How can wife get his check?

ritaanz

Here's the problem. My employee has direct deposit for his check. His wife has no access to it. He was rushed to the hospital this weekend with serious heart problems. He is in a coma and on a respirator.

Would it be legal if the company canceled the direct deposit and give her the future checks to deposit into their joint checking account?

Or could we change the direct deposit so that future checks go into their joint account?

Tough situation both finacially and emotionally.

POPEYE

From the pure legal standpoint, unless she has a valid "Power of Attorney" to handle financial matters, your hands are tied and you could not make any changes. However, from a moral standpoint, this is one of those times that you may want to disregard the potential risk and do what is you feel is right.
Good Luck!!!

Dasher

Yes, this is a difficult one. I would request that the CEO make the determination, however, would advise to have the wife get legal authority to have the checks given to her. She will have other matters to handle and will need a Power of Attorney anyway.

It may sound heartless, however, I still recall the two wives one employee had at the time he was killed on the job. We all felt so sorry for the live-in wife and then the "real" wife came forward. Just don't want to place the company in harm's way.

blw

While still probably not the completely legal method, you might stop the direct deposit and then just mail the check to his home.

deniseE

We just recently dealt with a similar issue...execept that our employee had died. We determined that under PA law we could issue a check directly to the employees closest surviving relative provided the payment is under 5,000.00. Anything over that, it would have needed to be turned over to the estate.

Maybe consult your legal counsel on this one?

rad

I would also let legal make the decision, I can't help but wonder why his wife does not have access to his account and the last thing you need is an irate employee when you were only trying to help.

Whatever

Agree with the others. This is an issue for legal. However, I would point out that when I was married, the lawyer who drew up our wills, insisted that my then-husband and I maintain separate bank accounts. This is because when someone dies, the banks are suupose to freeze the account. Therefore, if one of us died, the survivor would still have access to their own account.

LindaS

If he was not having the check deposited into their joint checking account, he had a reason for it. I would not re-issue the check but have her contact an attorney regarding Power of Attorney. There are other legal matters that she will have to deal with that would require this as well. While I can sympathize with the wife, making exceptions seems to come back and "haunt" people with even the best of intentions.

If you still have questions, contact your legal counsel for advice.

Don D

I recommend you leave the deposit arrangement as is. He had a reason for the decision to handle it that way. Tell her your hands are tied. Recommend that she discuss it with the branch manager at the bank they (he) uses. Banks have attorneys. She can get advice there.

Rockie

I agree with not monkeying around with the direct deposit as he did, indeed, have a reason for having his check go into a separate account. Powers of Attorney are made for this very reason and I think you would be playing with fire to arbitrarily change this arrangement on your own.

Advise the wife to consult with an attorney.

ritaanz

Thanks for all your responses. The wife has emailed the President of the company explaining the situation. Our attorney has told us that the "risk level" is relatively low.

We plan on canceling the direct deposit and sending the regular check to his home.