I have a jointchecking account with my uncle who is deceased. Does this money belong to me upon his death, or does it belong to his estate?
In most cases, joint deposit accounts are set up as a "joint tenancy with rights of survivorship". That would make the account legally yours as of the date of your uncle's death.
There's a small chance the account was established without rights of survivorship. In that case, a portion of the joint account would become the property of your uncle's estate, and the rest would become yours.
You will have to contact the bank holding the account to determine exactly how it was established. Unless the bank already has a copy of your uncle's death certificate, you'll need to supply one, along with confirmation of your identification that meets the bank's requirements, in order to have the ownership of the account changed on the bank's books.
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In most cases, joint 