How does a checking account need to be set up so that when one person passes away, the other person can access funds right away without any legal waiting period? I have an assigned exector in my Will, will this person have immediate access to my funds?
Your executor cannot access the account after your death until he or she has been approved by the probate court and brings a copy of your death certificate and the probate appointment, sometimes called Letters Testamentary, to the bank to move the funds into an estate account.
In most states, an account that is jointly owned will be owned by the surviving joint owner by operation of law upon one owner's death. The account is not part of the decedent's estate. States also permit the designation of account beneficiaries under a "Totten Trust" or Payable on Death designation. Your bank can tell you which one is available. Such designations are fully revocable until the owner's death, but upon the owner's death, the accounts will be owned under operation of law by the named beneficiary(ies).
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Your executor cannot access the 