Hello, my mother started a custodian bank account for me years ago, and I started working last year, and have earned over $5,000 since. However, my mother is refusing to add me on to the account as someone who can access the money. So even though I earned it all and am a legal adult now, I have no access or control over my money. I obviously do not have the funds to hire a lawyer, so what are the steps I have to take to force my mother's hand into signing it over. Sidenote: Yes, I have opened a separate account, but that does not help me with the $5,000+. Any advice on which level of court I should go to, forms I need to fill out, records I need to obtain, would be wonderful.
Steps in getting a custodian bank account signed over.
- Thread Starter userk2
- Start date
army judge
Super Moderator
Minors have few legal rights.
Any rights a minor has flows through the parents or guardians.
You worked as a minor, earned money, and your mom took the money.
Absolutely legal, as a parent can lay claim to 100% of your earnings.
Mom said she'd save it for you.
Years later, she has changed her mind, and decided to keep the money.
Or, maybe she lied, and never had any intention of saving any money for you.
Either way, 100% legal, as a minor all of your earnings can be confiscated by your parent(s).
Fast forward to July, 2015.
None of that money is yours, even if you sued mom asking a court to order mom to hand over all of that moolah.
Verdict for the defendant, as plaintiff has no remedy actionable at law to make mom fork over her five grand.
It has long been held that the earnings of a child belong to the parent.
The legal precedent evolved an old English common law ruling, which entitles parents to the fruits of their child's labor.
Some states have modified the rule in response to abuses.
California has created a number of laws meant to protect the earnings of children from their parents, after the parents of some child movie stars spent all of their money and left them destitute as adults.
The law, as do most laws, favor the wealthy; the upper crust, so to speak.
Unfortunately, California's thinking on this matter is not the prevailing view nationwide.
Its okay if you find it hard to believe, so Google it and see for yourself.
Or, peep these articles:
http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Child's+Earnings+and+Services
http://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2164&context=plr
Thank you for the information, however I have another quick point to add. It was going into a savings account with my name on it as well. It is under both of our names and the way the bank set it up was so that it's considered my money, but I can't touch it and waste it. And my money is still being deposited into that account until my payroll switches over to the account I just opened a couple weeks ago. So that's money I earned as a legal adult.
army judge
Super Moderator
If you are an adult of sound mind and body, and you are a named signatory on the account; you can't be stopped from withdrawing ALL of the money in said account (savings or checking).
What you appear to be describing is one of the many forms of a trust account.
The savings account you indicate mom established under a trust agreement whereby mom, as the trustee administers the funds for the benefit of one or more beneficiaries.
You might be a beneficiary in such an arrangement.
You might want to visit the financial institution who is holding the funds.
See if you can get more information on the account.
You can't be named a signatory to such a trust account.
If this account type is true, you can't withdraw the funds, nor can any judge force the bank and mom to bend, break, or abandon the trust that was created.
Rest assured, this answer wouldn't change if the beneficiary was 99 years old when someone created this kind of trust.
You appear to be the sole beneficiary.
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