Toggle navigation
Toggle navigation
Home
DCUM Forums
Nanny Forums
Events
About DCUM
Advertising
Search
Recent Topics
Hottest Topics
FAQs and Guidelines
Privacy Policy
Your current identity is: Anonymous
Login
Preview
Subject:
Forum Index
»
Money and Finances
Reply to "How do you inherit money?"
Subject:
Emoticons
More smilies
Text Color:
Default
Dark Red
Red
Orange
Brown
Yellow
Green
Olive
Cyan
Blue
Dark Blue
Violet
White
Black
Font:
Very Small
Small
Normal
Big
Giant
Close Marks
[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Do consult an estates attorney. There is a ton of very bad advice here. It shouldn’t cost a lot, because you’ll do a lot of the work yourself. However, they can make sure you cross all your t’s and dot your i’s. There are specific deadlines for filing various things and they can tell you if you need to do an inventory, what needs to be appraised, etc. Get a credit report for your father. That will list all open accounts. There are probably some that you wouldn’t otherwise know about. Don’t pay anything other than things that you need to keep current like mortgages, insurance and the power bill. If you spend anything out of pocket, keep records, and you can be reimbursed by the estate later. It varies by state, but during probate, you will file a notice with all potential debtors and they will have a set period to file a claim against the estate. If they don’t file a claim, the estate doesn’t have to pay. You’d be surprised how many creditors just don’t file. Generally, after the executor is appointed by the court and has letters testamentary (or whatever they ‘re called in your jurisdiction) you’ll move all the money into an estate account that the executor has signatory authority for. The estate will usually settle all debts, including taxes, before distributions are made. If the executor makes distributions and there isn’t enough $$ left to pay, the executor is personally liable. You’ll need to file personal tax returns for the partial year of the decedent’s death and then estate tax returns while the estate is active. Unless the estate lingers for a while and has income, or it’s a very large estate, you are unlikely to owe estate tax, but estate returns are complicated. I recommend hiring an accountant to do them. There are benefits you can miss — e.g., if you sell the house quickly, you will often get a stepped up basis for the entire sale price *and* be able to carry over a deduction for the costs of sale (realtor’s fees, etc) to your personal taxes. I’m a lawyer, and I’ve handled several estates, and I wouldn’t handle one without the advice of an expert, unless it was a very small estate (which by definition, this is not, if it includes a house). [/quote] PP here who suggested a trust. Both my parents have one (divorced). They each have a home and some money in retirement accounts (not rich but not nothing). I assumed a trust was pretty standard for older people with some substantive holdings. I guess I assumed incorrectly. Can you say why you think it's not necessary in this situation?[/quote] If their money is in their retirement accounts, all they need to do is designate a beneficiary. No trust needed for this. See if you state allows a deed on death transfer. It allows the deedholder to pass the deed onto a beneficiary without going thru probate. Everything else can be settled among siblings: car, property, etc. There's no need to involve a lawyer or the probate court in cases like this. [/quote]
Options
Disable HTML in this message
Disable BB Code in this message
Disable smilies in this message
Review message
Search
Recent Topics
Hottest Topics