Page 21 - Leisure Living Magazine Autumn 2018

Law You Can Use: Joint Bank Accounts
“Law You Can Use” Courtesy of the Ohio State Bar Association
In Ohio, joint bank ac-
counts have a survivorship
feature even if the account
is not designated as an ac-
count with survivorship.
This means that following
the death of one of the
owners of a joint account,
the ownership of the ac-
count automatically passes
to the other owners. This
is an easy method of estate
planning and the reason
for the popularity of joint
bank accounts. For exam-
ple, a parent can open a
bank account with a child
as the joint owner and know the child will own the account at the parent’s death.
Q: Who owns a joint and survivorship ac- count before the death of an owner?
A: Under Ohio law, it is presumed that, during the lifetime of the owners of a joint account, the account belongs to all of them according to the contributions of each, unless there is clear and convincing evidence of a different intent.
Q: Who owns the account after the death of an owner?
A: Ohio law also presumes that after the death of an owner, the assets in a joint bank ac- count are owned by the surviving owners of the account. In 1994 the Supreme Court of Ohio ruled that the way a joint bank account is opened is usually conclusive on the question of ownership after the death of one of the joint owners. The in- tention of the deceased owner is to be determined by the legal form of the joint account, so usually ownership of a joint account will be automatically transferred to a surviving owner or owners. Only where there is evidence that the deceased owner did not freely intend to establish the joint account (for example, evidence of fraud, duress, undue in- fluence, or lack of mental capacity) will an Ohio court consider an argument that after the death of
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an owner of a joint bank account the money in the account should not be distributed to the remain- ing owner or owners.
Q: Are there other implications of the 1994 Ohio Supreme Court decision?
A: While the decision makes ownership of these joint accounts more certain and as a result makes it easier for Ohio banks to provide such accounts because the decision reduces the possi- bility of disputes over account ownership after the death of an owner, it also requires consumers to be knowledgeable about the legal effects of joint bank accounts. A joint bank account that is set up for convenience, such as, for example, naming one child as a joint owner so an elderly parent’s bills can more easily be paid by the child, will be owned by that child alone upon the parent’s death even though the parent may have intended the account to be distributed among several children after the parent’s death. In such a case, the parent may be better served by other alternatives, such as the creation of a limited or general durable power of attorney, or the creation of a revocable trust.
Q: What is the law of other states on the ownership of joint bank accounts?
Continued on page 22
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