Mother and daughter joint bank accounts in Canada
Learn how to open a mother and daughter joint bank account in Canada and find out about the benefits and risks involved.
If your mom is approaching old age, she may start finding it increasingly difficult to manage her finances on her own. Maybe she has mobility issues that are stopping her from visiting her local bank branch, or perhaps the world of digital banking is proving tricky to navigate. Whatever the situation, you may be considering opening a mother and daughter joint bank account in Canada.
In this guide, we’ll look at the benefits of opening a joint account with a parent, the requirements for opening an account and risks to watch out for.
Where can you open a joint bank account with an elderly parent in Canada?
Basically every bank in Canada allows joint accounts, including accounts held jointly by adult children and their elderly parents. So, if you want to open a mother and daughter joint bank account, you can more or less take your pick of financial institutions.
You could open a joint chequing account for paying bills and managing other day-to-day expenses, or a joint savings account to earn interest on the money you and your mother deposit. However, it’s worth noting that it’s not possible to have joint registered accounts like TFSAs and RRIFs.
Best mother and daughter joint bank accounts in Canada
Requirements for opening a mother/daughter or child/elderly parent joint bank account in Canada
You and your parent must both provide your personal information and government-issued photo ID to open a joint bank account. It’s possible to open an account online, but, depending on the bank you choose, you may have to visit a branch in person to confirm your ID.
Opening a joint bank account with a power of attorney
The other factor you need to consider is powers of attorney. A power of attorney is a legal document that your mom may wish to sign giving you the authority to make financial decisions on her behalf.
It’s not a requirement to have a power of attorney document to open a joint bank account with an elderly parent, but having one could make it easier for you to manage your mom’s money and deal with the bank on her behalf.
While a power of attorney can be a practical and convenient solution to financial management problem, it’s not something to be taken lightly.
Your parent will need to understand what signing a power of attorney means, and they should feel comfortable doing so. They shouldn’t feel pressured into signing this document and may find it worthwhile to seek independent legal advice before deciding on the best approach.
Types of power of attorney for joint bank accounts
A power of attorney is a legal document a person signs to give someone they trust the authority to make decisions on their behalf. There are two main types of power of attorney as outlined on the Government of Canada website:
- General power of attorney. If your parent signs a general power of attorney, they give you the authority to manage some or all financial and property matters on their behalf. But the General Power of Attorney ends if your parent is no longer mentally capable of looking after their own affairs.
- Enduring power of attorney. With an enduring power of attorney, you get the authority to manage all or some of your parent’s affairs. The key difference is that you can continue acting on your parent’s behalf if they become mentally incapable of managing their affairs.
If you’ve been granted power of attorney, you’ll typically be able to take care of all the same financial management tasks that your parent would usually do for themselves—paying bills, transferring money and all other general banking tasks.
But your mom may want to place limitations on what you can and can’t do with her money, and these will need to be outlined in the power of attorney document.
How many people can be on a joint account?
The number of joint account holders you can have depends on your bank. While you may be limited to just two account holders in some cases, many banks allow you to open an account with two, three or more other people. For example, TD lets you add up to nine people on a joint account.
With this in mind, it may be a good idea for you to become a joint account holder on your parents’ bank account when both your mom and dad are still alive. This could help make it easier for you to take on an increasing level of financial responsibility as they age. When one of them passes away, taking on even more responsibility for your remaining parent will be smoother and simpler.
But managing money together is tricky, so transparency is key. You’ll need to have clear discussions with your parent(s) to make sure everyone is on the same page about who will handle which financial tasks. This will ensure that everyone feels comfortable with the situation and will help avoid any conflicts in the future.
Features of joint bank accounts with elderly parents in Canada
Joint bank accounts come with the following features.
Equal ownership
You and your mom will have equal access to the money in the account. This means you’ll both be able to deposit and withdraw funds, and you’re both responsible for any transactions made using the account. So if the other person spends more than expected and the account goes into overdraft, you’ll both be on the hook for any overdraft fees.
Account access
In most cases, you and your mom will jointly have access to all banking activities. This means either of you can make withdrawals any time, and you generally won’t need the other person’s consent to do so. However, your bank may let you set up the account so that the other person needs to provide their consent for any withdrawals or purchases.
Expense tracking
Equal access to the account means that you and your mother will be able to track your expenses and review the transaction history. This ensures complete transparency about how your joint funds are being spent.
Online and mobile banking
Once you’ve opened an account, you can sign up for online and mobile banking. You and your mom will both get account login details, so you can manage the money whenever and wherever it suits you. You can also pay your mother’s bills from the account without having to visit a branch every time.
Account restrictions
You and your parent need to have clear discussions about who will take responsibility for each financial task. Will you pay all your mom’s bills, or will you share the responsibility between the two of you?
You can also check with your bank about the possibility of placing restrictions on specific transaction types, such as ATM withdrawals or writing cheques.
Risks of having a joint bank account with elderly parents
There are a few risks to be aware of before opening a joint account with an elderly parent.
- Strain on your relationship. Whenever money is involved, there’s always a risk of things getting complicated. Helping an elderly parent manage their finances can place a strain on your relationship. To maintain trust, it’s important to check in with one another regularly and make sure you’re both still on the same page.
- Any account holder can make withdrawals. Any joint account holder has the right to make withdrawals from the account, regardless of who deposited the money into the account in the first place.
- Lack of privacy. Pooling your finances in a joint account means that both of you will be able to view the transaction history for the account, so your parent may not appreciate the resulting lack of privacy with their personal transactions.
- Financial abuse. From a parent’s point of view, there’s a risk of their child mismanaging money in a joint account and using it for their own purposes rather than the purposes for which it was originally intended.
- Disputes when a joint account holder dies. If a parent doesn’t clearly set out in their will what should happen to funds in their joint account when they pass away, the money could be tied up in legal disputes with other children and relatives.
Tax implications of having a joint account with parents in Canada
The interest earned in a joint account is taxed. Each account owner needs to report their proportionate share of interest income earned in the account, which is based on how much each person contributed.
So, if 75% of the money in the account was deposited by you and the remaining 25% was deposited by your parent, you would declare 75% of the account’s interest income on your tax return and your parent would declare 25%.
What happens to a joint bank account with a parent in Canada when the parent dies?
When opening a joint bank account with your mom, you’ll need to check with your financial institution about what will happen to the account when your mother passes away.
Joint accounts generally come with what’s known as the right of survivorship, which means the surviving account holder will be able to continue to access the funds in the account when the other account holder dies. But that’s not necessarily the case when an adult child has a joint account with a parent who passes away.
If the right of survivorship is not specifically set up on the joint account, the account could be frozen when your parent dies. Other people may dispute your right to access the funds in the account, which could lead to messy and time-consuming legal proceedings.
That’s why it’s important for your parent to clearly establish in writing what they intend to happen with the funds in their joint account when they pass away.
It’s also worth noting that in Quebec, joint bank accounts are automatically frozen when an account holder dies.
Finally, some banks offer joint accounts with the gift of beneficial right of survivorship. This allows your parent to control the account and manage their money on their own while they’re alive. But the funds are passed to you when they die, avoiding the usual estate settlement process.
Does a child on a joint account automatically inherit money in the account when their parent dies?
Previous court cases demonstrate that an adult child who has a joint bank account with their parent doesn’t necessarily inherit the money in the account when their parent dies.
In this scenario, courts use a concept known as the presumption of resulting trust, which means the funds will be distributed to the parent’s beneficiaries according to the terms set out in their will.
But if you can prove that your parent intended for the funds to pass to you upon their death, you’ll be able to establish right of survivorship. So, if your parent wants you to inherit the money in the joint account, they’ll need to put their intentions in writing.
Bottom line
It’s easy to open a mother and daughter joint bank account in Canada with most banks and financial institutions. A joint account can help you pay your mom’s bills as she ages and can help take the stress out of managing her money.
But there are several risks and tax obligations to be aware of with a joint account, not to mention potential complications when she passes away. So, seek professional financial advice before deciding if a mother/daughter joint bank account is the right approach.
FAQs about mother and daughter joint bank accounts
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