Heirs' money at the bank

Amendments should be made to bank procedures and regulations in order to avoid unnecessary delays in the division of finances among heirs. Various painful situations arise due to such directives, where one or some of the heirs, out of spite, decide to prolong the distribution of the inheritance by objecting to sign the necessary documents for some reason or another. In fact, a relative of mine is one of the many that is undergoing such unfairness.

I would like to make it clear that I am not referring to those cases where the heirs cannot divide their goods because one or more of the inheritors are benefiting from the interest on the money deposited at the bank. I am fully aware that in such a case the heir has every right to hinder the distribution due to personal reasons.

According to bank procedures, the division of finances can only be enacted if there is unanimous agreement among the heirs. If even one of the inheritors fails to do so, the money cannot be touched. As a consequence, there are still several pending cases. Indeed, some of them take years to be finalised leading to the death of a number of inheritors where their children or other relatives take their place, thus increasing the number of heirs. With the augmentation of heirs the problems multiply as well.

From an objective point of view I find such a situation unfair to the rest of the inheritors. If one or some of the successors want to leave their share of the will at the bank, by all means, they can do so. Yet, this cannot be done at the cost of the other inheritors. My relative, for instance, had to get a loan from the bank in order to pay the debt he was encumbered with. If the division of the money had taken place, such inconvenience would have been uncalled for.

Therefore, my question is: What was the purpose of ratifying such rules in the first place? Now, we are living in 2008 and are part of the ever-growing European Union so I would presume that improvements should be done to these procedures as is being done in other sectors. This will certainly reduce conflict between families.

As a conclusion I am making a request to those who are passing through the same situation that I just mentioned in order to express their opinion regarding banking procedures and inheritance so that perhaps the bank authorities will improve these regulations in the best interest of the public. I hope that such a request will be taken seriously and action taken. A better system should be introduced whereby the heirs can get hold of their money without needing the permission from the other inheritors.