In this episode of Absolute Trust Talk, managing attorney Kirsten Howe tackles one of the most overlooked practical challenges in estate planning: making sure your loved ones have access to cash immediately after you die. Kirsten walks through why the most common account structures — trust-held accounts, individually owned accounts, and pay-on-death designations — all come with delays that can leave families unable to cover urgent expenses, such as funeral and burial costs. She then breaks down the one strategy that actually works, adding a trusted co-owner to a small joint checking account, and explains the legal implications of joint tenancy and right of survivorship that every family needs to understand before going this route. Kirsten also explains why keeping the account balance modest matters and why leaving a written statement of intent is essential when there is more than one beneficiary.
Time-stamped Show Notes:
0:00 Introduction
0:43 Why having cash readily available immediately after death is a problem many families don’t anticipate.
1:30 Yes, you can prepay for funerals, burials, and cremations — but this episode focuses on those who haven’t done that.
2:15 How trust-held accounts work at death: the successor trustee gains access, but only after a death certificate is obtained — which can take two to three weeks.
3:10 Accounts held in your own name are even slower. Why? The law requires a 40-day waiting period before anyone can access them.
4:00 Pay-on-death beneficiary accounts also require a death certificate, making them similarly slow in a time-sensitive situation.
4:45 The joint account strategy: adding a trusted person as a co-owner gives them immediate access — no death certificate required.
5:50 Did you know? When you add someone to an account, and you die, that account legally belongs to the co-owner through right of survivorship.
7:00 Why this strategy still works in practice: most families handle it correctly, but the key is the conversation — and keeping the account balance modest.
8:10 If you have more than one child or beneficiary, it’s important to document why you added one person to the account so there are no surprises.
9:00 The cash-at-home option is possible but not recommended due to security and safety risks.
9:30 The bottom line: a small joint account with a trusted co-owner is the most reliable way to make cash available immediately after death.
Transcript:
Hello and welcome to Absolute Trust Talk. I’m Kirsten Howe, and I’m the managing attorney at Absolute Trust Counsel, and this is our podcast. Welcome — we’re glad you’re here.
Today, I’m doing another short episode in a series I’ve been calling Estate Planning Misses. The “Miss” stands for a few different things — mistakes, mishaps, misunderstandings, misperceptions — things that could have gone better, things we’ve learned over many years of helping people with their estate planning, and things to just be aware of.
Today, I want to talk about the idea of making money available after you’ve passed away in a simple, efficient, and ideally fast way. This comes up most often when a funeral, burial, or cremation needs to be paid for. Some of the ways we leave money to those who survive us take more time than a situation like that really allows.
First, I’ll say that it is possible to prepay for funerals, burials, and cremations. If you’ve done that, you’re ahead of the game. But I’m primarily talking about people who haven’t, and there are many reasons why prepaying may not be the right solution for everyone.
For those clients, the way your survivors access your cash depends on how you left it. We want clients who have a trust to hold their assets in that trust — their checking account, for example, would be owned by the trust. When they die, the successor trustee steps in and says, “I’m now the trustee of this trust, so I get access to that account.” All of which is true. The problem is that this can’t happen until a death certificate is obtained. We’re currently seeing death certificates take about two to three weeks, depending on the county. That may not be fast enough.
Another option is simply keeping your checking account in your own name — but that’s actually worse than holding it in a trust. No one can access anything held in your name alone for at least 40 days after your death. You have the death certificate delay, plus a mandatory 40-day waiting period under the law.
What about making your successor trustee a pay-on-death beneficiary on an account? That also requires a death certificate, which brings us right back to the same two-to-three-week problem.
What might actually work is making the person you trust — your successor trustee — a co-owner of your checking account while you’re still alive. You take them to the bank and have them added to the account. There are real risks with this approach, and we’ve touched on them in other episodes — namely, you’re exposing your assets to their potential problems. But if you’ve determined this is the right strategy, it does work. A co-owner doesn’t need to show a death certificate to access the account. They can write checks, withdraw cash, and cover what needs to be covered right away.
There are a few important things to keep in mind if you go this route. First, the legal reality: when you add someone to an account and then die, that account legally belongs to the surviving co-owner. It’s a joint tenancy with right of survivorship. In the vast majority of cases I’ve seen, the child or trusted person understands that the money isn’t theirs — it’s mom’s money, and it belongs in the trust to be used for death-related expenses. But that conversation needs to happen explicitly.
Second, keep the account balance modest. The co-owner is not going to need $100,000. They need enough to handle the immediate costs after your death, before they gain access to the rest of your assets.
Third, if you have more than one child or more than one beneficiary, leave behind a written statement explaining what you did and why. Something like: “I added this child to my account solely to make cash available immediately after my death. It was not my intention for them to inherit this account.” It’s simply about communication — no surprises, no hurt feelings, no one taking advantage of a unique position.
The only other option is keeping actual cash at home, which I generally don’t recommend. Cash can be stolen, lost in a fire, or found by the wrong person. It’s an option some clients have discussed with me, but it requires serious thought.
The bottom line: a small joint account with a trusted co-owner is likely your best strategy for making cash immediately available after your death. Pair that with clear communication — a conversation and a written record — and you’ve addressed one of the most overlooked practical gaps in estate planning.
I hope this was helpful. Thank you so much for listening — we appreciate your support all these years. Please like and subscribe if you haven’t already, and I look forward to connecting with you next time.
Resources Related to This Episode:
- A Will is Not Enough – Securing Your Legacy with Estate Planning Life can change in an instant. A will is not enough to be prepared. Get free access to our actionable E-book Guidebook #1 and start protecting your legacy today. https://absolutetrustcounsel.com/guidebooks/
- Learn how to comfortably define gray areas and assess your unique needs to build a secure future now effortlessly. Check out Guidebook #2, Estate Planning Beyond the Basics, here > https://absolutetrustcounsel.com/guidebooks/
- Get our free introductory guide to the most used estate planning tool, family trusts, and understand how we plan to help protect your family. Guidebook #3: https://absolutetrustcounsel.com/guidebooks/
- Absolute Trust Counsel would love to offer access to our Incapacity Planning resource page: https://AbsoluteTrustCounsel.com/Incapacity-Planning/. We’ve collected our top planning information all in one place so listeners can find videos, guidebooks, blog posts, and a host of information with tips and strategies on implementing, planning, and protecting themselves and their loved ones.
- We’re pleased to provide a library of e-books to address common estate planning questions and concerns in practical, easy-to-understand language. https://AbsoluteTrustCounsel.com/Resources/.
- ASK KIRSTEN: If you’d like Kirsten to answer your question on the air, please email her at Info@AbsoluteTrustCounsel.com.
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