AGO Opinion Topics: JOINT BANK ACCOUNTS

(1) If a joint savings and loan association invests its funds in promissory notes pursuant to RCW 33.24.150 and secures the notes by a pledge or assignment of a joint savings and loan account, it is necessary to have the signatures of all joint tenants on the note, and it is not sufficient that a single member sign as they are permitted to do for withdrawal. (2) Assuming that a savings and loan association has only one signature on a note secured by a pledge of a joint account the members of which are husband and wife, the association's interest would be subject to the interest of the surviving tenant, and our community property law would not necessarily alter this conclusion. (3) The conveyance or pledge of one of the parties to a joint account would not terminate the joint ownership with right of survivorship and convert it into a tenancy in common.