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).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does he have a will? A wife?

There's no wife. We are the only heirs.

Yes, there's a will. One of us is the executor. Our names are on the bank accounts already.

Get an estate attorney. The documents are not complicated and very standard in the estate legal world. It will be probably $3-4k to draw it all up and register the trust.

You create a trust, and put everything into the trust. You and siblings are beneficiaries. You will be the trustee, one of your siblings is the backup trustee. The will becomes a 2 page document which says (essentially) "anything not in the Trust already, goes into the Trust, when I die, disburse the Trust"

The estate attorney should also create other docs, usually Medical Power of Attorney, Advanced Health Care Directive, HIPAA Authorization Form.

You will have to take the steps to move all the assets into the Trust. That will probably be the most time consuming part. You can leave the primary bank account for basic bills and such out of the Trust, since you are already named on it. That way.you will have access to it immediately upon death to pay basic bills before the Trust is disbursed.

All these steps will keep it out of probate and allow to disburse everything much faster upon death.

It’s also a huge hassle now and unless you live in a state where probate is slow and difficult (e.g., CA), it’s unnecessary.

Also, he should use any points on his credit cards. They will not be there after he passes away.

Anonymous wrote:This is a very simple set of tasks. There's absolutely no need for an estate atty, a trust or even probate. Lotta bad advice on this thread.

Close as many accounts as you can now. If you don't have a power of attorney document, do that now. All you need is a notary not a lawyer.

Yes, keep the joint account open to pay all his bills then split the remainder with sibling. Once it's empty, close it.

Is there a house that you have to sell?

Agree a lot of the advice here doesn't make sense given the type of assets and assuming beneficiary designations have been set up on the accounts. Might need probate for the house though unless you can do a transfer on death deed.

This is a very simple set of tasks. There's absolutely no need for an estate atty, a trust or even probate. Lotta bad advice on this thread.

Close as many accounts as you can now. If you don't have a power of attorney document, do that now. All you need is a notary not a lawyer.

Yes, keep the joint account open to pay all his bills then split the remainder with sibling. Once it's empty, close it.

Is there a house that you have to sell?

Anonymous wrote:Some of it you can have right away as your name is on it, some of it goes through probate and courts and takes time.
Make sure you have the full list of the accounts, bills, credit cards.
I would try to simplify by closing some of the accounts and paying off the credit cards every month or stop using them completely. Make sure no new charges are put on them automatically. You will be charged interest and late fees if courts take a long time to give you the permit to be the executor.
Don't forget that you have to do his taxes. Make sure you have all the papers needed to get them done easily.

Thank you. I already do the taxes so that's all set, and I'm used to getting all the papers together.

That's a good idea about the accounts. My dad is Depression era so has a zillion bank accounts, and a few are empty. I was thinking those could be closed now to simplify life.

Ohhh, I had not thought about making sure no new charges are put on the credit card. How would I stop that from happening? Do I call each place? This problem may solve itself. The only recurring charges are utilities, which will all go away when we sell house in a few months.

Thank you!

OP

But if all the assets are held jointly, why is the probate court involved at all?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does he have a will? A wife?

There's no wife. We are the only heirs.

Yes, there's a will. One of us is the executor. Our names are on the bank accounts already.

Get an estate attorney. The documents are not complicated and very standard in the estate legal world. It will be probably $3-4k to draw it all up and register the trust.

You create a trust, and put everything into the trust. You and siblings are beneficiaries. You will be the trustee, one of your siblings is the backup trustee. The will becomes a 2 page document which says (essentially) "anything not in the Trust already, goes into the Trust, when I die, disburse the Trust"

The estate attorney should also create other docs, usually Medical Power of Attorney, Advanced Health Care Directive, HIPAA Authorization Form.

You will have to take the steps to move all the assets into the Trust. That will probably be the most time consuming part. You can leave the primary bank account for basic bills and such out of the Trust, since you are already named on it. That way.you will have access to it immediately upon death to pay basic bills before the Trust is disbursed.

All these steps will keep it out of probate and allow to disburse everything much faster upon death.

Anonymous wrote:My advice is hire an attorney to do the executor stuff-we are doing it now and it’s a huge hassle even for an uncomplicated estate.

For example, probate clerk just informed us that we should have gotten everything in the house appraised even though all beneficiaries agreed in writing to donate everything.

So now we are trying to get an appraisal for the stuff we had hauled to goodwill based on random snapshots we have (at a cost of several thousand.)

Are you sure the probate clerk is correct? Most people don't have their stuff appraised.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does he have a will? A wife?

There's no wife. We are the only heirs.

Yes, there's a will. One of us is the executor. Our names are on the bank accounts already.

Get an estate attorney. The documents are not complicated and very standard in the estate legal world. It will be probably $3-4k to draw it all up and register the trust.

You create a trust, and put everything into the trust. You and siblings are beneficiaries. You will be the trustee, one of your siblings is the backup trustee. The will becomes a 2 page document which says (essentially) "anything not in the Trust already, goes into the Trust, when I die, disburse the Trust"

The estate attorney should also create other docs, usually Medical Power of Attorney, Advanced Health Care Directive, HIPAA Authorization Form.

You will have to take the steps to move all the assets into the Trust. That will probably be the most time consuming part. You can leave the primary bank account for basic bills and such out of the Trust, since you are already named on it. That way.you will have access to it immediately upon death to pay basic bills before the Trust is disbursed.

Some of it you can have right away as your name is on it, some of it goes through probate and courts and takes time.
Make sure you have the full list of the accounts, bills, credit cards.
I would try to simplify by closing some of the accounts and paying off the credit cards every month or stop using them completely. Make sure no new charges are put on them automatically. You will be charged interest and late fees if courts take a long time to give you the permit to be the executor.
Don't forget that you have to do his taxes. Make sure you have all the papers needed to get them done easily.

My advice is hire an attorney to do the executor stuff-we are doing it now and it’s a huge hassle even for an uncomplicated estate.

For example, probate clerk just informed us that we should have gotten everything in the house appraised even though all beneficiaries agreed in writing to donate everything.

So now we are trying to get an appraisal for the stuff we had hauled to goodwill based on random snapshots we have (at a cost of several thousand.)

Anonymous wrote:Does he have a will? A wife?

There's no wife. We are the only heirs.

Yes, there's a will. One of us is the executor. Our names are on the bank accounts already.

Does he have a will? A wife?

I'd like to understand this now while I'm not grieving as opposed to after my father dies when I'll be a mess!

We have a joint account with our father. I know this isn't advised, but it's what we have now.

One of us is the executor.

What do we do with the checking/savings accounts? When our father passes away, do we wait a bit to pay off his bills (funeral, credit card, assisted living) and then write ourselves a check to divide the remainder of the account into two?

The investment accounts will be divided into two by the investment firm, and they will create accounts for each of us since we are beneficiaries. So, we don't have to do anything there.