Mr and Mrs Bank Accounts

[mikeml]

Keep in mind that the executor will need funds to do this. The process of getting funds paid from the deceased's account to an estate late account can take time.

Recently I have noticed certain banks seem to take as long as possible. I suspect two reasons:

1) The banks also wind up estates, if attorneys and everyone else other than banks takes ages to have funds paid into an estate late account our service looks very poor and the banks' service looks excellent when they wind up an estate. They continue to put the squeeze on the rest of us and we are left fighting over the scraps the banks don't want.

2) Often people will have a cheque account with a small credit balance and a credit card with a debit balance. The cheque account is set up with a debit order for the credit card's minimum monthly instalment. The bank will delay providing the necessary until the credit balance on the cheque account has been consumed by paying the minimum monthly payment on the credit card without actually settling the debit balance. One particular bank is very prone to this, in fact one might say its their standard operating procedure

It took 4 months to sort when one of my parents died. Luckily extra funds were available, so no real stress. A friend, who lost her hubby suddenly was also married COP, and her account has frozen for 6 months. Her kids are overseas, and this posed quite a big challenge for her financially.

Another friend changed their contract from COP to ANC with Accrual when they saw the hassles COP caused when one of their parents passed away. It was not cheap, was over R30k about 5 years back.

[AceVentura]

I have my accounts, she has hers and we have a joint account.

this sounds like unnecessary monthly bank fees?

[AceVentura]

It took 4 months to sort when one of my parents died. Luckily extra funds were available, so no real stress. A friend, who lost her hubby suddenly was also married COP, and her account has frozen for 6 months. Her kids are overseas, and this posed quite a big challenge for her financially.

Another friend changed their contract from COP to ANC with Accrual when they saw the hassles COP caused when one of their parents passed away. It was not cheap, was over R30k about 5 years back.

but surely life insurance should pay out quickly to provide finances while the bank account is frozen?

[mikeml]

but surely life insurance should pay out quickly to provide finances while the bank account is frozen?

Those are not paid out in cash, so also frozen in the account.

[AceVentura]

Those are not paid out in cash, so also frozen in the account.

geez, i’m learning a lot that i didn’t think of before

[Spliffcat]

Have access to old folks accounts if one keels over can move cash around to surviving partner or vice versa.
Happily single for 21 years so no worries about COP or ANC.
Reminds self to get access to all the old folks investments.
Remember all the logins and passwords.

[Half-Pint]

but surely life insurance should pay out quickly to provide finances while the bank account is frozen?

If life insurance policies have a nominated beneficiary they will be paid to that beneficiary directly.

Keep in mind that life insurers are insurers so can often look for reasons not to pay. An example is a client where the insurer required the deceased's blood alcohol results after he was killed in an MVA. The lab had a backlog of many years and therefore the spouse waited for more than 5 years.

[Oppies3800]

I don't have the best memory so I just saved all the pins and passwords on my phone.

If something happens to me at least the family can go draw the money or transfer it

[bones]

Another problem with life insurance is, if your policy is ceded to your bond, it will get frozen until the estate is concluded. Thus it is extremely important to have some living cash available for a long while for the remaining members. Some of the debit orders will also be frozen but not all. We have a plan in place that swambo should do asap when I croak to keep them afloat until the estate is settled.

[thabogrobler]

Whether I buy something or she buy something, I still pay for it!

[Jakiesespeelding]

Executors of estates do help with funds as needed (providing their is money), but bear in mind that it usually takes a long time for the executor to be appointed (by court).

[boerbok]

To give my own side, we have our own separate bank accounts that our salary goes into. Most of the debit orders come from my account.

Then using my credit card account, we both have cards linked and setup on banking profiles so we can monitor our spends together. That way we benefit more from the bank incentives... ala ebucks, etc.

What i'm coming across more and more nowadays is 'she pays for this, he pays for that' and if she pays for something, he puts the money into her account, etc.

Point taken on the in or out of community of property also, but that doesn't detract from the above scenarios which I have come across.

It's a little bit of a foreign concept to me as we have shared our 'money' from day one.

Exactly the same here.

[Kamakazi]

this sounds like unnecessary monthly bank fees?

you can have a bank account with only R5 monthly fee..

[Quiksilver]

I understand it that there is no such thing as a "joint" account in South Africa. It is an account in one persons name and the other has signing rights on it. These days with banking apps etc I suppose it matters little.

Since the day we met, we have always split everything 50/50 (for shared expenses), and I do not see that changing.

But, we both still have separate accounts and will keep it that way. We wanted to open a separate account when we purchased the house when we thought we would go with a different bank, but then FNB finally came to the party, so ended up sticking with that.

She earns her own money, and is free to spend it anyway she pleases so long as she has enough left over to cover her 50% of the bills and vice versa.

[Ejay]

but surely life insurance should pay out quickly to provide finances while the bank account is frozen?

No they definitely do not!

Go onto Sanlam's website and see all the forms and information required and how long it takes.

Another life insurance my wife had taken out through Std bank (I forget the name) required that I get a letter from SAP stating that I am not a suspect in her death because it was a hijacking.
How long do you think it takes to get something like that from SAP. After 5 months and an email to our then Pres Zuma did I get any help.

Insurances are not there to pay you out. They are there to take your money

[natand]

nope.

Reasonable expenses are provided for, your answer is not fully correct

[Zoutpansberg]

This.

My wife also has her own account at the same bank as our shared account. Used for UIF when she was on maternity leave. She knows she needs to transfer all funds from the cheq to her account when I keel over.

Does a shared bond also get frozen? Cuz there is also monies in there she can use from the access bond.

This very important , I have arranged with my children to do the transfers into swambos account if I were to keel over.