JTWROS or POD are designations meaning the assets passes outside of probate by either “Joint ownership With Right of Survivorship” or “Payable on Death” to the other person(s) listed on the account. This is one of my least favorite things to see in Probate practice. We know that the will represents what the decedent wanted, but some boilerplate in a bank account agreement contradicts it. Unfortunately, as a general rule, a JTWROS agreement trumps the will. For the will’s directives to control, the JTWROS would have to be set aside on grounds that the owner lacked capacity at the time he signed the account agreement or was subject to undue influence. This is a trap in the law where people often don’t realize they are creating survivorship agreements and that they trump their will. But, there is no way to prove now that your father didn’t understand what he was signing UNLESS he was incompetent or unduly influenced. In other words, you can’t just argue, “he didn’t intend this.” You have to prove “he didn’t know what he was doing at all.” The law presumes he read the account agreement, understood it, and signed it willingly.
