Some people fear that upon their death, their financial assets will be "frozen," and therefore unavailable to family members. This is not what Texas law provides, but it does happen. Under clear Texas law, banks are authorized to continue to honor checks drawn on, and withdrawals made from, accounts by any signer on the account, even if the other account holderis deceased. Texas law does not necessarily apply to brokerage accounts holding securities, however. Therefore, with respect to bank accounts holding cash, it is not technically necessary to include a survivorship feature on an account to maintain access to the account after death. Convenience or co-tenant accounts accomplish the same result without interfering with your estate plan. Because of the risk of an account being "frozen" on death, however, if providing immediate access for your family members to a certain amount of funds is important, then it is all right to have one account of a modest size with a right of survivorship or a POD or TOD arrangement. Just be sure that you don't cause any "gift tax problems" for your family members by naming just one, and not all, persons in the same degree of relationship to you as the surviving joint tenant(s) or POD or TOD beneficiaries. (The relevant gift tax issues are beyond the scope of this FAQ; however, there are newsletters under the Resource tab that explain the gift tax issues in more detail.)