WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (WAVY) — A bank is denying a woman full access to a joint account she shared with her husband in the aftermath of his death, according to the woman’s daughter.
The Williamsburg woman said since her father died, her mother has had numerous hoops to jump through and wants others to know what to do before they find themselves in a similar situation.
The bank found an issue with one of the documents that would prove the woman’s mother has rightful access to the bank account, she said. The document is from 1959 — which might be the problem.
“Oh, it’s been incredibly frustrating,” Gwyn Ciemniecki said.
When Ciemniecki’s father died in February, she went to Bank of America, where her parents have held a joint account since 1959 — back when it was still Virginia National Bank — to notify them.
“At that point, they never indicated that my parents’ account would be affected,” Ciemniecki added.
However, the bank froze half the funds. She went back and forth with the bank about what documents they needed, then finally got it sorted — only to be told there was an issue with the marriage license.
“Because it was not issued by a government agency,” Ciemniecki said. “And at the time, that’s what you got. They were married by a minister in a small, rural church.”
The document is simple — the names of the husband and wife, signed by the minister and witnesses.
“It’s been good enough for the IRS, you know,” Ciemniecki said.
The bank said its estate services unit is examining it.
“I think any court would look at that and make the declaration that they were legally married,” said attorney Tim Anderson after taking a look at the document.
Anderson said it shouldn’t be a problem. But to avoid issues like this in the future, he said adult children should take preemptive measures and get what’s called a POD, or payable on death designation, which names beneficiaries of an account.
“Your parents need to go to the bank and get payable on deaths to pay the children on their deaths,” Anderson said. “It doesn’t go through probate, there’s no delay. As soon as the death certificate is issued, which is a couple weeks after death, you walk that into the bank. Payable on death is already on file at the bank, then the bank will pay the heir.”
Meanwhile, Ciemniecki hopes the issue is solved sooner than later.
“The income that she has coming in has been slashed because of the death of my father,” she said, “and now the bank is holding that. It’s crippling. It would be for anyone.”
Anderson said you can put a POD on any financial document — from retirement savings to stock portfolios. Ciemniecki said the bank will make a determination by next Thursday.
