Consumer complaint received 2015-07-22
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: WA
Product: Bank account or service
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Account opening, closing, or management

Complaint:
My daughter passed away XXXX XXXX, 2015 from XXXX. I flew to XXXX on XXXX XXXX to take care of everything that must be done in a tragic situation such as this, including asking Wells Fargo to place a debit hold on her checking/savings accounts until I could sort out her affairs ( I have access to both ). Once I had taken care of the funeral home, personal items and apartment in XXXX, I was able to review her financial matters after returning home to XXXX. My daughter was only XXXX years old, and naturally did not have a will at that age. She had never married and never had any children. She had been living in XXXX for about XXXX years, but only 9 months in the XXXX area. Once I had settled all of her finances, including depositing her last paycheck, the refunds I received from her car and medical insurance companies and the deposit from her apartment, I brought all of my documentation proving my relationship to XXXX ( see attached ) to the Wells Fargo bank in XXXX, XXXX. There was was told that once 45 days had passed I just needed to provide a " small estate affidavit '' to close her account. I researched the small estate rules for XXXX ( see attachment ) and learned my daughter did not have enough money to cover her liabilities ( after my deposits {$1600.00} total combined in Checking/Savings ) so she does not quality. I also researched probate and discovered the cost of just opening probate for an estate without a will is {$2500.00}, again she did not qualify as the total sum of her estate is nearly {$1000.00} less than that. I then contacted a probate attorney in XXXX for advise on what was needed to prove that as the single adoptive parent I was her only heir, so her funds could be put toward her funeral home bill ( {$4000.00} see attached ). The probate attorney in XXXX advised me that nothing more than notarized affidavits from XXXX dis-interested parties who had known my daughter since childhood attesting to the fact that she had never married and never had children should be needed. Anything beyond that would cost more than the amount of money in her 'estate '. I paid the attorney {$400.00} to prepare those affidavits and XXXX witnesses who had known my daughter since childhood had them signed and notarized. I returned to Wells Fargo bank and was then told that the documentation provided was not sufficient because the amount of money in the account was over {$1000.00}, I would need court statement naming me the heir instead. I contacted the attorney in XXXX and she informed me she had no knowledge of any such limitation or rule in XXXX law. I asked her how much it would cost for a court document and she quoted me attorney fees of {$2000.00} plus $ XXXX {$750.00} additional fees and the need for me to travel to Texas for the proceeding - clearly exceeding ( by far ) the amount of funds in my daughter 's accounts ( see attached ). I contacted the XXXX XXXX in XXXX XXXX and spoke with numerous individuals, none of which knew of any {$1000.00} limit within XXXX law nor whom found an estate with only {$1600.00} to be feasible to process through any court proceedings. There are no provisions in XXXX for the filing of a court defined heir by the heir. At this point I contacted the XXXX Attorney General 's office for their help. They advised me to log a complaint with Wells Fargo, The Treasure Department/Comptroller of Currency and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau because none of this makes sense - to expect an heir to spend more money to obtain proof of heirship than is available to be recovered. Instead Wells Fargo intends to collect {$10.00} per month for checking the {$5.00} per month for savings until the funds are exhausted or 7 years has passed, at which time they will give any remaining money to the state of XXXX.

Company public response: Company chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation