Clearance approval required by Jabatan Agama for Non Muslim to release money of decease?

steadyaku47 comment: This was forwarded to me: Can anybody shed some light on this matter? Is this really true?

Subj : HUSBAND & WIFE JOINT ACCOUNT IN MALAYSIA - Clearance approval required by Jabatan Agama for Non Muslim to release money of decease    Please note there is processing fee by Jabatan Agama to approve any withdrawal of J/Ac of deceased. Don't assume it will be automatically approved as millions are frozen by Jabatan Agama ... non Muslim too. Banks have no choice. There is even a special dept to monitor obituary advertisement for such cases... Why not.... after all almost Free Money to Jabatan Agama?  HUSBAND & WIFE JOINT ACCOUNT IN MALAYSIAI read an article about Jabatan Agama hold ‘VERY substantial’ amount of unclaimed $ from non Muslim, now I can understand why…. Those with ‘JOINT ACCOUNT’ must read and understand!! Yes, it is a known fact that Malaysian banks are silent on the "joint-tenancy" agreement, unless you know & ask for this type of joint account, you won't be signed in for it - if not mistaken, local banks don't have this type of account but some foreign banks do have provided you ask. I came to know of such practice when I did my financial planning course. From hence forward, whenever I knew of anyone who is critically sick, I would ask them about any joint account in the bank. If they do & if one of the account holder has just passed away, the other account holder should immediately withdraw (don't close the account) & leave Rm10.00 to maintain the minimum balance required. Tone down "black" clothing when going to the bank as the tellers/officers would be on the lookout for such case. Make the withdrawal first before placing the obituary announcement - banks have a section which screens through this section in all newspapers. Back in 1994, when my father-in-law passed away, he held a joint account with a son on the sum of RM5,000. As soon as my brother-in-law try to close the account presenting the death certificate, the bank denied payment and informed to get clearance from the Prime Minister's Dept or Jabatan Agama. After about slightly more than a year, my brother-in-law managed to withdraw the money with a payment of RM500 to Jabatan Agama. What the heck, after all we are not Muslim. Why should our assets be deducted for the payment to Jabatan Agama? Until today I am still unable to understand the whole procedure. One recent article I read shocked me a lot. It happened in west Malaysia. A husband and wife had one son.The husband passed away due to accident. The husband had a RM50,000 joint saving acct with wife in a local bank. What happened is the wife, like most people think, when husband passes away, she will get the money automatically since it is a joint account. But to her surprise, she could not withdraw even a single cent from the bank. Joint saving account is meant for convenience when spouse needs it the most. But most people always assume once the other holder dies, another half will get the money automatically which is very wrong. I would like to share this with all of you. You may take it as educational thoughts or for you to be aware. When one person dies, the other joint holder of the saving account will get the money automatically only if that particular bank practise 'JOINT TENANCY'. This terms means one party die, the other joint party gets money automatically. But unfortunately, not all banks practise JOINT TENANCY, some foreign banks practise and most local banks don't practise. If you want to be sure, just ask your bank whether your joint saving account is based on JOINT TENANCY. If it is yes, get the black and white. Can you all imagine, when husband passes away, the wife already suffers emotional loss. Now she will have to suffer the problem of having 'NO MONEY', although it is in joint account. Hope the above can be of help. Thank Yo