wife is on sav. acct with her mother

[depjlp]

My wife is on her mothers savings acct , but its not wifes money.

My wife has been on this account for many many years. Acct balance is about $200k

How do I handle this? Will trustee see this as money that could be used to pay our debts?

Do I just not list it? It isn't our money.

[cleo1357]

The problem is, if it is jointly owned, it IS technically your wife's money, regardless of where it came from. My daughters savings account was jointly owned (instead of custodial, like her next account will be), so I closed it out and used it to pay my attorneys fees (don't worry, she will get her money back with LOADS of interest). If you DON'T list it, it will be assumed that you were trying to hide the money, which will be construed as fraud. Even if you can prove that the money belongs to her mother, and that she was on the account for emergency reasons, her mother essentially "gave" her the money by putting her on as joint. Is it possible that she is only an "authorized signer" on the account? That would make a world of difference, as she would not have ownership, but this scenario is unlikely.

[phoenyx]

Unfortunately, I agree with everything cleo1357 said. The only thing I wanted to add is that you should speak with a bankruptcy attorney ASAP in my opinion, if you haven't already, if you are looking at filing a bankruptcy. This could be a complicated situation, and a professional might be able to find a way to find a way through it for you. I don't know if this would work. Again, I don't know if this would work. But, perhaps if your wife is taken off your mother's savings account, and you wait to file for a year, then perhaps the money couldn't be viewed as something they could go after. It's these type of scenarios that a bankruptcy attorney would be able to discuss with you.

Good luck!

[depjlp]

matybe this will work??

Ok, my wife went to the bank this morning, and found out that:
Her mother opened a money market account and listed my wife as "authorized signer" on it,
but the original savings account has my wife as co-owner.

The balance is 100K in each account.

I'm thinking that we have my wifes user type changed to "authorized signer" on the savings account
then get a letter stating her user type for each account, and submit it with BK papers.

I'm going for a free consultation Wed., I'll mention to attorney and see what he thinks.

[phoenyx]

I'm thrilled that you are seeing a bankruptcy attorney on Wednesday for a consultation.

I don't have experience with the authorized signer / co-owner issue to know whether in a bankruptcy if there is a difference between the two. I'm pretty certain that even if you can logically look at the co-owner account and say it's all her mother's money, that they can still view it as something they could go after. I'm less sure about the account she is an authorized signer on, but I'm still worried they could try going after it.

I'm somewhat worried about the idea of having her changed from a co-owner to an authorized signer on the savings account. From a legal standpoint, this might be seen as a transfer of assets from your wife to her mother. It's definately a gray area for me. I'm not sure whether you would have to wait a year to file after removing her as a co-owner to have it truly hands-off to the bankruptcy.

Some of this may come down to the reasons why your wife is on the accounts. If she is on them to help manage her mother's affairs because her mother is unable to do so, this might be an easier process for you.

It might be worth talking to the attorney(s) whether both bank accounts should be closed, and if your wife's mother should open a new account in her name only for the money to go to. But, this would have the same issue to deal with, on whether you would have to wait a year to file after doing this.

I would recommend asking the attorney you are meeting with whether they have dealt with situations just like this before. I don't think this is common, to be a co-owner/co-user of an account with so much money in it.

I would also recommend getting a few other consultations with attorneys, to make sure there is an agreement among them on how this will be handled, and so you can learn who you have the most trust with to handle this situation.