My husband and I have had a BoA account together for over 10 years. A few years ago I noticed an automatic debit from our account of {$150.00} that was not associated with any company and I feared a fraudulent transaction so I called the fraud line and the associate was as surprised as I was because there were no transactions details. She agreed to investigate. A day later we were informed that it was a BoA charge and they indicated that this charge was for a safety deposit box that my husband and his former spouse had together 20 years ago in another state. We were also informed that the debt would continue to accrue unless we flew back to XXXX ( we now live in XXXX ) and paid to have the box drilled to the tune of {$170.00} and emptied ( former spouse had both keys and had agreed verbally to empty and close the box which was not done ). 
BoA was unable to collect from his former spouse because she was now with another bank. Apparently during an audit BoA discovered that my husband now again held a BoA account so they debited our joint account - without any notice, identification or information re : the reason for the charge that was actually owned by my husband and his former spouse. After all even the bank technician was mystified by the debit and to investigate. All total we were changed {$320.00}. I can actually understand the drilling fee. But I can not understand the legality of charging our joint account-under the cloak of darkness- especially when this charge is ultimately shared by me, an innocent party. My question : was this legal? Was it proper? Is my husband jointly and severally liable for that prior debt and by default so am I because I share a new account with him at BoA? If so, can a bank just randomly charge our jointly held account for debt owed by my husband and his former spouse just because they have access to our account and can do so without notice at all? Thank you for your assistance. 
