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Home >> Accounts >> Certificates of Deposit
Granddaughters Inherit CD...but not Legally
My wife and her sister were co-powers of attorney for their grandmother. There was a CD in their grandmother's name and father's name. Their father passed four years ago, but the CD was never retitled. Their grandmother's intent was to give the CD to the granddaughters, but they did not want to redeem it in case their grandmother needed it. They cashed the CD in March in order to pay April nursing home costs. At the same time, the grandmother's living son filed for guardianship, which the girls did not oppose, because they thought she would be happier outside the nursing home. Currently, the money is in a savings account just in their names. Is it okay for them to keep it as their grandmother wants? Coincidentally, the other son (now guardian) had a CD and redeemed it twenty years ago, and we have all those documents to help show that this one was meant for the deceased son's family only.
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 You are asking for an opinion on who should have the money that was in your wife's grandmother's CD account. That is not a question related to banking. Instead, it's a matter for family discussion and, if it comes to it, legal consideration. Your wife and sister had a fiduciary responsibility as attorneys-in-fact for their grandmother to act in her interest. Moving the CD funds into a savings account would likely not be a breach of that duty if the funds were/are used for their grandmother's benefit. However, if those funds are needed for their grandmother's care and are not made available, there could be a question of whether that duty is being breached.
Published on BankingQuestions.com 4/23/10
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