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Estate Planning

If either one of the joint-account holder dies, who gets the money?

November 24, 200816Comments by KCLau

Let me ask you this:

Let’s say you have a joint account with your spouse in a local bank. Due to an unforeseen accident, your spouse passed away (touch wood). Are you entitled to withdraw all the money in the account, say RM100k?

The answer is not simply a “yes” or “no”. It actually depends on the bank’s rules and regulations.
What I learn is that there are three possibilities.

1. You cannot withdraw any money.

When the bank knows about a person’s death, the respective account shall be frozen until court order is obtained. If the account is frozen, you can’t withdraw any money.

2. You can only withdraw 50%.

It might be legal to withdraw only 50% of the amount in the account because you own half of it. But this can only be done if the account is not yet frozen. Different banks might have different guidelines. If you are working in the bank, please enlighten us about the banks’ practice.

3. You can withdraw 100%.

Let’s assume that the bank don’t know that your spouse has passed away. You withdraw all the money as usual and nobody notice anything. This might be illegal because when a person is dead, his/her asset should be frozen until court order is obtained.

However, it may be legal to do so if there is a survivor clause in the agreement with the bank at the time you setup the joint-account. Recently I have an account opened at HSBC bank. It is a joint account with my wife. We did sign a document. See the highlighted part of – Clause No.6. (you can save the image and view the full size to read the fine print)

If it is not mistaken, it means that when any of the joint-holder dies, the survivor shall legally own all the money in the account.

I am not a lawyer. Please correct me if I am wrong.

bank account banking joint account joint-holder spouse

KCLau
KCLau

Personal finance author and trainer


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    16 replies to "If either one of the joint-account holder dies, who gets the money?"

    • Iskandar Ngah
      December 16, 2020

      You can read up article by Rockwill (https://rockwills2u.com.my/what-happens-if-one-of-the-joint-bank-account-holders-dies/) with regards to the rights of ownership of the surviving joint account holder. It seems that the surviving account does not own all the monies. He/she is merely an administrator.

      Reply
    • Frank Y H
      February 18, 2020

      Joint account if either one can sign then can the surviving party withdraws all the deposits

      Reply
      • Koid
        December 8, 2020

        But maybank refuse me to withdraw… Ask me to obtain lawyer to do so

        Reply
    • Kumarasamy
      July 10, 2019

      I am joint RHB PENANG Savings Account Passbook owner with my son.
      When I die,I wish my son to withdraw all my money.
      Should I,or must I inform the bank of my intention?

      Reply
    • Boon
      December 30, 2016

      Lately I went to a bank to open a joint FD
      The bank told us even though we elect “either one to withdraw”, both of us must be present to sign which defects the purpose of “either one to withdraw”

      They say it’s a new BNM policy. Have you heard anything of this?

      Reply
      • KCLau
        December 30, 2016

        I am not sure if it is a new BNM policy. What you can do is to check with different banks. My personal family experience is that we are still able to withdraw with just one party presence.

        Reply
        • Alan Ling
          February 3, 2022

          If let say the husband pass away and without a will, and his parents is still around, the wife is not entitled to all the money legally. Accordingly to Distribution Act, the parents is entitle to 50% of the share and 25% if there is grandkids involved.

          Reply
    • hasanain
      June 20, 2011

      there is a joint account on self /or mandate. on death of one account holder the surviving accountholder will be entitled to operate account. what if a certain bank does not oblige.

      Reply
    • Personal Finance Advice from Personal Finance Blogs - November 29 2008 | Personal Investment Management and Financial Planning Blog Directory
      August 2, 2010

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    • jimmy
      March 25, 2009

      Earlier heard from the legal Advisor that the Survivor Clause is not practice in MALAYSIA,even though the bank have Survivor Clause form and being signed.They said Singapore is comply
      with this Survivor Clause.

      Reply
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      March 15, 2009

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