Will and Estate--Confused.

bella123

my father had £10000 in a joint savings account with me ,when he died his will said that he wanted to leave 1000 to his cousin but he has nothing in his estate as the 10000 was in a joint account with me ,do i now have to give his cousin 1000,or has his will become null and void as he has no oney in his estate.

Oldernotwiser

bella123 wrote: »

my father had £10000 in a joint savings account with me ,when he died his will said that he wanted to leave 1000 to his cousin but he has nothing in his estate as the 10000 was in a joint account with me ,do i now have to give his cousin 1000,or has his will become null and void as he has no oney in his estate.

I have no idea of the legalities involved here but morally I think it depends where the money in the joint account actually came from and how much you respect your father's wishes.

Suzy_M

Bank or Building Society account?

Some building societies now state in their terms and conditions that in the case of joint accounts the balance is assumed to belong to the surviving account holder.

sloughflint

Toots wrote: »

I believe that as the account is a joint account that the legal position is that £5,000 is attributed to each of you. If that is the case then the cousin would be able to have the £1,000 bequest from the estate.

Is anyone dealing with probate for your father? If so they would need to be aware that this account exists and that your father jointly owns the account.

Best to take some professional advice.

I'm pretty certain that money in a joint account become the property of the surviving account holder.This being automatic regardless of what is stated in a Will.

Perhaps you are thinking of the tax position. Half the value at date of death would be classed as belonging to the deceased for tax purposes.

http://www.thesite.org/homelawandmoney/askthesiteqandas/moneyqandas/stopthearguments

The estate may not be null.If the deceased was a tax payer, the estate might be due a rebate.