Making even a single transaction, in any amount, with the intent of avoiding a reporting requirement is a crime. Bringing in $9000 and not declaring it just because that's how much you have is not a crime. However, doing what is described above - bringing in $9000 in a single transaction because you want to keep the amount below the reporting threshold - is a crime.

OP - I have to ask: Who is, at this moment, the account holder?

My understanding is that there are now rules about moving money out of China for investment purposes. Taking it out to spend is ok, investing it overseas is not. Hence the questions about what is being done with the money.

Hi Gary,

Don't know in whose name the bank account is listed. Would presume it is a family member. Just arrived in China and have terrible internet access.

Fixing your internet access issues should be a top priority for you. If you haven't done so already, get a local SIM, and connect it to wx pay so you can buy data whenever you need to.

Turns out that the date and time was messed up when I arrived to China. Corrected the date and time and things are working a lot better. Exp that's working pretty well but the ND I also bought is not connecting.

Not trying to trash any relative of your late wife, seriously you really need to determine who you should deal with.

It is a more-than-you-think common problem - too many cooks.

You really need to deal with the person who can actually access the account.

OP good luck and let us know how you are making out.

GaryK: "Not trying to trash any relative of your late wife, seriously you really need to determine who you should deal with.

It is a more-than-you-think common problem - too many cooks.

You really need to deal with the person who can actually access the account."

It was extremely generous of them to give the money to my son. They are simply not financially sophisticated. Will give them a lot of space. I know sophisticated Chinese investors in the US who owe me favors (as a lawyer, I am always being hit up for free advice.) and I will run this by my friends.

Will mention that the person doing all of the heavy lifting in China (my cildrens' 40 yr-old cousin)was asking about how much cash could be taken out which was not something I wanted to hear.

Is this your late wife's estate or not? If not, then it is generosity.

Otherwise, I call this entitlement.

It is not my wife's estate. It is their money that I gave to them 10 years ago to compensate them for helping take care of my very young daughter after my wife died.

Not that it necessarily matters to the topic at hand (getting the money out of China and to the USA), but this information is definitely not the impression you gave this forum when you first started this post. You presented this as your wife's money that was being held for a child/children until they came of age. That revelation is a bit jarring, at this late stage of the discussion.

At any rate, my guess is that the relatives consider it a return of your money, even if your interpretation is that you gave it to them so that = their money. They may be unsophisticated financially, but it seems that they are good honest people.

The fact that the account is in one of your relative's names may actually simplify things. I'm guessing you and the account holder won't need to visit the bank more than twice in order to pull off a wire, a withdrawal, or an internal conversion to USD. The latter might not be a horrible idea because you could get an ATM card for your daughter, and she could pull out USD when back in the US.

Jie Jie, you are right my post was misleading and wrong in one respect. I apologise, but you will see that my mistakes don't matter to the question asked.

My wife was dying of liver cancer and returned to China in 2008 to be treated by Chinese doctors for a hopelessly large tumor. My daughter was 2 years old and I was alone in Cincinnati with no relatives. All concerned felt that my wife's large family could better take care of my daughter. I gave my wife a check, she cashed it and gave a new check written by her to the family. I took care of my then 7 year old son. The money was obviously to compensate them for feeding and housing my daughter for about 3.5 years.

I felt this long story was not relevant but by not telling it, I mislead some people. I had no idea they were going to return the money until several months ago. My daughter will be getting a large sum of money in the future which directly came from my wife, which partly explains the family's motivation.