Once a bank knows about the death of a customer, can they continue to ACH (debit) his checking account for monthly bills? Where can I find operating guidelines on this? Does the bank have to return the money?
The bank should have stopped accepting ACH entries to the account once it learned of its customer's death or ten days after the date of death, whichever occurred last. Whether the bank can or should refund any of the funds transferred out will depend on where the funds went and whether they paid legitimate expenses of the deceased depositor's estate.
For example, if there were life insurance premiums charged, those clearly should not have been paid. However, if the charge is for electricity or other utilities for the residence if owned by the estate, no one is actually harmed, since those would have to have been paid.
When it comes to these charges things are not always as "black and white" as one would like them. Sit down with the bank representative to sort matters out.
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The bank should have stopped accepting ACH entries to the account once it learned of its customer's death or ten days after the date of death, whichever occurred last. Whether the bank can or should refund any of the funds 