re: Banks and Estate Accounts

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.