If I want to take my name off joint checking acct, can i still have my paychecks direct deposited into it?

Question

I have no self discipline and am withdrawing more than i am depositing...i trust my husband and am handing over all money matters...i am also curious if(Heaven forbid) my husband dies or is mentally ?incapacitated?, who will the money in the acct. go to if my name isnt on it?

Answer 1

It's might not be quite so simple. Some banks do not allow you to just take a name off a joint account unless that person is dead. They make you open a new individual account and close the old joint account. You'll have to talk to your bank to see if that is the case there.
Concerning your question about what will happen to the money if your husband dies or becomes incapacitated and you are not on the checking account. You can handle that 2 ways. You could be on the account as a beneficiary. In that event if he dies you would have to produce the death certificate and they would give you the money. You could also establish a will. In this case you would have to probate the will, produce the death certificate and they will give you the money. Niether of these options protect you if your husband becomes incapacited. You would need a power of attorney in place that would allow you to act on his behalf if he were to become incapicated but not dead.
I would recommend that you take the the road less travelled. Really analyze what problems you have had in the past managing your money. Create a budget and track every penny that goes thru the account. I know that this sounds hard but there are software programs out there that make this task pretty easy.(ex Microsoft Money, Quicken) Financial discipline is a learned trait. You can do it. You may need to try and make things more inconvienent for yourself to keep you from making too many withdrawls. (ex. get rid of debit card, make one withdrawl per week, freeze your debit card in the ice box so that it will have to thaw out before you can use it) Be creative. Good luck to you. I hope this was helpful.

Answer 2

Yes, you can make payroll deposits to any account you want once the money is deposited it belongs to the person(s) who own the account.

As for the question of your husband being incapacitated , you should have living wills to handle the incapacitated scenario, both on you and on him as that will take care of all your financial matters if one of you is incapacitated.

As for dying, if the account has a beneficiary named on it that will take precedent, otherwise his will will determine what happens.

Personally I think the joint account approach is best. Just exercise some discipline (put the checkbook and ATM cards someplace inconvenient).

Answer 3

Possibly, but why you would want your money going into a place that you would have no access to is beyond me.

But in my experience you can't remove a person from a joint account, the account has to be closed entirely.

Answer 4

You need to keep your name on the account, but give him the checkbook and any debit cards you have.

You might want to go to Oprah.com and check out the Debt Diet- some really good info there.

Answer 5

What you can do is set up another account that you do not have checks or an atm card to and direct deposit to that account. When you do direct deposit you can split it up in 5 different accounts.

Answer 6

Banks these days hardly check for the account names even though they should. If you quote the account number only on your paycheck, your paychecks may clear if the bank does not check for account holder name. If the bank checks for the name and yours is not in it, they may not clear your cheque.

Answer 7

Maybe, but then the money would belong only to the other person.

Answer 8

might but you would not be able to get any money out without the other person getting it for you I would keep your nae whrer it is

Answer 9

no