My wife and I had a joint CD. I thought we would both be present to cash it in, but I found out today that she redeemed it by herself -- prior to maturity! The bank said they could do that because even though it was joint, our names were separated by "or" and that means it was legally payable to either one of us. Is that true? If the marriage survives and we purchase another CD at some future point in time, is there a different way we could do it that would require us to both cash it in?
Joint CDs can be set up two different ways. They can be payable alternatively by listing each owner's name separated by the word "or." When a CD is set up that way, any owner can redeem the CD by himself or herself. The second way is for the CD to instead be payable jointly, which means the names would be separated by the word "and." When a CD with multiple owners lists their name with the word "and" in between, all owners must agree to cash it in.
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Joint CDs can be set up two different ways. They can be payable alternatively by listing each owner's name separated by the word "or." When a CD is set up that way, any owner can redeem the CD by himself or herself. The second way is for the CD to instead be payable jointly, which means the names would be separated by the word "and." When a CD with multiple owners lists their name with the word "and" in between, all owners must agree to cash it in.
