# Inheritance of joint account



## BBY (26 Feb 2008)

Hi folks, 
I am/was a building society joint account holder with my grandfather, who died some years ago. I have never taken his name off the account, though have used it infrequently. I now wish to transfer the name and address on the a/c to me alone. Are there any specific requirements/issues involved related to probate, particularly given that he died some years back. There is a potential benefit from demutualisation here that I am keen to lock down.
Cheers
B


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## mf1 (26 Feb 2008)

It depends on how the account was held. 

There is a lot of scope for misunderstanding when it comes to so called "joint accounts". On the face of it, if it was a genuine joint account, and the intention of both parties was that the funds were to pass to the other on the death of one, then all the  b.s. should require is a certified copy Death Cert. to remove one name from the account. If the "joint" aspect was more so that one person  could access the funds but the funds were not strictly held "jointly", and depending on the amount involved, it may be necessary to extract a Grant of Probate/Administration to your late g.f's estate to have the account transferred. 

Are there other beneficiaries in the estate and are they likely to object or do they know about these funds? 

mf


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## BBY (28 Feb 2008)

Well, my grandfather put money in a number of joint a/cs for his grandkids, but we only found this out after his death, so there wasn't joint usage of the a/cs. I guess it was his way of making a legacy for us. Having said that, not all of the beneficiaries of the estate were aware of it. It was only a few grand, though this seemed like a lot to the penniless student I was at the time...
At the very least, though, I'll have to produce a death certificate, yes?
Cheers
B


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## dewdrop (28 Feb 2008)

i think that in the case of a joint deposit account other than in names of husband and wife clearance is required from revenue commissioners before account is transferred into sole name of survivor..this i recall applies to balances over a certain figure which i cannot recall.


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## BBY (29 Feb 2008)

Ah, the balance is pretty negligible now, just enough to keep it in the demutualisation loop.


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## BOXtheFOX (2 Mar 2008)

If it is a joint account payable to either I am sure that you can just call to the branch and withdraw the money, maybe leave a couple of hundred in case of demutualisation.


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