Section II - Banking for your Parent
- Your first, and perhaps most important task to making it easier for you to manage your parent's finances involves getting your name into the records of their financial institutions (banks, credit unions, e.g.) making you a Joint Owner. Also see: Section I - Beneficiary Designations.
- As part of your banking responsibility, you may have to notify by visit, letter or phone call regarding the death of one of your parents. This should be done to all financial institutions, Social Security Administration Office, insurance etc. to notify them of your deceased parent. They may need a death certificate.
- For the banking piece, to do this, you will have to go to the bank along with your parent (if still competent) to fill out the appropriate paperwork. If your parent is not able to do this, then you will have to enact your Powers of Attorney. See Financial Readiness - Your Will.
- Make sure when you are at the bank to apply for online access login credentials as co-account owner. This will allow you the full ability to pay bills, monitor balances, make deposits, transfers between accounts, etc. from the convenience of your computer, phone, etc.
- Order some checks with your name added in addition to your parent's name.
- Depending on the situation, you may want to put your address on the checks even when parent is living elsewhere. On that note, you may want to change your parent's address to yours via the Post Office to insure that all important mail goes through you.
- Get Debit & Credit cards with your name on them. You may have to run errands, order medications, etc., and this way, you will not have to be reimbursed (assumes that your parent is financially capable to do this).
- On this note, only you can determine your parent's competency with regards to possessing a credit card, debit card, or checkbook. I recommend that if they have any one of these it is just a credit card, as it is not attached to a checking account directly. The elderly are often easily taken advantage of, and fraudulent purchases on a credit card are less destructive and easier to rectify.
- It is hard to share a checkbook & register. You manage this.
- You may also have to get your parent some cash once in awhile for sundry expenses depending on their living situation (hair cut at the assisted living residence salon, Girl Scout cookies, casino, e.g.).