By Richard M. Morgan, The Morgan Firm, P.C.

As part of your core estate plan, you need to decide how your financial accounts will be owned and who will help you manage them if you need assistance. Sadly, well-meaning advice from banks, friends, and even family members often steers people toward adding a child or other loved one as a joint owner on their accounts. In some situations, this can be a perfectly reasonable choice. In many others, it quietly undermines the estate plan the person spent real time and money creating. The purpose of this article is to set the record straight so that you are better prepared to decide whether joint ownership makes sense in your situation. At The Morgan Firm, we do not believe clients are generic. We believe every client needs to deal with their own unique situation, and it is our purpose to assist them in this journey.

Executive Summary

Adding a joint owner to your account is quick, inexpensive, and convenient. It is also one of the easiest ways to override your Will or Revocable Living Trust (RLT). In most cases, a joint owner with a right of survivorship takes whatever remains in the account at your death, regardless of what your estate planning documents say. For those who simply want help paying bills or managing money, we have found that a financial Power of Attorney usually provides what is needed without these side effects. Joint ownership between spouses is a different discussion and is often appropriate. This article focuses on adding a non-spouse, such as an adult child or companion.

This article will go into more detail about each of the following: (i) what it actually means to add a joint owner; (ii) a recent court case showing how this plays out; (iii) how Georgia law treats joint accounts; (iv) the additional risks of joint ownership; (v) the 4 most common misconceptions; (vi) better alternatives; and (vii) we end with a bottom line take-away.

I. What does it mean to add a joint owner?

A joint account with right of survivorship (often called “joint tenants with rights of survivorship,” or “JTWROS”) is an account owned by two or more people where the surviving owner automatically takes the account when the other owner dies. Because the account passes by operation of law, it does not pass under your Will, your RLT, or the probate process.

The typical scenario is easy to picture, and we see it often. A parent ages, a child offers to help with the bills, and the bank suggests a convenient fix: add the helper to the account. The paperwork takes minutes. What the form usually does, though, goes well beyond granting check-writing authority. It typically makes that person a co-owner. One signature can override a Will, an RLT, and years of careful planning.

II. A recent case illustrates the risk.

In January 2026, an Ohio appeals court decided In re Estate of Alibrando, 2026-Ohio-133 (Ohio Ct. App., 5th Dist.). The facts are instructive.

In 2013, a man signed a Will leaving $100,000 to his longtime companion and the balance of his estate to his two sons. Months later, he added her to his checking account as a joint owner with right of survivorship. In 2015, he named her his agent under a Power of Attorney.

After he moved into nursing care, his companion used that authority in 2018 to sell his house and deposited roughly $207,000 in proceeds into the joint account. When he died later that year, she received her $100,000 bequest under the Will and the entire joint account, including the house proceeds.

His sons challenged the transfer. The probate court agreed with them in part, finding the deposit an improper use of the Power of Attorney. The court of appeals reversed. Because he had chosen a survivorship account, and there was no evidence of fraud, undue influence, or incapacity, the funds passed to his companion outside the estate entirely.

The court also noted that if he had wanted his Will to control, he could have signed a financial Power of Attorney allowing her to transact on an account held in his sole name.

The bottom line of the case is that his Will favored his sons, but the titling of one account decided otherwise.

III. How does Georgia law treat joint accounts?

Georgia follows much the same rule. Under O.C.G.A. § 7-1-813, funds remaining in a joint account at a financial institution belong to the surviving owner at the other’s death, unless there is clear and convincing evidence that the person who opened the account intended otherwise at the time it was created.

That is a high standard of proof. It also means your family may end up in court arguing about what you intended years earlier, without you there to explain it. For anyone with meaningful assets or a family situation that could lead to disagreement, this is not a position to leave your loved ones in. For a more detailed discussion, please see our page on preventing post-death disputes.

IV. What other risks come with adding a joint owner?

Loss of control over who inherits is only one concern. Consider the following:

Risk #1: Access during your lifetime. A joint owner can generally withdraw funds for any purpose, not just to help you.

Risk #2: Exposure to their creditors. The account may become reachable by the joint owner’s creditors or bankruptcy trustee, at least until you can establish that the funds were yours.

Risk #3: Divorce complications. If the joint owner goes through a divorce, the account may be drawn into the proceeding.

Risk #4: Family friction. Children or other heirs who expected to share in the funds may feel blindsided, and the surviving joint owner is generally under no legal obligation to share.

Risk #5: Undermining your existing plan. For clients with substantial or carefully structured estates, this is often the most important risk. Joint titling operates outside your plan and can defeat the allocation among heirs, the tax positioning, and the protections you intended. Depending on the circumstances, adding a non-spouse as a co-owner can also raise gift tax questions that should be reviewed with your advisors.

It should be noted that none of this presumes bad intentions. Most people who are added to an account are simply trying to help. The issue is that joint ownership grants rights you may never have meant to give.

V. What are the 4 most common misconceptions about joint accounts?

Misconception #1: Adding someone to my account just gives them the ability to help me pay bills.

This is only partly true. While a joint owner can help with bills, the more significant effect is that the person becomes a co-owner. Helping with your finances is a matter of authority, which is the role of a Power of Attorney. Ownership is a different legal concept with very different consequences.

Misconception #2: My Will or RLT controls everything I own.

This is incorrect. Your Will controls only the assets that pass through your probate estate. Assets that pass by beneficiary designation, or to a surviving joint owner, pass outside the Will entirely. An RLT controls only the assets that are actually owned by the trust. Proper titling is what makes an estate plan work.

Misconception #3: If I trust the person, joint ownership is harmless.

Trust in the person is not the issue. Even the most honest joint owner can have creditor problems, a divorce, or a change in circumstances that exposes your funds. In addition, a person added to an account to help one child may leave your other children with nothing, regardless of what you intended.

Misconception #4: Joint ownership is the only practical way to let someone help me manage my money.

This is not true. A properly drafted financial Power of Attorney, or an RLT, can often accomplish the same practical goals while keeping the funds in your name (or your trust’s name) and under your plan.

VI. What are better alternatives?

The financial Power of Attorney. If the goal is practical help managing your affairs, a properly drafted financial Power of Attorney typically accomplishes it without the side effects described above. Under the Georgia Power of Attorney Act, effective since 2017, your agent can pay bills, deal with your financial institutions, and handle other designated matters on your behalf. The account stays in your name, and your agent acts as a fiduciary, bound to serve your interests. A Power of Attorney also terminates at your death, at which point your assets pass under your Will, your RLT, or your beneficiary designations, exactly as planned.

Financial institutions are sometimes hesitant to honor a Power of Attorney, particularly an older one, so we recommend the following additional steps to make this as smooth as possible. First, have the Power of Attorney document reviewed and, where possible, accepted by your institutions in advance. Second, update the Power of Attorney by signing a new one about every 3 -5 years, which will give the financial institutions higher confidence that the agent you chose is still someone you trust to deal with your financial affairs. Third, find out if the financial institutions you are dealing with have their own Power of Attorney that only applies to your accounts at that financial institution. If yes, sign those as well and name the same agents that you named in your general Power of Attorney.

The Revocable Living Trust. For longer-term management needs, an RLT, used together with a Power of Attorney, may prove superior. A Trustee is the legal owner of the trust’s assets, whereas a Power of Attorney agent is a legal helper of an owner. A Trustee’s “owner’s” rights are much more significant than a Power of Attorney agent’s “legal helper of an owner’s” rights. More rights mean less hassle on your loved ones to assist you when needed.

Payable-on-death designations. If you want a specific person to receive a specific account at your death, a payable-on-death (“POD”) or transfer-on-death (“TOD”) designation can accomplish that while you retain full ownership and control of the account during your lifetime.

How each account is titled directly determines who receives it, a point we address in our article on asset ownership and beneficiary designations.

VII. Bottom line.

Adding a joint owner is a quick fix with long-term consequences. The right answer depends on your family, your assets, and the plan you already have in place. There is no one-size-fits-all advice that we can give in this regard. However, in most situations involving a non-spouse, we believe a Power of Attorney, an RLT, or a POD / TOD designation will serve you better. If someone has already been added to one of your accounts, we recommend reviewing whether that arrangement still fits your plan. If you are considering it, please speak with your estate planning attorney first. A brief conversation now can spare your family a long and expensive one later.

If you would like to learn more about this important topic, please call our office at (678) 720-0750 or email us at admin@morganfirmlaw.com to schedule an estate planning consultation to discuss your situation.

Richard M. Morgan is the founder of The Morgan Firm, P.C. (formerly Morgan & DiSalvo, P.C.) in Alpharetta, Georgia, and a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC).