Answered by Mark Balian at njmoneyhelp.com
Q. I have one checking and one savings account in Florida. One is funded with my pension and the other with my Social Security, both with direct deposit. All transactions, which I can prove with bank statements, were sent to me. I had my brother’s name added to the accounts as I was going for open heart surgery. He lived in New Jersey and also had his own accounts with the same bank. When he died in November 2023, I went to remove him from my accounts with a copy of the death certificate. The next thing? My balances were zeroed out. Then later, the bank put back half the balance for each account and held the total of $2500 as unavailable. My sister-in-law filed his final taxes and did not include the money from my accounts as she knew they were mine. The bank is now saying I need a waiver and the taxes must be paid before they will send me a waiver. What do I do?
