Deceased's Joint Bank Account with Ex wife

Moxiemonkey

I have been appointed executor of a friends Estate. He is divorced and has no contact with the ex-wife. His will states he wishes to leave his children a nominal amount with the remainder going to his current partner, who he had been with for a number of years.

He has had no contact with the ex wife since the divorce, over 5years ago but we have discovered he never changed the mandate on their joint bank account and it is still in joint names. Knowing he had no time for the ex wife and that he did not wish her to inherit anything, should and can I, as executor, prevent the ex-wife getting her hands on the money in that account.

She is currently not aware of the existence of the account, ie that it was never changed to a sole name. He was been the sole user of that account since their divorce.


As executor of his estate I want to do what he would have wanted and know that he would not want the ex to receive those funds.

The amount in the account has no effect on IHT.

The banks are adamant that it goes to the ex, full stop no exceptions., and I understand that this is the basic legal position but I am wondering it there are situations such as this that the court would over rule that decision.

How do I prevent the automatic transfer of the funds by the bank to the ex-wife, while applying to the courts. I want them to freeze it while I get some legal advice and maybe apply to the court, but The bank aren't willing to help they want to just strike his name of, but that just seems wrong to me... anyone any ideas?

g6jns_2

Moxiemonkey wrote: »

I have been appointed executor of a friends Estate. He is divorced and has no contact with the ex-wife. His will states he wishes to leave his children a nominal amount with the remainder going to his current partner, who he had been with for a number of years.

He has had no contact with the ex wife since the divorce, over 5years ago but we have discovered he never changed the mandate on their joint bank account and it is still in joint names. Knowing he had no time for the ex wife and that he did not wish her to inherit anything, should and can I, as executor, prevent the ex-wife getting her hands on the money in that account.

She is currently not aware of the existence of the account, ie that it was never changed to a sole name. He was been the sole user of that account since their divorce.


As executor of his estate I want to do what he would have wanted and know that he would not want the ex to receive those funds.

The amount in the account has no effect on IHT.

The banks are adamant that it goes to the ex, full stop no exceptions., and I understand that this is the basic legal position but I am wondering it there are situations such as this that the court would over rule that decision.

How do I prevent the automatic transfer of the funds by the bank to the ex-wife, while applying to the courts. I want them to freeze it while I get some legal advice and maybe apply to the court, but The bank aren't willing to help they want to just strike his name of, but that just seems wrong to me... anyone any ideas?

Your function as executor is to carry out those duties. It is not for you to decide how the estate should be dealt with other than according to the law.

The bank are correct. Ownership passes to the ex wife and there is nothing you can do about it. There is a remote possibilty that there might have been some agreement that the funds were to be split but you may have a hard job proving it. As executor you should not spend estate funds on trying to recover the funds without very clear professional advice that it is reasonable to do so. The bottom line is you should forget about it.

Mojisola

Moxiemonkey wrote: »

He has had no contact with the ex wife since the divorce, over 5years ago

Knowing he had no time for the ex wife and that he did not wish her to inherit anything, should and can I, as executor, prevent the ex-wife getting her hands on the money in that account.

The banks are adamant that it goes to the ex, full stop no exceptions., and I understand that this is the basic legal position but I am wondering it there are situations such as this that the court would over rule that decision.

As it's a joint account, the money is hers. As the others have said, it isn't part of the estate.

He had five years to change the account - he didn't.

getmore4less

This may not be the case,

not all accounts in two names are held on a joint tenancy basis.

HMRC document this and there are plenty of court cases that have determined "joint accounts" to be held on a tenants in common bases 100:0 split

The financial settlement in the divorce may well have broken the joint tenancy.
Then again it may not.

TBagpuss

(GetMore4Less - can you give citations for any of the cases you refer to?)

The presumption is that the account now belongs to the ex wife. It may be worth checking the order made in the divorce proceedings. If it explicitly states that the wife is to cooperate to transfer the account to the husband's sole name then you may be able to argue that a trust in favour of the husband was created. However, given the delay and the fact that the husband apparently didn't do anything to deal with this (he could not have closed the account without her cooperation, but he could have frozen it, or emptied it and set up a new account)

how much is in the account? If the Divorce Order provides for it to be transferred to the husband, then it is worth you, as the executor, writing to the wife and asking that she cooperate to close the account and pay the balance to the estate.

Even if it doesn't, you can still contact her and ask that she do this. If she won't, then you will have to consider whether there is any evidence to support an argument that the account holders held as trustees for the husband, and whether the amount involved justifies trying to make a formal legal claim on behalf of the estate.

I suspect that you would struggle to prove that she is not entitled