Joint Accounts

• A joint account is any financial account at any institution held by more than one person. Several types of joint accounts exist. Convenience accounts exist in the name of one person, with at least one other person listed as authorized to make withdrawals. In the case of tenants in common accounts, each partner owns an equal share of the account, and if one dies, half of the value of the account goes to her estate. The final two are joint accounts without a right of survivorship and joint accounts with a right of survivorship.
  
  

Joint Account Without Right of Survivorship

• If the account that domestic partners opened originally was designated as a joint account without right of survivorship, the deceased partner's share goes to her estate. "Ernst & Young's Personal Financial Planning Guide" states that the law assumes that the deceased partner's portion is whatever the living partner cannot prove she contributed (in other words, the living partner keeps only what she can prove she put into the account). As a result, the guide states that partners should keep very thorough records regarding contributions to joint accounts without survivorship rights.
  
  

Joint Accounts With Right of Survivorship

• If domestic partners opened an account and designated it as a joint account with right of survivorship, the full amount in the account becomes the property of the surviving partner. TheProbate.Net warns that partners should make sure that all of the account's paperwork is complete, correct, signed, checked, dated and on file in multiple places, as anything incomplete can be disputed by anyone who has a claim in the deceased's estate.
  
  

Disputed Accounts

• The personal financial planning guide points out that when a domestic partner dies, all of her belongings go to her estate if she does not have a will (if a spouse dies, any commonly held property goes to the surviving spouse). Biological family members often can lay claim to the estate and dispute the surviving domestic partner's claim in the absence of a clear will. In California, Maine, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, New Jersey, Vermont and Hawaii, domestic partners have some inheritance rights, but the strength and clarity of the laws vary state to state. Estate lawyer Gary Gill strongly recommends that domestic partners write, notarize and keep multiple copies of up-to-date wills, as well as a host of other legal documents, including a domestic partner agreement, regardless of the state in which the domestic partners live.