topic Re: I Got A Check Made Out To DH. in Community Chat

I Got A Check Made Out To DH.

CrazyKittyLvr2 — Mon, 17 Feb 2020 17:55:21 GMT

My husband passed away in May of 2019. Saturday I got a refund check of $94.91 from State Farm payable to DH.. I got ride of my car and it's a refund for overpayment since I had just paid the premium right before I sold the car.

Now I notified them of his death when he died, I'm the one that signed the paperwork regarding dropping the car insurance. Nope, check to him.

I can't cash it or deposit it even though his name is still on the account. I am the survivor on the account and it went to me alone.

I called my agent and I have to send the check to them and they forward it to East Bejezzus where it will be reissued in my name. It will take 4 to 5 MONTHS.

While $94.91 is not a financial hardship in any way, but really. If I owed them that money they would want it right away.

Ya gotta love it.

Re: I Got A Check Made Out To DH.

Laura14 — Mon, 17 Feb 2020 18:00:11 GMT

State Farm can do it faster than that. They owed me a refund for about the same amount and I had to fuss at my local agent when weeks started to pass. Don't be afraid to have the locals work on your behalf to light a fire under corporate.

Re: I Got A Check Made Out To DH.

CelticCrafter — Mon, 17 Feb 2020 18:01:56 GMT

If it were me, I would just deposit it.

You are entitled to it so it's not like you are stealing.

Re: I Got A Check Made Out To DH.

Tori3569 — Mon, 17 Feb 2020 18:03:06 GMT

The same thing just happened to me. I got a check from an old bankrupt stock plan made out to my Mom & Dad. My Mom has been gone since 1999 and we lost my Dad 5 years ago. It's for $95.00. It's crazy, but my Dad would not be happy if I don't get that money, lol.

Re: I Got A Check Made Out To DH.

Kachina624 — Mon, 17 Feb 2020 18:09:24 GMT

If you were the executor of his estate, your signing it should not have been a problem.

Re: I Got A Check Made Out To DH.

Lucky Charm — Mon, 17 Feb 2020 18:14:00 GMT

@CelticCrafter wrote:
If it were me, I would just deposit it.

You are entitled to it so it's not like you are stealing.

I agree, sometimes DH and I are 46 states away. So I just write for deposit only on it and it always goes thru.

Re: I Got A Check Made Out To DH.

Allegheny — Mon, 17 Feb 2020 18:15:37 GMT

Does it bother anyone else with all the computerization in today's world, that we still run into these issues. And worse, the resolutions take longer then when we primarily communicated by phone and used pencil and paper to get things done.

Re: I Got A Check Made Out To DH.

Mz iMac — Mon, 17 Feb 2020 18:16:00 GMT

@CrazyKittyLvr2 "I can't cash it or deposit it even though his name is still on the account."

I do not understand why your bank refused to "deposit."

All you had to do was sign the back of the check in "your name" & deposit in "your" account.

What reasoning did your bank give for refusal to "deposit?"

Re: I Got A Check Made Out To DH.

patbz — Mon, 17 Feb 2020 18:22:00 GMT

I would endorse it with Dad's name and immediately undersigned it with your full name and executrix; you should be fine ( I did this with no problem with the estates of both my parents).

Re: I Got A Check Made Out To DH.

Nonametoday — Mon, 17 Feb 2020 18:26:06 GMT

@CrazyKittyLvr2 wrote:
My husband passed away in May of 2019. Saturday I got a refund check of $94.91 from State Farm payable to DH.. I got ride of my car and it's a refund for overpayment since I had just paid the premium right before I sold the car.

Now I notified them of his death when he died, I'm the one that signed the paperwork regarding dropping the car insurance. Nope, check to him.

I can't cash it or deposit it even though his name is still on the account. I am the survivor on the account and it went to me alone.

I called my agent and I have to send the check to them and they forward it to East Bejezzus where it will be reissued in my name. It will take 4 to 5 MONTHS.

While $94.91 is not a financial hardship in any way, but really. If I owed them that money they would want it right away.

Ya gotta love it.

@CrazyKittyLvr2 My story is not identical to yours but similar in some ways.

I sold a house and the escrow after all was paid out in 2-3 months to the new mortgage company, etc., was $86.00. I was 3 months or so in getting that notice.

Weeks went by and I never got the check. Every now and then (probably every month) I would get a notice showing what they owed. I called, I wrote and never got it.

Three years went by and finally I turned it over to the AG of the state. He was dogmatic in getting it for me, but how many people would not pursue that as I did? Probably hundreds, if not thousands.

It was that big company the W-F. If you recall they got in a lot of trouble. I am sure my claim did not help them any. I was glad to help as much as I could. Yes, like you --- that amount of money is not going to break any of us, but if they do that to me and they do it to thousands of others, pretty soon it adds up to big money in their bank account, not mine. Plus I could have a new pair of pants and a blouse with that much money back 30 years ago.

Re: I Got A Check Made Out To DH.

CrazyKittyLvr2 — Mon, 17 Feb 2020 18:38:26 GMT

I can't just sign my name on the back, it's in his name alone.

There was no estate opened, I was the beneficiary on everything and it all passed to me as a beneficary. Even his pension money, I was beneficiary. No need to open an estate. I am not to go thru the expense of opening an estate and an estate account for less than $100.

It just something that it should take that long.

Re: I Got A Check Made Out To DH.

Suziepeach — Mon, 17 Feb 2020 18:42:22 GMT

Even though the check was to your husband, with you on the same checking account you could've deposited it even using your name, for deposit only and account number.

MIL passed away in October and the checks that might come in with her name on it, my husband deposits in his name as he's on her checking account too.

When my husband traveled I deposited all his checks with my name..

Re: I Got A Check Made Out To DH.

mimomof4 — Mon, 17 Feb 2020 18:46:31 GMT

Did you double check with your back whether you could deposit the check? While I haven't been in your position. I sign checks which are written to my kids in my name and deposit into their accounts. They are minors and I'm on the account so maybe rules are a little different.

Doesn't seem to me that you should have to create a separate estate account in this instance. I'm sure this is not the first time this has happened to someone.

Re: I Got A Check Made Out To DH.

Sage04 — Mon, 17 Feb 2020 18:51:51 GMT

@CrazyKittyLvr2 this happened to me also so all I did was write ¨ for deposit only¨ with the account number. I did not sign my name because the check was made out to him only. His name is still on the account and so far no one has come after me lol

Re: I Got A Check Made Out To DH.

NickNack — Mon, 17 Feb 2020 19:55:22 GMT

@CrazyKittyLvr2 You can just put for deposit only and the account # on the back of the check. You don't have to sign your name or his.

Edited to add: My father recently died, and my sister and I are both on his account. Our attorney told us that we didn't have to open an estate account since our names were on that account. He got a reimbursement check after he died, and I deposited it that way.

Re: I Got A Check Made Out To DH.

CrazyDaisy — Mon, 17 Feb 2020 19:16:13 GMT

Same thing happen to my mom. Your husbands name was on the policy so the refund check was issued to him. She took it to the agent and they took care if it for her. Had a check issued to the Estate of..... in less than a month

Re: I Got A Check Made Out To DH.

Jordan2 — Mon, 17 Feb 2020 19:44:43 GMT

<p><li-user login="Retired Legal Secretary" uid="33295"></li-user> I remember when my brother passed away, we had to open an estate account in his name where all checks were deposited. We kept the account opened for at least a year.</p>

Re: I Got A Check Made Out To DH.

Sheila P-Burg — Mon, 17 Feb 2020 20:00:55 GMT

@CrazyKittyLvr2 ...... How did you manage to cancel the policy if it was in his name only?

Also, if you are the survivor on the checking account why is his name still on the account? With his name on the account, did the bank say they would not accept it?

Re: I Got A Check Made Out To DH.

Icegoddess — Mon, 17 Feb 2020 20:02:03 GMT

@Jordan2 wrote:
<p><li-user login="Retired Legal Secretary" uid="33295"></li-user> I remember when my brother passed away, we had to open an estate account in his name where all checks were deposited. We kept the account opened for at least a year.</p>

@Jordan2, not everybody has to open an estate account. After my father died, the lawyer we went to claimed we had to put all the money in his checking account in an Estate account. He had it set up to auto-pay some of the bills like the electric bill. It also had all our names on it with "or" between them. So, I told him, I had every legal right to go and empty it out if I wanted to. He insisted, so my sister and I went to the bank. The lady at the bank looked at it and said "that's your money". She called up the lawyer, who now was no longer in the office, and left a message for him that she would not be setting up an Estate account and if he had a problem with it to call her back. It was nice not to have to worry a bout those bills until the house was cleaned out and sold.

BTW, if you don't go through Probate, you don't become Executrix. My Dad set up his financial accounts so that they went directly to us (TOD accounts), so we weren't going to have to go through Probate unless we wanted to sell the house within 2 years. However, it turned out he had one account that wasn't TOD, so we ended up having to do the Probate thing to gt that money.

I agree with the others, put For Deposit Only and the account number on the back and deposit it.

Re: I Got A Check Made Out To DH.

Tinkrbl44 — Mon, 17 Feb 2020 20:02:09 GMT

@CrazyKittyLvr2 wrote:
My husband passed away in May of 2019. Saturday I got a refund check of $94.91 from State Farm payable to DH.. I got ride of my car and it's a refund for overpayment since I had just paid the premium right before I sold the car.

Now I notified them of his death when he died, I'm the one that signed the paperwork regarding dropping the car insurance. Nope, check to him.

I can't cash it or deposit it even though his name is still on the account. I am the survivor on the account and it went to me alone.

I called my agent and I have to send the check to them and they forward it to East Bejezzus where it will be reissued in my name. It will take 4 to 5 MONTHS.

While $94.91 is not a financial hardship in any way, but really. If I owed them that money they would want it right away.

Ya gotta love it.

@CrazyKittyLvr2

You're being awfully understanding about them keeping your money for so long. 4 to 5 months? Where the heck is this check being processed? Mars?

Personally, I would tell them that it's NOT acceptable and I want the check reissued within 2 weeks, or I want interest paid on the money due me from this day forward.

The squeaky wheel gets the grease. JMO