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Home >> Scams/Fraud
Account Cleaned Out After Woman's Death
A friend of mine's mother passed away recently. After her death, he wrote a check for cash on her bank account (to clear it out), and ended up with an overdraft fee. (He must have had the balance wrong.) The bank sent him an overdraft notice, which he promptly paid. My question is this, has he committed fraud by cleaning out her account? He had a Power of Attorney from her, but I guess that ended when she passed.
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 It appears that he didn't have the authority to make the withdrawal, because his mother's power of attorney lapsed at the moment of her death. Unless he was also a joint owner of the account, he should not have made the withdrawal.
If the account was not joint -- as appears to be the case here -- the only party with authority to make withdrawals after his mother's death would have been the personal representative of his mother's estate. Unless the son had been approved by the courts as executor or administrator of the estate, the withdrawals would have been improper.
We cannot say for certain, however, that the withdrawals were fraudulent. It's possible that your friend was the only party entitled to benefit from his mother's estate. If that's the case, the withdrawals probably harmed no one, and no fraud case will be pursued. It might also be possible that the withdrawals were made under a state's "small estates" laws, which allow payments from small bank accounts of deceased persons to next-of-kin or for final expenses.
Published on BankingQuestions.com 11/29/06
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