Yes, you can open a checking account for your child at most banks, though you’ll need to be listed on the account as a joint owner or as a custodian until your child reaches the age of majority. Opening a checking account for your child is straightforward once you decide how to structure it, because that choice, more than anything else, determines your legal responsibility, your child’s access to the money, and how the account is treated for taxes and future financial aid.
Age Rules for a Minor’s Checking Account
No federal law sets a minimum age for owning a bank account. Under the USA PATRIOT Act’s Customer Identification Program, when a parent opens an account for a minor the bank treats the parent as its “customer” for identification purposes, but the rule does not stop the minor from being the account holder.1Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Interagency Interpretive Guidance on Customer Identification Program Requirements Under Section 326 of the USA PATRIOT Act
In practice, banks set their own cutoffs. Kids’ savings and checking products often start around age five or six, and teen or student checking accounts typically open up around 13. The reason an adult has to sign is state law: minors generally lack the legal capacity to enter binding contracts, so most states require an adult co-signer or custodian on the account.2Conference of State Bank Supervisors. Statutory Requirements for Opening Bank Accounts for Minors That adult stays on the account until your child reaches adulthood, usually 18.
Joint Account or Custodial Account
You have two basic ways to set up the account, and the difference is bigger than most parents expect.
Joint Accounts
In a joint account, you and your child are both legal owners with equal rights to the funds. Either of you can deposit, withdraw, or close the account. Most joint accounts are set up as “joint tenants with right of survivorship,” so if one owner dies, the other automatically inherits the balance. It’s simple and gives your child hands-on banking practice.
The main downside is creditor exposure. Because both names are on the account, a judgment creditor of either owner may be able to garnish the entire balance. If you have an outstanding debt and a creditor obtains a court order, the bank can freeze the account, and the burden then falls on the non-debtor to prove which funds belong to whom. The same risk runs the other way: if your teenager causes an accident or faces a civil judgment, your deposits sitting in the shared account could be reached. Keeping only modest, day-to-day balances in a joint checking account limits that exposure.
Custodial Accounts Under UTMA or UGMA
A custodial account opened under the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act or the Uniform Gifts to Minors Act works differently. The money legally belongs to the child from the moment it’s deposited, and you, as custodian, manage it on the child’s behalf until the statutory termination age. That age varies by state and is typically 18 or 21, though some states let the donor pick a later age up to 25. At the termination age, control passes to your child with no strings attached.
Deposits into a custodial account are irrevocable gifts. You can’t take the money back or redirect it to another child, and as custodian you have a fiduciary duty to manage the funds prudently for the minor’s benefit. Because the assets legally belong to the child rather than to you, a custodial account gives stronger protection from a parent’s creditors than a joint account does.
How the Choice Affects Financial Aid
If your child will eventually apply for federal financial aid, the structure matters. Under the FAFSA methodology, money in a custodial account is treated as the student’s asset and assessed at 20%, so every $10,000 in the account can reduce aid eligibility by roughly $2,000. Money in a parent’s own account, or in a joint account where the parent is the primary owner, is assessed at a maximum rate of about 5.64%. A joint checking account for day-to-day spending money reduces the aid impact compared with a custodial account, though you’re still trading off the legal protections above.
What You’ll Need to Bring
Federal rules require banks to collect four pieces of information for every account holder: name, physical address, date of birth, and taxpayer identification number, which is usually a Social Security number.1Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Interagency Interpretive Guidance on Customer Identification Program Requirements Under Section 326 of the USA PATRIOT Act For a minor’s account, expect to provide:
- For your child: Social Security number, date of birth, and proof of identity, most often a birth certificate.
- For yourself as co-signer or custodian: a valid government-issued photo ID such as a driver’s license or passport, your own Social Security number, and proof of your physical address such as a utility bill or bank statement.
Identity verification is risk-based, so banks have some flexibility with young children. Some will accept school records or a parent’s confirmation in place of a standalone ID for the minor. If you’re opening a custodial account, the application will ask you to designate yourself as custodian and your child as beneficiary; make sure those designations match the structure you actually want.
How the Account Gets Opened
You can usually open the account online or in a branch. Online applications require scanned copies of your documents; a branch visit lets you present originals. Opening deposits commonly run from $0 to $100 depending on the product. Many teen and student checking accounts have no monthly fee and no minimum balance, which makes them cheaper to run than a standard adult account. Once the application is processed, the bank issues a debit card, usually in the child’s name, which typically arrives by mail within one to two weeks. You’ll activate the card and set up online or mobile banking before your child can use it.
Parental Controls
Accounts built for minors usually come with oversight tools. Common features include daily spending limits on the debit card, real-time notifications on every use, and the ability to lock or unlock the card from a mobile app. Some banks also let you block specific merchant categories, such as gambling or age-restricted establishments, using merchant category codes.
These features vary a lot between banks. Some offer detailed dashboards with customizable categories, allowance schedules, and full transaction review. Others give you only basic alerts. If monitoring matters to you, compare these tools across banks before you open the account rather than assuming teen checking accounts all work the same way.
Who Is Legally on the Hook
The adult co-signer carries primary legal responsibility for the account. When you sign the account agreement, you enter a binding contract with the bank and take on liability for any negative balance. If your child spends more than what’s available, the bank will look to you to cover the shortfall, because minors generally can’t be held to contractual obligations.
Many teen and student checking accounts are designed to prevent overdrafts entirely, declining transactions that would push the balance below zero rather than allowing them and charging a fee. Where overdraft fees do apply, they vary by bank; there is no single federal cap on the amount. Check the specific account agreement to see whether the account blocks overdrafts, charges a fee, or draws from a linked savings account. Your liability as co-signer stays in place until the account is closed or converted to an individual account in your child’s name after they reach adulthood.
Taxes on Interest the Account Earns
Interest earned in your child’s checking or savings account counts as unearned income, even in small amounts. Two IRS thresholds matter.
If your child’s total unearned income (interest, dividends, and similar earnings) exceeds $1,350 in a tax year, your child may need to file a federal return, or you can elect to report the income on your own return.3Internal Revenue Service. Publication 501, Dependents, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information The figure adjusts for inflation each year; $1,350 reflects the most recently published guidance.
If your child’s unearned income exceeds $2,700, the excess may be taxed at your marginal rate rather than the child’s lower rate under the “kiddie tax.” The rule applies to children under 18, and in some cases full-time students under 24. To report the income on your own return instead of filing a separate one for your child, the child’s total gross income from interest and dividends must be less than $13,500, and you’ll attach Form 8814.4Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 553, Tax on a Child’s Investment and Other Unearned Income (Kiddie Tax)
For most kids with a simple checking account earning modest interest, the numbers fall well below these thresholds. If your child also has custodial investment accounts or savings bonds, though, the combined unearned income can trigger a filing obligation worth tracking.
What Changes When Your Child Turns 18
Reaching the age of majority does not automatically close or convert the account. At many banks, a teen account simply continues, and some restrictions (such as limits on peer-to-peer payment apps) may be lifted. You typically remain a joint account holder unless one of you asks to be removed.
From there, your child can keep using the existing account, open a new individual account, or ask the bank to convert the current one so you’re no longer listed. To bank independently, they’ll need to visit a branch or contact the bank to remove the joint owner or close the old account and open a new one. Each bank handles the transition differently.
Custodial accounts work under stricter rules. When your child reaches the termination age set by state law, the custodian is legally required to transfer the assets to the child. After that transfer, your child has full control and you no longer have authority over the funds.
FDIC Coverage
Deposits in your child’s account are covered by FDIC insurance up to the standard limit of $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, per ownership category. UTMA and UGMA custodial accounts are insured as the child’s single-ownership account, separate from any accounts you hold in your own name. Joint accounts are insured separately as well, with each co-owner’s share across all joint accounts at the same bank covered up to $250,000.5FDIC. Your Insured Deposits For almost every family, that’s far more coverage than a child’s checking balance will need.