I am contemplating opening a joint bank account with a family member at UBS. What I want to know is -
1. what happens if one of us dies? how would the other go about accessing the account?
2. would either of our spouses be entitled to half of the funds in the account? none of us our swiss nationals, but we are both married in-community of property in our own country.
If the account is opened in England, it will usually be opened with no restrictions to the signing parties, ie, either party can access the funds without the other party's confirmation. Should one party die, then the funds should be split 50-50. However, there is nothing stopping the surviving partner withdrawing all the funds. You could perhaps have an agreement (and will) drawn up to state that upon death, x funds will go to the family of the deceased. In anycase, the deceased will have an executor who will manage the remaining estate.
Alternatively, you may opt for a joint account where both parties must be present to sign a form to release funds, however, in this day and age, it can be quite difficult to both be physically present at the bank at the same time. However, this option is very secure and ensures that the funds do not go astray.
I should imagine that these types of accounts exist in CH. I have a joint account with my husband in Vaud, with no restrictions... however there is nothing stopping me from clearing it out and doing a runner! so be sure to trust the person you are opening the account with!
If you are married and living in CH and one of you dies...If you do not have a will in place i in Switzerland all of your property, not just the joint bank account, will be handled per swiss inheretance law. Long story short..... the serviving spouce is not intitled to all the assets remaining if there is no will. Per swiss law the assests the spouce that died brought in to the marriege and half the earned assest while during the marrage goes to children or if no children to family of the spouce that passed.
If you want to protect your spouce in CH, I would highly recomend going to a Notary and getting a will in place.
There are 2 possible scenarios: The Bank is not aware that a joint account holder is dead: Then the other partner can stealthily operate the account as specified in the contract (either person can sign or both must sign) The Bank is aware that a joint account holder is dead: Then the Bank blocks all further transactions. The surviving person must bring a succession certificate and a court order with instructions about beneficiaries.
this is an interesting question - i've thought about it but was never in company that can answer it...my husband and i share a bank account in his name but i have full rights - what happens when he passes away?
you should check directly with your bank, as each bank may have slightly different regulations. But I suspect that on death, a joint account passes to the survivor automatically, but this does depend on what was signed at the time of opening the account. However there may be situations (perhaps where there are large funds or lots of family to contest) where joint accounts are frozen until probate has completed. But in any case, as in the UK, I would expect that you would still have access to pay for bills and funeral costs etc until probate is complete.
Ok, well neither of us are resident in switzerland, if that helps. The actual whole idea of the joint account was to exclude either of our spouses from inheriting any part of the joint account, and our wish is that the other persons share in the account fall to the surviving holder of the joint account.
What exactly is a succession certificate?
Thanks for your help, if anyone knows of any UBS information online regarding joint accounts that would be greatly appreciated.
THanks But if one were to have a Will in addition to power of attorney that does not end on death, and if one were a UK resident, would one need a UK or a Swiss Will? UK lawyers say that one needs a UK Will for UK assets and Swiss Will for Swiss assets...
You may want to ask your bank. They usually have PoA texts acceptable to them on their files. If you come up with a sample wording that works with one of the banks it doesn't mean that another bank accepts it.