IBA Compliance Connection

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We had an account with three joint owners. One of the owners died, and the account was closed by his son, who was a joint owner on the account. The deceased customer’s other son (who was not a joint owner) has requested copies of account statements and provided us with documentation that he will be issued letters of office naming him as a co-administrator for the deceased customer’s estate. Does the son who will be appointed as a co-administrator have the authority to request this documentation?

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Once the son has been appointed as an administrator for the deceased customer’s estate, he will be entitled to access information relating to the account as of the date of your customer’s death. However, since there continue to be living owners of the account following the decedent’s death, the administrator would not be entitled to information relating to the account for the time subsequent to the decedent’s death.

The financial privacy requirements in Regulation P generally prohibit banks from providing a consumer’s account information to third party. However, Regulation P includes exceptions for sharing a customer’s account information with “persons holding a legal or beneficial interest relating to the consumer” and “persons acting in a fiduciary or representative capacity on behalf of the consumer.” An administrator of an estate would fall squarely within these exceptions with respect to information relating to the account before the joint account holder’s death.

However, the authority of an estate administrator under these exceptions is strictly derived from the deceased customer’s own interests, and the interests of a joint account holder in a joint account cease upon that joint account holder’s death. Accordingly, an administrator’s interest in the joint account also ceases as of the date of the joint account holder’s death. 

For resources related to our guidance, please see:

  • Regulation P, 12 CFR 1016.15(a)(2) (The requirements for initial notice in § 1016.4(a)(2), for the opt out in §§ 1016.7 and 1016.10, and for service providers and joint marketing in § 1016.13 do not apply when you disclose nonpublic personal information: . . . (iv) To persons holding a legal or beneficial interest relating to the consumer; or (v) To persons acting in a fiduciary or representative capacity on behalf of the consumer; . . .”)
  • Joint Tenancy Act, 765 ILCS 1005/2(a) (“When a deposit in any bank . . . transacting business in this State has been made or shall hereafter be made in the names of 2 or more persons payable to them when the account is opened or thereafter, the deposit or any part thereof or any interest or dividend thereon may be paid to any one of those persons whether the other or others be living or not, and when an agreement permitting such payment is signed by all those persons at the time the account is opened or thereafter the receipt or acquittance of the person so paid shall be valid and sufficient discharge from all parties to the bank for any payments so made.”)