Living Trust & Wells Fargo

[Dalmore]

I am wondering if others are experiencing problems with living trusts and checking/savings accounts with Wells Fargo (or other banks in general).

Over the last two months or so, my MIL (85 yrs old) has been having issues with depositing dividend checks into her Wells Fargo account. The account is in the name of the Trust and the check is made out in her name and FIL's name common property. She has been depositing this same check every month or so since the 90s. Since early this summer, it seems like every other teller will resist depositing the check.

Is this normal? I always thought that so long as your name was on both, depositing would be pretty straight forward. It is problematic enough that MIL is asking for my help to move the Trust account to another bank.

 

[cathy63]

Maybe it would be better to put the investment that generates the dividends into the trust?
Or find a way to electronically transfer the dividends from the investment to the Wells Fargo account so she's not dealing with paper checks every month.

I move money in and out of a WF account all the time, but I do it electronically through the banks' websites. The WF account is a checking account in our trust, but the other accounts are a joint checking account at another bank and a my solo checking account at a credit union, so all three are titled differently and there's never been a problem with a transfer in any direction.

 

[OldShooter]

A trustee can deposit anything he/she wants into a trust account.

Call or visit the branch, talk to the manager, explain the situation. Based on what you get from him/her, you can make an informed decision. Hard to believe that they will not quickly solve the problem.

Maybe a simple tweek in how she endorses the check will settle the clerks down. Like "Pay to account 12345678, Mildred Middleberg, trustee")

 

[Another Reader]

I have trust and regulat accounts at Wells. I transfer money back and forth on-line with no problem. Maybe restrict your interactions to the computer and the ATM?

 

[Dalmore]

We've never had any problems with online or electronic transfers, but this one brokerage account that gives us the dividend is very old (best I can figure is that it was setup around 1990 or 1991) and FIL set it up to only spit out checks. I tried to ACH some money into the cash account and sold some old FannyMay stocks, as soon as the sweep account showed any cash, it cut a check, draining it. I'm still working with an agent to get the account modified to actually hold cash. Once that is done the current Wells Fargo headache will go away. I was just wondering if anyone else was encountering a problem with managing a Trust checking account.

 

[pb4uski]

The checking account for my dad's living trust is with Wells Fargo. While we rarely deposit checks via a teller, I recently had a large claim check made out to my mother (she is one of 3 successor co-trustees and I am another) and just handed the teller the check and the account number and she deposited it no questions asked.

I also have dividends from a Vanguard account for the same trust electronically deposited to that same Wells Fargo account.