Banks and Estate Accounts

I dealt with Hancock Whitney for an estate account. Make sure you show a transaction once a month to avoid a $10 monthly fee for inactivity.

Show them the Judgment of Possession and tell them to write checks to the person who the JOP says to

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Any major bank will. You have to have an executor or administrator appointed and get a federal tax ID number. Then the succession representative can open a succession account.

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Sounds like this step has been done

Hmmm. I have seen these done all the time, mostly in Jefferson Parish, and have rearly run in to any problems with it.

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the bank folks quit listening when they see the E-word

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Banks handle estate accounts all the time.

My gut tells me there's something you're not fully telling us about your paperwork or about the interaction you had with the bank.

For example, what did the bank person say to you immediately prior to their "quit listening"?

Nope. Have all the paper work. Death Cert, Will, Judgement of Posession, EIN from the IRS, all done. Even left the six figure deposit checks in view where they could see them. As soon as they see 'Estate of' on the checks, you see their balloon deflate.

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As soon as they see 'Estate of' on the checks, you see their balloon deflate.

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Okay, but you didn't answer my question. What did they say as their balloon deflated? Was it, "I don't know how to do this" (likely) or "our bank doesn't handle these types of accounts" (unlikely)?

Or did the banker tell you, "You must have an existing relationship with our bank for us to handle an estate account for you"? If you don't have an existing account with them and they don't "know" you as a customer, you're asking them to provide a service to a non-customer. It's like you going to Rouses and demand they honor a gift card for Albertson's.

Also, estate accounts can be a bit tricky from a liability standpoint for the bank and much of the liability starts with they don't know you. Is that the case?

I’ll cash it out for a 5 percent fee. Cash in hand within 36 hours.

Ask for the check to be payable to the heirs, have the heirs endorse the check to the estate attorney and have him deposit that check and then write each heir a check from his escrow account. Complicated but it should work.

You are describing a common problem with the big banks. They want an executor and sometimes there is no administration, so no executor. It is often hard to get them to understand that. They have a sort of checklist of what to do and you are not fitting into their boxes.

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Banks, brokerages, state agencies, etc. are bad about this. They think they know the law, they're usually wrong and they're obstinate even when you show them what the law says. It's usually easier to give them what they want than fight them on it.

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1000% this. They tend to operate how they deem fit.