In the UK, if an account is dormant for 15 years or more, the government takes the money. However, they keep a permanent record and if a valid claim is ever made then the owner will be reimbursed.
I remember the publicity about the Swiss bank accounts that had been dormant since the 1940’s and were presumed to be monies of Jews (and others) that had perished in the second world war. Fifty years on these banks still maintained the accounts but were sitting on the money. They were shamed into taking out advertisements around the world in an attempt to find the owners.
It seems our own banks and governments have less conscience when it comes to ‘their’ money.
He waited 18 years to open a safe deposit box?
The paper the guy found was merely documentation that a certain type of account was created at the bank. Even though they call it a “certificate”, that piece of paper has no intrinsic value, like a stock certificate, a savings bond, or even a federal reserve note.
The person who found that piece of paper does not automatically own the funds in the account that the CD represents.
Ownership of the funds after someone dies is something that is resolved through a legal process, almost always requiring the services of a lawyer.
This all should have been resolved soon after Granny’s death. The fact that there was still a safe deposit box is troubling, unless that box wasn’t hers, but that of another living relative who may have put that piece of paper in their own box.
I used to have one of those boxes, it was a freebie that my bank gave me for having a certain level of funds on deposit. Every time I needed to access it, I had to sign in at the bank and they checked my signature against one they had on file.
If that was Granny’s box, why did they let someone else get access to it, even if he had the key?
The thing about old financial papers is that it’s easier to simply stash them somewhere rather than to actually make the decision as to whether its appropriate to discard them.
If in fact that CD wasn’t closed out as part of the estate disposal process, then the lawyer who was involved was incompetent, dishonest, or both. There must always be an inquiry with any banks involved whether there was a safe deposit box in the decedent’s name.
If I was the person who found that paper, I would now be trying to track down the records of the estate settlement to find out for sure whether the CD was closed out. With that information, there would be a legal basis to go after the bank.
At the closure of any estate, there is a detailed financial accounting of the assets, liabilities, and payments. That’s what he needs to see, and I’m betting that still exists somewhere.
And as an aside, it’s entirely possible that the original account wasn’t with Wells Fargo, but another bank that they absorbed.
When estate funds are doled out to the heirs, they just get a check. The check represents their share of the pooled funds of the decedent remaining after the expenses have been paid, and debts resolved. The check doesn’t tell them that the money came from a CD, a checking account, sale of real estate, physical property, or financial instruments.
Asking Granny’s children about the CD, as someone else suggested, might not be productive, unless any of them still have records from the estate.
Even if there was a will, even that might not be helpful unless it specifically mentioned the CD.
My feeling is that this guy is either chasing a phantom, and that CD was closed out long ago, maybe even before she died, or he is trying to work a scam.
For the record, though not a lawyer, I have been the court-appointed administrator of two estates, and know something about the process.
Is it a CD or a receipt for a CD? Article refers to both.
So, if I find a receipt for a 1973 Chevy Impala in grandma’s filing cabinet, can I go to the local Chevy dealership and demand the car? I don’t see the car in her backyard...the dealership must have it.
Good luck dealing with Wells Fargo.
They are the worst .... well, actually Citibank is worse.
Unclaimed funds get seized by the government.