I just found out I have to show up at an Estate Lawyers meeting today. My big question to you folks is this. Is there any record of a Certificate of Deposit, Municipal Bond, or other type of investment document when it is sold or issued? And, is there any record of it when it is cashed. The reason I ask is because my MIL passed away recently and I think my SisIL has gotten into a safety deposit box and grabbed some items and cashed them. Any way there are records of them that can be accessed through an inquiry to the bank with a warrant or attorney inquiry by beneficiaries?? Thank you

When I used to buy CDs at my credit union, they gave me a statement on date of purchase with the amount and interest rate and such recorded on it...

Also same was given upon putting the money out of CD and into savings/checking.

I'm also sure the bank will have electronic or written (if really old) records of such. Only question is how easy it will be for you to get them.

I would think if you know the bank where SIL cashed them, the bank will have a record of the event.

How would SIL get access to the key to the safe deposit box? Is she the MIL's estate executor?

Yes, there is a record of both. BUT, you need to know who issued/cashed them and check with that company.

The interest is reported to the govt. But your access to the information may be hindered by privacy laws.

Yes she is the executor. She downloaded a form off the net naming herself as executor and had it witnessed and notarized. Then she paid paid the bills and expenses for convenience. Most of documents were issued by local banks. Is there a way to see if any were issues/sold to mother over the years? There is a considerable amount of missing $$ and I’d like to know where it is or if it was spent.

Honestly, I think you would be very wise to hire your own estate attorney to check into the matter.

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Yep. A good estate attorney will know a forensic accountant if needed. A professional knows how to get the information you need as well as the laws you must follow.

Thank you. I am on my way to the meeting now. I have the name of a well know Atty in the area. I will call him. P

Getting access to the safety deposit box is not an easy thing . Just because you are the Executor doesn't mean they are going to just hand it over .

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Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
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Yep. A good estate attorney will know a forensic accountant if needed. A professional knows how to get the information you need as well as the laws you must follow.

i agree -- some things in life just need to get a pro involved

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It is done. Hired a gent right here in town. Thank you.

You’re in estate attorney area.

In Alabama anyway, the only person that can declare, legally, an executor or personal representative of an estate is the local probate judge through the issued letters of testamentary after the will has been submitted to their court.

Whoever the court recognizes as personal representative can easily get the information you seek from the issuing bank(s) by presenting the letter of testamentary from the court.

Sounds like clear and easy fraud to me as you describe it. You can’t name yourself as executor. The deceased can name you in their will and the court issues their legal declaration of that relationship in their testamentary orders in the matter of the estate.

If you could do as you describe then all you’d have to do to quickly become a millionaire is scan the newspapers for dead people and get on the internet, download the proper forms to declare yourself executor and take their money home in bags each week.

Also, there is the fact that the banks can’t act on a deceased account once they are notified of death without being presented with letters of testamentary from the court by the newly minted personal representative and a death certificate for the deceased.

Exceptions would be if the accounts were placed in joint name with your SiL as joint owner or if Payable On Death instructions (i.e., beneficiaries) were declared by the owner naming the SiL as beneficiary before they died. In those cases, you don’t need court letters as that would not fall into the probate process. In those cases, she can take the assets without any legal obligation to report or share it with anyone. It’s hers.....unless you could prove elder abuse and your MiL was coerced to make those changes on her accounts because she lacked the mental capacity to make financial decisions.

Any cd’s, municipal bonds, etc that were in the safe deposit box would likely be in the decedents name and could only be “cashed in” with the legal capacity to do so....that is, if they were titled assets. But then there is the matter of having legal access to the safety deposit box. Only a person on the authorized register that the bank maintains could get access to the box. You’d have to be joint on the safety deposit box or have letters of testamentary for the deceased naming you as the personal representative for the estate.

The bank won’t have any specific record of what items were in the safety deposit box.