Adding a second name to a bank account changes three separate things: who owns the money today, how a Medicaid application reads years from now, and what is left for an estate to settle. Most Rockland County families weigh only the third.
While both owners are living
Under New York Banking Law § 675, a deposit held in two names and payable to either owner or the survivor becomes the property of both as joint tenants, and the bank may pay the entire balance to either one while both are alive. The person added at a branch in Suffern or Pearl River to help with bills holds a present legal interest, not a limited errand. That person can withdraw everything without asking, and a judgment creditor or a divorce on their side of the family can reach the same funds.
When long-term care enters the picture
The New York State Department of Health instructs local districts that when a Supplemental Security Income-related Medicaid applicant jointly owns a bank account, the applicant is presumed to hold a 100 percent interest in it, and the other name is treated as being there for convenience. That presumption can be rebutted, but only with documentation of verifiable deposits and withdrawals. That is why I advise Clarkstown and Haverstraw families to keep deposit records from the day a name goes on an account, rather than reconstructing ten years of statements in the middle of an application.
After the death
Since September 8, 2011, New York has defined “estate” for Medicaid recovery purposes to include assets that bypass probate, jointly owned accounts among them. The recipient’s interest at death can be recovered from the surviving joint owner, covering Medicaid paid from age 55 onward, though recovery is deferred while a spouse, a child under 21, or a certified blind or disabled child survives. That balance also never reaches the Rockland County Surrogate’s Court at 1 South Main Street in New City, which can leave the estate short of funds for debts, taxes and funeral costs. The mechanics are worth understanding before anyone spends the money, and I walk through how a New York executor handles jointly owned and payable-on-death accounts in more detail.
What closes the gap
An account title names no executor and appoints no one to act if you lose capacity. A will, a New York statutory power of attorney, a health care proxy and, where the situation calls for it, a trust do that work. That is why I advise Rockland residents to keep the account for what it is genuinely good at, which is day-to-day convenience, and to put the rest of the job somewhere it will actually hold.
If your loved one left behind a joint bank account which needs to be collected or defended against a claim, contact us today for a free phone consultation.
Roman Aminov Estate Law firm of Queens
147-17 Union Tpke, Kew Gardens Hills, NY 11367, United States
P59P+93 Kew Gardens Hills, Queens, NY, USA
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