<prompt> Human: Before anyone says it, I know it is a dumb idea to have kept the joint account with my mother open, especially since she has made poor financial decisions in the past. I tried to remove her from the account a long time ago, but the credit union insisted I needed her signature, so instead, I opted to simply take my money and put it in a joint account with my then-girlfriend-now-fiancee at the same credit union.I am making this post because I need advice about what to do if there is anything I can do at this point. The facts: my mother and I had a joint account with the minimum 5 in it, I always check the statements and there are never any transactions in the account so I wasnt overly concerned in early October, my brother-in-law and my mom used the joint savings account between my mom and I to deposit almost 3000 in bad checks they immediately took cash out each time, resulting in almost a 3000 overdraft as far as I can tell, my credit union made 4 separate transfers from the joint accounts I share with my fiancee which were originally in her name only on Friday to bring the joint accounts with my mom to 0I noticed the day after the transfers happened when I logged on to pay a utility bill on Saturday. I called the emergency fraud line and cancelled my debit card and my fiancees debit card this was before I figured out what happened.Is this legal? Do I have any recourse? The credit union doesnt have any support after-hours or on the weekend. I have to wait until Monday to go in in person. I am willing to press charges against my mom or sign an affidavit or anything I need to.The only proof I have is the last four digits of the ATMdebit card used to deposit all the checks on the opposite side of the city where my mom lives. I dont know for sure if the card number is in her name.I am also confused about why the credit union took the money from the accounts they did; they emptied our baby emergency fund savings, but they only took partial sums from our wedding fund savings, and one of our non-primary checking accounts, but I guess that isnt the most pressing issue.Tl;dr my mom cashed bad checks against our empty joint savings, resulting in an overdraft of almost 3000 and the credit union took money from 3 different accounts I share with my fiancee to pay off the overdraft with no warning, etc. What are my options?Assistant: Yes, it is legal for a bank or credit union to remove money from accounts to cover this sort of thing. The reason they were able to was because the joint accounts had your mothers name on them, thus making them eligible.What are my options?Not much, as far as the bank goes. Legal action against your mother is probably pointless - in the eyes of the banking system, the money in her joint accounts was her money as well as yours.Human: They willingly let her take 3000 out of an empty account and then to cover this mistake took money from an account that didnt have her name on it at all.  <response>: They willingly let her take 3000 out of an empty accountThey didnt know the checks were bad until after the fact.and then to cover this mistake took money from an account that didnt have her name on it at all.They took the money from the account holder you. By being a joint account you both have equal share in the assets and liabilities.Ask her for the money or sue in small claims court. If you think she knew the checks were bad you could get the police involved.Otherwise, consider it an expensive life lesson and seek advice from rrelationships. 