When Someone Dies, What Happens to His or Her Bank Account?
Video Summary
When someone dies, what happens to their bank account? Well, the first thing you need to do is to look at how the bank account is titled. If the bank account is jointly held, then the bank account becomes the sole property of the survivor. So, if there’s a Jane Doe and a John Doe on the account and John Doe passes away, then the account becomes the sole property of Jane Doe. If the accounts are set up in the name of John Doe and POD, which stands for “payable on death”, to Jane Doe, then Jane merely presents a death certificate to the bank and then the bank will disperse the account to Jane Doe.
Also, another designation for bank accounts is ITF. It’s called “in trust for” and if the account is set up under “John Doe, ITF, Jane Doe”, Jane Doe merely needs to present a death certificate to the bank and they should disperse the account to her. If the account is just in John Doe’s name and there’s no beneficiary or co-owner, then the account must go through an estate proceeding. What type of probate proceeding will be necessary will depend on the size of the account, and it will go to whoever his heirs are.
If he does not have a bank account subject to administration it will go to the payment of creditors. If he has a will, John Doe would designate who he would want to receive the bank account and it would be subject to administration again, but would go to the designated beneficiaries. If he has none, then the account could go to the State of Florida. If the account is never probated and just sits, it could be considered abandoned property and after a very long period of time the state may receive it. Many times heirs are contacted by various companies who locate abandoned assets and contact you about setting up an estate proceeding; of course, they’re entitled to a fee for finding these assets.
So, it depends on how the account’s set up as to who receives the bank account when someone passes away. If you have any questions or if you have a bank account that a decedent owned, give me a call and I’ll be glad to assist you in recovering the bank account or handling the probate proceeding. My phone number’s (727) 847-2288. Thank you.
What Assets Can be Named in a Trust?
Video Summary
What assets can you include in your trust? Well, there are a precious few assets that I can think of that cannot be titled in your trust. The only time that you would not be able to title an asset in a trust is if whoever is issuing a particular titled security or asset refuses to allow it to be titled in the name of the trust. But, titling it in the name of the trust is really a misnomer. You title trust assets in the name of the trustee rather than in the name of the trust. So, assets would be titled as, “John Doe as Trustee of the John Doe Revocable Trust, dated October 24, 2011.”
You do not want to just title it as, “The John Doe Revocable Trust” or, “The John Doe Trust.” Likewise, you don’t want to title your assets as, “John Doe as Trustee.” The Florida statutes, as far as real property is concerned, states if you title assets as, “John Doe as Trustee,” they consider it individual asset. The trust must be identified. However, the assets should be titled in the name of the trustee of an identified trust. The biggest problem with people setting up revocable trusts is that they don’t retitle their assets in their name as trustees under their trust. So, they don’t get the benefit of the revocable trust, which is usually to avoid probate.
One other reason many people transfer their assets into a trust is that they believe it will protect those assets from creditors. Your assets that you transfer into a revocable trust are not protected from your creditors. If you set up an irrevocable trust, meaning a trust that cannot be changed, and you do not exercise control and dominion over those assets, then those assets could be protected from your creditors, provided that you’re not doing it for the purpose to evade your creditors. So, if you’d like to set up an irrevocable trust or to fund your revocable trust, give me a call at (727) 847-2288. I’ll be glad to assist you. Thank you.