JOINT BANK ACCOUNT
I will be filing for bankruptcy in the next few months. That is probably a given.
My question is this. My mother died about six years ago. She took care of all of the household bills and the bank accounts etc. My father had never paid a bill or wrote a cheque in his life. They were both retired.
I was the trustee of my mother’s estate.
I closed their account and opened an account in his name with me or him able to sign cheques or take money out of the atm. He cannot read or write so this method was a necessity. Once a month i write a cheque to his new partner and they go halves on rent, food etc. This was ok, but now that i will go bankrupt, i don’t want my name on his account. I’m worried that somebody will be able to access his money, because of my problems. The only money that has gone into this account in the last six or seven years is all his pension money from the gov. or private.
My father and his new partner are much better at saving than i am. He now has about $11000 in his account. Luckily, i don’t think i have any dealings personally with this bank.
Should i open a new account in his name only and transfer all the money into a new account in the same bank or maybe split the money into two accounts in two different banks?
Thanks for your reply!
Typically speaking if you file bankruptcy and there is a bank account that is in overdraft, the account will be closed, you would be cleared from the debt and the person who was jointly listed would be responsible for the full amount outstanding. If this account has an overdraft but it is not being used a bankruptcy will typically just force the canceling of the overdraft, but the account should still remain intact. With respect to the other accounts, because there is no debt associated with the accounts there should be no impact on those accounts.
I filed BK a month ago, with no assets. I was renting an old fixer uper and 7 months ago wrote a contract to buy the home. After I filed, knowing full well I could not qualify now or buy the home, I found a buyer and flipped the property last week. I made a substantial amount of money however never listed this contract on any schedule, thinking it was nothing. What do I do? I still want to continue my filing buy am conserned that they will take this money too? Can I put it in my bank account without it being attached, or should I file an ammendment to my BK? Thanks for any help.
This doesn’t sound like something you need to worry too much about. If the account is in your father’s name (and you have signign authority) your trustee may want to review the account history to satisfy themselves that none of the money originated or is attributable to you, but it is unlikely your trustee will take any action against the account.
To be safe, review the account and its history with your trustee BEFORE you file and if you are still nervous, remove yourself as a signator of the account.