So the in-laws are in financial trouble, filed for bankruptcy a while back (the kind that wipes out everything). We’re helping as we can, a few hundred bucks here or there.
A week or so back we sent them a check, they deposited it - and a few days later found that the bank had not credited their account. Checked their receipt, and it looks like the teller thinks they got xx dollars in cash. No way - and in fact the check never cleared our bank either. So we put a stop payment and sent them a new one.
But this got us to thinking: open up a separate account at our credit union, with them as signatories, so when they need cash we log on, transfer the money to their account, and they have instant access to it.
BUT - what’s the risk that some enterprising sleazebag lawyer would try to attach our funds in this scenario? Not the funds in that shared account, but the rest of our money? Not that there’s much; everything is either owed the the mortgage company or goes into the 401(k) or is used for that month’s bills - still it’d be awkward if we tried to pay a bill and found our checking account frozen.