Are all assets combined to pay any debts?
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Are all assets combined to pay any debts?
My father had two bank accounts, a
checking and a savings. In the
inventory the savings account was
not part of the estate account.
Does this mean that it will not be
used when settling debts?
Asked on January 13, 2018 under Estate Planning, Kentucky
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 6 years ago | Contributor
The saving account would be available to settle his debts (that is, it should be part of the estate account) unless it was joint account with someone else who is still alive (in this case, the surviving joint account holder gets the money and the account is not an asset of the estate) or was transfer on death (TOD) or pay on death (POD) (in which case it goes to the named beneficiary and again is not part of the estate). It depends on how the account was held or set-up; there is no intrinsic or automatic reasons why a saving account would not be used for estate debts, it was solely in your rather's name and was not TOD/POD.
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