Don't Tell the Bank the Louisiana Co-Signer Died

I started working on a Louisiana Succession yesterday. Here's what happened: Mom was dying of cancer. Shortly before Mom died, Mom's Agent on her Durable Power of Attorney withdrew $30,000 from Mom's investment account. The investment company wrote out a check to Mom for $30,000. Mom died within a day or two after this transaction.

Mom had a checking account at a local bank. Daughter had signature authority on the account. Right after Mom died, Daughter took the $30,000 check to the Louisiana bank to attempt to deposit it in Mom's account. Normally, this would be no big deal. However, Daughter told the bank employee that her Mom had died a day or two before. Now knowing that Mom had died, the bank immediately froze Mom's checking account and the bank would not permit Daughter to deposit the $30,000 check in Mom's account. Now the family has no funds to pay bills and other expenses until an Administrator gets appointed by the court in Mom's Louisiana succession proceeding - which we are expediting by the way.

Moral of the story - it may not be wise to inform the bank that a Louisiana family member died, particularly if you are a co-signer on an account and you would like to deposit the owner's funds into that account.