What Do I Do Now?
What Do I Do Now?
Quentin Fottrell Sat, June 21, 2025
My sister and her husband died within days of each other. Their banks won’t let me access their safe-deposit boxes. What Do I Do Now?
Dear Quentin,
My sister and her husband passed away within a year of each other. I’m blessed that they had the foresight to have a will and living trust that, as the successor trustee, has made dispensing the trust assets much easier.
My sister had a business safe-deposit box at her bank. The safe-deposit box is not listed as personal property and is not part of the trust.
However, I could access two other safe-deposit boxes in my sister’s name with her death certificate. The bank denied me access to her business box, saying it was not part of the trust and was opened in the name of her now-defunct business. The bank suggested filing a claim for unclaimed property in the state where I reside.
My brother-in-law also had a checking account for his medical corporation. The bank said I would be unable to access the funds with his death certificate and trust documents. The bank’s advice was the same as for my sister’s business safe-deposit box: File a claim with the state for abandoned property.
Our trust attorney said the cost of attempting to access the medical-business checking account ($11,000) might not be worth it.
My concern is that my sister may have placed three generations of wedding rings, and other family heirlooms in the safe-deposit box. Would I need to file an action in probate court to access the business safe-deposit box and business checking account or wait? Californian Sister
Dear Sister,
There are three complications to your dilemma.
First, access to these safe-deposit boxes may be complicated by the differing rules of each individual bank, and the fact that they may be in the name of the corporation rather than the individual. But if they are the sole owner of the box, the administrator or executor of your sister and brother-in-law’s estate would be able to access them with the right paperwork.
Second, if your sister died before your brother-in-law, his heirs will inherit his assets.
Hire a trust and estate lawyer who has experience in this field. You are taking advice from an attorney who has told you they do not have expertise in this area. So if this is a treasure hunt, you’re already knowingly walking in the wrong direction.
My answer is predicated on the assumption that your brother-in-law died first, but two deaths and two probate cases within a year complicate the process and may draw it out for many more months.
TO READ MORE: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sister-her-husband-died-within-105900206.html