Not their child, not their grandchild, not the person who drove them to their appointments.

It is federal and it is not discretionary and it is not a bank being difficult; it is the reason nobody can walk in and ask about yours.

Being next of kin gets you nothing at a counter.

What gets you something is being a person with a legal interest, and proving it with a document.

And Arthur Vance could not tell me whether I was that person, because telling me would have required discussing the account.

So he did the only thing a man in that chair could do.