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This week, we've been dealing with a family who is just champing at the bit to get at their mother/wife's checking account. The husband has called multiple times asking after her accounts. He know she has them, since the statements come to their house. But he's not on the account - not as a joint owner or as a beneficiary. Even if he was beneficiary, we wouldn't be able to tell him anything unless he brought in a power of attorney form or death certificate (after she dies, obvs).
He tells us she's in the hospital, and they don't expect her to last more than another day or two. Well, too bad. We can't tell you anything. He's not happy with that answer, so we direct him to the head of bookkeeping at the main branch. When he doesn't hear the answers he wants, he starts calling us again.
In between these calls, one of the woman's sons starts calling. Lather, rinse, repeat. We can't tell them anything because they're not on the account. If they want to get a power of attorney form signed, they can do that, assuming she's still able to sign. Otherwise, they can't access the account.
Today, the family tells us that she has died. That sucks, but all the family cares about is accessing the money in her account. We can't even tell them who the beneficiary is because of privacy laws. It turns out that the beneficiary is the woman's son-in-law. When her daughter died, she wanted her money to go to her minor grandkids, so she set her SIL as the beneficiary. Hopefully she told him about it, because it's not the bank's responsibility to contact him after she dies. He'll need to bring in the death certificate and sign to withdraw any remaining funds.
It's super disappointing that the woman's family has spent the last few days of her life arguing with us, the bank, about getting access to her money instead of spending it with her / preparing for her death. I get that they likely wouldn't be allowed at the hospital because of the pandemic, but spending that time on the phone with the bank trying to get us to break privacy laws is a waste of their time and energy. Spend that time with your family, ffs.
He tells us she's in the hospital, and they don't expect her to last more than another day or two. Well, too bad. We can't tell you anything. He's not happy with that answer, so we direct him to the head of bookkeeping at the main branch. When he doesn't hear the answers he wants, he starts calling us again.
In between these calls, one of the woman's sons starts calling. Lather, rinse, repeat. We can't tell them anything because they're not on the account. If they want to get a power of attorney form signed, they can do that, assuming she's still able to sign. Otherwise, they can't access the account.
Today, the family tells us that she has died. That sucks, but all the family cares about is accessing the money in her account. We can't even tell them who the beneficiary is because of privacy laws. It turns out that the beneficiary is the woman's son-in-law. When her daughter died, she wanted her money to go to her minor grandkids, so she set her SIL as the beneficiary. Hopefully she told him about it, because it's not the bank's responsibility to contact him after she dies. He'll need to bring in the death certificate and sign to withdraw any remaining funds.
It's super disappointing that the woman's family has spent the last few days of her life arguing with us, the bank, about getting access to her money instead of spending it with her / preparing for her death. I get that they likely wouldn't be allowed at the hospital because of the pandemic, but spending that time on the phone with the bank trying to get us to break privacy laws is a waste of their time and energy. Spend that time with your family, ffs.
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