Do both parents need permission to use their minor child's account?

Three minor children received financial compensation in their personal capacity. Their father, who exercises the legal administration of their property jointly with the mother, has placed this amount of money in paid savings accounts opened in the name of each of the children. He then made a transfer of €5,000 to the debit of each of the accounts, in favor of a bank account of a company of which he was the manager. Always alone, he made several transfers and withdrawals until the balance of each bank account of the children was almost exhausted.

Faced with this situation, and as the legal representative of her three children, the mother alerted the guardianship judge. A special administrator had been appointed to defend the interests of the children and recover the sums from the father. At the same time, legal action was brought against the bank for lack of vigilance on the transactions carried out by the father without the mother's assistance.

Could the father act alone, without the consent of the other parent, to make transfers to the debit of the bank accounts of his minor children?

Service-Public.fr answers you :

At first instance, as on appeal, the bank is ordered to reimburse the sums belonging to the children. For the judges, his responsibility is engaged for breach of his duty of vigilance.

The bank appealed to the Court of Cassation and disputed its liability. It considers that it is not a guarantor of the use of the funds by the statutory administrator and that it does not have to assess the appropriateness of the operations entrusted to it.

The Court of Cassation rejects the bank's appeal and confirms its condemnation by considering the classification of the acts performed by the parents.

It shall state the reasons for its decision, recalling that, under the joint legal administration, the parents together perform the acts of disposition of the minor's property. The modification of any account or booklet opened in the name of a protected person is an act of disposition. The Court refers to the list of acts regarded as an administrative act or as an act of disposition.

The bank was therefore at fault for not seeking the authorization of the other parent to perform disposition acts on the accounts of minor children.