# Need a joint bank account to purchase property jointly



## skip o (Aug 1, 2011)

Do you need a joint bank account to purchase a property jointly? Or can a property be owned jointly even if one person has paid for it?

How hard is it to change a single bank account to a joint one?


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## Justina (Jan 25, 2013)

Re your third question I have been told that if one of the two of you dies then a joint bank account can be frozen. I can't imagine it could be for very long but even so that could be a real problem.


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## skip o (Aug 1, 2011)

Thanks Justina, I didn't know that.


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## Aron (Apr 30, 2013)

Justina said:


> Re your third question I have been told that if one of the two of you dies then a joint bank account can be frozen. I can't imagine it could be for very long but even so that could be a real problem.


Who told you that, I wasn't aware of it. However, it could be worse if it was just the husband who had the account and he died. That could be a worse situation for the widow. 
If a house is owned by just one person in a marriage, and that person dies, then there is a lot of legal work to get the house put into the widow's name.


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

Aron said:


> Who told you that, I wasn't aware of it. However, it could be worse if it was just the husband who had the account and he died. That could be a worse situation for the widow.
> If a house is owned by just one person in a marriage, and that person dies, then there is a lot of legal work to get the house put into the widow's name.


The freezing of joint accounts is quite correct. The point being that they are joint assets. As such, half belong to the deceased and are therefore subject to probate etc.


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## Aron (Apr 30, 2013)

snikpoh said:


> The freezing of joint accounts is quite correct. The point being that they are joint assets. As such, half belong to the deceased and are therefore subject to probate etc.


I can understand that, just something I never thought about!


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## kimuyen (Aug 8, 2013)

snikpoh said:


> The freezing of joint accounts is quite correct. The point being that they are joint assets. As such, half belong to the deceased and are therefore subject to probate etc.


Does Spain have "pay on death" like in the US that one spouse can fill out the form to have the bank pay the money to the surviving spouse when that person die?


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## Justina (Jan 25, 2013)

I truly can't remember ,but heard it more than once. We have two accounts outside Spain with joint access and here we opted for individual accounts, so at least one of us will have access to some money, when it would be most needed.


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## Hey Jude (Aug 18, 2013)

*Joint Bank Account*



skip o said:


> Do you need a joint bank account to purchase a property jointly? Or can a property be owned jointly even if one person has paid for it?
> 
> How hard is it to change a single bank account to a joint one?


I have heard from a friend that in Spain the (joint) account belongs to the first name in the saving book cover with the title "Titular" beside it and the second name only has authorization to pay in or out, collect staements, pay bills etc. 

Anybody know if this is true?


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

Hey Jude said:


> I have heard from a friend that in Spain the (joint) account belongs to the first name in the saving book cover with the title "Titular" beside it and the second name only has authorization to pay in or out, collect staements, pay bills etc.
> 
> Anybody know if this is true?


I very much doubt it or they would not freeze the account when, say, the second person died.


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## gus-lopez (Jan 4, 2010)

We have a joint account . We also have an individual account each. On those we are each signatories on the others account, bank manager's recommendation. This allows either of us to clear the account bar some centimos in the event of the others death.
Yes a joint account is frozen regardless of who dies.

BUt, on another forum today someone said that they'd gone to open an account in there own name,was asked why not joint with partner, said because of the 'freezing at death' ,manager said " No that doesn't happen anymore they changed law 2 years ago " 

Anyone know if it is true because no one else seems to know about it ?


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