How Do I Determine If a Deceased Person Has Life Insurance?
Video Summary
How do I determine if a deceased person has life insurance? Well, that’s difficult. I can only give you some practical suggestions on how to do that. I’m unaware of any database that can be access, in order to find out if someone has a life insurance policy. Of course, the obvious thing to do is to go through whatever personal papers they have in order to see if you can’t find some evidence of it, such as a statement which would say that there’s a premium that’s owed. I don’t guess we have bank statements anymore, but look in the check registry to see if there’s a payment to a insurance company, if it’s a paid up policy. One of the things that we can look at is, or you can look at is, is at the end of the year in January, the insurance companies would send out a 1099 for any accrued interest on a paid up insurance policy, which then would give you some indication as to, that there is in fact, a life insurance policy out there.
But other than the practical approach, I don’t have a have solution. And then the next problem you have once you locate the life insurance policy, well, how do you know who the beneficiary is? That’s another problem. As far as the insurance companies, not wanting to talk to you since you’re not the beneficiary. So you can send in and ask them for a beneficiary claim policy and send them a death certificate with the cause of death to the insurance company. And hopefully they would then let you know whether you’re the beneficiary or not. And if the beneficiary of the life insurance policies deceased well, then you would need to open up a probate proceeding to recover the death benefit under the life insurance policy. So if you have any questions, give me a call at 727-847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Videos
Who Can Serve as A Personal Representative?
Video Summary
Who can serve as a personal representative? A Florida estate proceeding, a person must be related to the decedent. Meaning a blood relative must be a blood relative to be able to serve, or it can be a reasonable state of Florida. Either one can, can be appointed to serve. So if you’re not related and you live outside the state of Florida, even if you’re designated under a will, you are not qualified to serve at as a personal representative in Florida, you must be related or you must be a resident of the state of Florida it’s either of those qualifications. If you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Videos
Can I Legally Drive a Deceased Persons Vehicle?
Video Summary
Can I legally drive a deceased person’s vehicle? The answer to that is probably no. You need to, the person who would be entitled to drive the vehicle or would be the personal representative of the estate. So that means a probate proceeding would have to be commenced in order to have a personal representative or executor appointed. And then they could use the car. Automobiles can be transferred to children and spouses. So, I suggest that do be done soon, rather than later, so that it can be put in their names. They can insure it and drive it. The problem with your driving someone that deceased person’s automobile, is that you need to have insurance. And if you had an accident, well, both the estate would be responsible for were the accident. If it was your fault, as well as you, so you would have liability. So, I guess the short answer to this is, no, you don’t have a right to drive the deceased person’s vehicle. If you have any questions, give me a call at (720) 784-7228.
- Published in Estate Planning, Videos
What Are the Drawbacks of a Living Trust?
video summary
What are the drawbacks of a living trust? Well, the biggest drawback that I see the living trust is that it’s a complicated document. And then once you sign it you have to rely upon what the lawyer tells you. It says, rather than you’re trying to understand 16 or 17 pages of legal jargon. I always ask folks why they want to set up a trust. And if the simple reason for this is to avoid probate, I go through and I ask them, well, what assets do you have? And that’s simply a matter of real property, some bank accounts and a brokerage account. Those can be, we can avoid probate through titling. If you just have a, a couple of beneficiaries, if you wanna set up a trust because a person is disabled and you want them, a special needs trust.
So they don’t receive the money. Well, that’s a good reason to set up a living trust. Another good reason to set up a living trust is if you need to protect the beneficiaries from spending all the money, if they’re, either have some addiction problems, or they’re not good money managers, you want their money to be held until they reach a certain age, although they may receive the income. One of the other disadvantages of a living trust is the cost to set them up in that’s usually there more expensive. I would also do not unless under severe duress ever set up a joint trust between husband and wife. I still do, but it’s usually it’s not needed particularly to avoid probate. And also you don’t want to put at your homestead property, your home into a joint trust. It creates problems as far as when the first spouse passes away. So if you have any questions about setting up a trust, give me a call and (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Trusts, Videos
If I Have a Living Trust, Should I Also Have a Will?
Video Summary
If I have a living trust, should I have a will answer? The question is yes, those are called Pour- Over wills, meaning that your will says I leave whatever assets that I may have that are just titled in. I name to the trustee of my trust, the trust, then the trustee designates who the beneficiaries are, what I have found over my career that sometimes trust are set up and are fine and dandy. They designate who all the beneficiaries are, but for whatever reason, the assets of the decedent are not titled into the name of the trustee. And so there must be a probate proceeding to have the assets transferred to the trustee so they can be distributed to the beneficiaries. So without a will leaving it to the trust, well then the assets would pass to the children or the heirs of the decedent, which is probably not the same as the testament scheme or who you wanted to receive these assets as, as a result of executing a trust. So that is a real good reason to have a will. That leaves everything to the trustee and your trust upon your death in the event. So that any assets that you have in your name alone will go to your trustee to be distributed to your designated beneficiaries. If you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Estate Planning, Trusts, Videos, Wills