, which varies by state, controls the creation of a joint tenancy in real property. Joint tenancy property passes outside of probate; however, it may be severed so that the property becomes part of one person's estate and passes to that person's heirs. Each joint tenant has an equal, undivided interest in the whole property, and may enter onto, take possession of the whole, occupy, and use every portion of the common property at all times and in all circumstances. All joint tenants, and their spouses, must sign deeds and contracts to transfer or sell real estate.