[WSBAPT] Bank Behaving Badly - B of A

[Richard Wills]

*Yup, that's been my experience with both BECU & BofA.  When I get 
really, really frustrated, I do a (& get & serve the Order for the) 
Motion for Contempt.  That typically gets results, but, geez, at what 
cost & inconvenience!!!**  I've got numbers of other stories about both 
BECU & BofA, of which I won't bore you.  If you want to talk to a real 
BofA non-friend, call Rob Wilson-Hoss, in Shelton, who can give you a 
mouthful.**You think you have problems with BofA, zounds!!!**  (Not to 
imply that your problems are trivial, but Rob's are monumental.)*



On 4/26/2015 2:47 PM, James B. Dolan wrote:
>
> Colleagues:
>
> I recently encountered the following situation in two probate matters.
>
> 1.Client is appointed as Administrator of Deceased’s estate.  Deceased 
> had accounts at two banks (Wells Fargo and Bank of America) and a 
> credit union (BECU).  On March 31, Administrator went to  all three 
> institutions with a Certificate of Death, certified Order Appointing, 
> and certified Letters of Administration.   She attempted to close out 
> the three modest accounts and marshal the funds in order to place them 
> in an estate account.  Wells Fargo and BECU gave her the money and 
> closed the accounts.  Bank of America stated they need a “Letter of 
> Instructions” and then need to “send everything to legal” for review 
> before giving her the funds in Decedent’s account.  Many telephone 
> calls and visits to the bank later, as of last Friday, May 24, she 
> still does not have the money and the account is still open.
>
> 2.Client is appointed as PR of his deceased brother’s estate.  
> Brother’s Will intends for all of his assets to be placed into trust 
> for benefit of his minor daughter, of which PR is also trustee. 
> Decedent had four accounts at financial institutions – two of them are 
> POD to the trust and two of them (Bank of America and Carpenter’s 
> Trust – pension) are POD directly to minor child.  For a number of 
> reasons, we petitioned court to direct the two institutions with 
> accounts POD (Bank of America and Carpenter’s Trust – pension) 
> directly to minor to instead deliver the funds to trustee of the minor 
> trust. We followed all relevant RCWs, including summons per TEDRA and 
> also specific notice to Bank of America and Carpenter’s Trust per 
> 11.11.050.  Based on dealing with Bank of America in scenario number 1 
> above, I saw this coming so in my order, the Court specifically 
> directed Bank of America to “immediately and without delay, deliver 
> all assets in [Decedent’s name and account numbers] to PR / Trustee. 
> Failure to promptly comply with this order shall be considered 
> contempt of court.”  PR went to Bank of America, for the second time, 
> with certified Order Appointing, Letters Testamentary, Certificate of 
> Death, and certified copy of the order we had just entered, and was 
> told by bank manager that “we need to send this to legal, we will get 
> back to you.”
>
> It appears that B of A has a new policy, that no other banks or credit 
> unions have to my knowledge, that being appointed PR and appearing at 
> the bank with all of the necessary documents is not, in their view, 
> sufficient, so they need to “send it to legal.”  My jaded view is that 
> the bank, by delaying the withdrawal of money from the accounts 
> previously owned by Decedents, gets to continue to use the money to 
> collect interest – although each account in and of itself is probably 
> not worth very much, when you think of the thousands of accounts from 
> thousands of Decedents that are being treated this way, those pennies 
> add up (/see/ the movie Office Space).
>
> At any rate, the client in scenario number 1 above has waited three 
> weeks, the bank manager in scenario number 2 above is simply blowing 
> off a court order (no doubt because she is simply following the bank 
> directive).
>
> Before I gulp down a large Starbucks and begin drafting Motion and 
> Order to  Show Cause for Contempt (does that even make sense?) and get 
> an Order Shortening Time and have both managers personally served, I 
> thought I might check in with my more experienced, and perhaps more 
> rational, and certainly more mature, colleagues.  Is this finally a 
> chance to strike back at the empire or am I tilting at windmills?  Any 
> other ideas?
>
> Jim Dolan
>
> ===================
>
> *Jones Butler Dolan, PS*
>
> _www.jbdolan.com_
>
> _www.jonesbutlerdolan.com_
>
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>
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>
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>
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>
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>
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>
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>
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