Joint bank accounts

bailey23cc

I'm under the impression that half the amount in a joint account needs to be listed as part of the deceased's assets (even though my father put all the money into the accounts). My stepmother, today, went into the bank and they are transferring the funds into her single account and told her she doesn't need to put these in his estate. I think she's wrong! Can you help please.

simpywimpy

As its a joint account I believe its jointly owned so she has every right to move it all into her own name and it therefore wont form part of his estate

Mrs_Soup

My understanding is the opposite, that the contents of a joint account belong to both account holders so if one dies the other owns all of it and it doesn't go into the estate- like owning a house as tenants in common.

bailey23cc

I found this on a govt website:

Joint assets
Remember, any money held in a joint bank account with the deceased will automatically pass to the surviving joint owner. The same is true for assets held jointly such as a house (but only if they owned it as ‘joint tenants’ and not as ‘tenants in common’).

Joint assets will not be included in the process of probate or confirmation. However, the deceased’s share must still be included when valuing the estate.

So, where do I have to show this?

g6jns_2

bailey23cc wrote: »

I found this on a govt website:

Joint assets
Remember, any money held in a joint bank account with the deceased will automatically pass to the surviving joint owner. The same is true for assets held jointly such as a house (but only if they owned it as ‘joint tenants’ and not as ‘tenants in common’).

Joint assets will not be included in the process of probate or confirmation. However, the deceased’s share must still be included when valuing the estate.

So, where do I have to show this?

It simply means that the deceased' share of the joint account has to be included in the value of the estate for calculating IHT.

Crabapple

If the Estate is under the IHT threshold and you need to complete an IHT205 rather than the longer IHT400, then there is a section for joint assets and another section for sole assets.

As g6 said, it's part of the Estate for tax purposes, but doesn't pass under the Will.

The frontline staff in a bank are not going to know the rules on Probate, they just know that if a joint account holder comes in with proof the other has died, they can transfer the money into the sole name of the survivor.