Acct w/Deceased Owner and No Executor or Heir

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Question:

I have an account with a deceased owner and no one listed as executor (no known heir). They also have a safe deposit box which drafts the account to keep current so this never goes into a dormant status. How do we handle a situation like this when the owner is deceased no heirs no executor of estate known?

Answer:

Consult with your state statutes regarding escheatment. Some states would not consider an automatic payment to be customer intitiated activity and consequently the account and contents of the box would be considered escheatable after the appropriate amount of time has passed.

In the event that this lack of customer activity does not trigger escheatment, you simply maintain the accounts until, a) an executor comes forward, b) the funds run out in the checking account and you end up escheating the contents of the safe deposit box.

First published on BankersOnline.com 4/15/13