For those who have their bank accounts held “jointly” with another person, you should not assume that the account is joint with right of survivorship. In Hare v. Longstreet, the Texas court explained that unless a signature card at a bank has the correct legal language, the account cannot be joint with survivorship. According to Texas Estates Code Section 113.151(b), the card must state “On the death of one party to a joint account, all sums in the account on the date of the death vest in and belong to the surviving party as his or her separate property.” Merely stating that an account has the “right of survivorship” is insufficient to make it so.
While these types of accounts may work for some people, for most of our clients, they have major drawbacks. Is your banker you met once while trying to hurry out of the bank or your financial advisor’s assistant the right person to be setting up how your assets pass upon your death?
When thinking through how your estate will pass, shouldn’t you review with your attorney how all assets pass upon your death and verify each asset is in fact going to pass the way your want your estate to flow? After review of how joint accounts work, many of our clients remove all joint tenancy with right of survivorship language.
