Joint checking account - Brother trying to take it. Any advice?

Mom had no will right? Then she died interstate and most likeky you are going to have to do a lineal heirship rather than doing proate. You need an attorney to do them. An estate attorney with practice in county where she died or owed property is best to dal with a lineal. All heirs have to be accounted for, so someone within the family will need to pull this history together.

Intestate really very interdependent on your state laws. If the old bank account was not POD ( pay on death) or some other surviorship to you and you cleared it out, could be a problem.

Really think if there was a will? My experience is that lineal tends to favor either all equal or goes to the family members (whether good or bad) who live in the county where the court is.

" He threatened to torch the place."

Wow wish you had that recorded. I suggest you get a phone recorder for your phone, they have them for analog phones too. Try to figure out a way to get him to repeat it again if possible. Then never expose you have the recording until you are (if ever) called into court, immediately the case will be thrown out no doubt, prior to that you could probably get him charged with death threat as burning down a house would probably = a death threat if someone is living there.

Thank you for your input! I feel better about it now.

He is nuts. Don't even talk to him. Retain a lawyer and put the estate through the probate process. Listen to your lawyer and only YOUR lawyer as he guides you through this. The judge will divide the estate in accordance with your state probate laws.

I have a different thought on this. There are different ways of 'titling' assets. There is a joint bank account where it is presumed that half belongs to each title holder. In that event, half would have been considered part of your Mom's estate. Alternatively, there is Joint with rights of survivorship (JTWROS) . In the latter, the surviving person owns the entire asset when the other one passes. I think you should go back and review the documents from the original account to determine if brother can pursue this.

No I think your bank account is yours, no problem. He's not just narcissistic he's crazy. Threatening arson is no joke and you should probably stay far away.

I guess what I want to know is there a chance I will have to hire an attorney to defend this account? Thanks

Thanks for your response! He's 49 and narcissistic. Not too long after mom died, he said he thought mom would want him to have the house and if we didn't give up our share, he would never talk to any of us again. AND he would tie this up in court and cost us a lot of money. He threatened to torch the place. He is distorting truths, he burned important documents and got rid of a lot of stuff (he lived in the house with his kids for decades...rent free!)

We are getting an independent administrator. This person won't seek to include this account in the estate, right? Because legally it is mine?

You are correct, that bank account became solely yours. With his attitude I wouldn't give him a penny. You didn't say how old he is. Could he be having some mental problems?