Attorney Thomas B. Burton answers a reader question from Madison, Wisconsin about a Safe Deposit Box and whether the sister is entitled to all of the proceeds of the safe deposit box, or whether the terms of the Will dictate what happens to the contents of the Safe Deposit Box.
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Transcript of Video: Is Sister Entitled to Everything in Safe Deposit Box?
Today's question has to do with a safety
deposit box
that's from Madison Wisconsin the reader
asked my father passed away two weeks
ago he had a Will that stated one
daughter gets $10,000 and the other four
get even shares of his land and assets he
also had a safety deposit box where my
youngest sister was co-owner
we know there is probably a Will and cash
in there since my father's death my
sister is missing in action
in the state of Wisconsin is she entitled
to everything that is in that box so the
short answer is there's a few issues
going on here your father's Will will
determine what happens to anything
without a beneficiary designation so his
probate estate anything that he left a
beneficiary designation like an
insurance policy or even a bank account
if it was payable on death will pass
according to that contract
but in general the Will you said says
one sister gets $10,000 and then it gets
split four ways between the other four
daughters that would dictate everything
that's a probate asset so if for
instance he owned a home and he didn't
have it in a trust that would be a
probate asset you need to get a copy of
the Will to see what it says and make
sure that gets filed with the probate
court in terms of the safety deposit box
if your youngest sister was really a
co-owner she may have access to the box
and may have ownership rights to what's
in the box that would be according to
the contract signed between your father
and the bank if she's just listed as
someone who can access the box after
your father's death then she would be
under a duty to take the property in the
box and give it to whoever is named as
personal representative under the Will
if the Will is in the safety deposit box
she also has a statutory duty to file
that with the probate court if it's the
original Will whoever has
possession should file it with the probate court
so in short you'll need to determine
whether your sister was really a co-owner
of that box or just had access to it and for
the other people watching this is why I
recommend if you use the safety deposit
box to store your estate planning
documents make sure your personal
representative or your trustee under
your Will has access to that box after
your death otherwise I've seen
situations where you have to open a
probate just to get access to the box to
read the Will to see what it says so you
can see where this becomes a chicken and
the egg problem so great question and
thank you.
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