I need to talk to my father’s Estate lawyer on Monday to ask him a question but I thought that I would ask it here before I ask him. Before my father passed away in September 2024 he made me co-Trustee 3 years prior to his death in 2021. So when he passed away it was a seamless process and since I already was co-Trustee on his bank accounts I had no problem writing checks immediately from the Trust checking account to cover things like his funeral. My father was good and gave me online access to all of his financial accounts before he died. Besides the Trust Savings and Checking accounts he also had 2 checking accounts outside his Trust worth a total of approximately $10,000. I think they were Joint with his partner of 20 years but I am not sure of the details and whether they were “right of survivorship”. Anyway, when my father died when I logged into the bank I would see the Trust accounts and the 2 Joint checking accounts but I really didn’t pay attention to the details other than knowing the combined total was around $10,000. 3 days after my father died the Joints accounts were locked out by the bank probably because they were notified by Social Security that he died. I asked the bank for details why they were locked out but they won’t give me any information, probably because his partner was joint on the 2 checking accounts. I tried to help and told my father’s partner’s son who is her Power of Attorney about the 2 checking accounts. He contacted the bank and they asked him to send them a copy of his Power of Attorney information as well as a copy of his New York Driver’s license which he did. Maybe he is just lazy and doesn’t care about the accounts, or hasn’t been persistent enough, but he told me that he also hasn’t gotten anywhere with the bank. My understanding talking to my father’s Estate lawyer is usually in the state of Florida when a “notice of Trust” and a “Pour Over” Last Will and Testament are filed with the court there is no Probate so I am not paying him or any other lawyer to probate. So my question, if there is no Probate what happens with these 2 bank accounts or, for that matter, any other bank accounts which I don’t know about? Are they eventually unlocked and will my father’s partner or Power of Attorney or me as my father’s Personal Representative and Trustee be notified? Thanks!
