When Someone Passes, What Happens to Their Bank Account?
Video Summary
When someone dies, what happens to their bank account? Well, the first thing you need to determine is whether the bank account was joint or whether it had any beneficiaries. If it is a joint account, then it’s presumed that it goes to the person that’s on the signature card with the decedent, or if there’s a designation of beneficiaries saying it’s payable on death to a certain beneficiaries, then it goes to the beneficiaries and all they need is a death certificate. If the account is just in the decedent’s name, well then it has to go through a probate proceeding, either under a will or if they don’t have a will. In circumstances where it’s a small bank account, then there is a proceeding called a distribution without administration wherein if the amount of the funeral bill, which you paid, or whoever paid it is more than what’s in the account or the same amount, then the person who paid the funeral bill can make application to the probate court for distribution without administration. So depending on the size of the bank account, there may be a relatively simple procedure to see about getting the account if the money was used to pay the funeral Bill, my phone number, (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Probate, Trusts, Videos, Website Notices & Agreements
Why Would a Trust Be a Bad Idea?
Video Summary
Why would a Trust be a bad idea? Well, the first question I ask clients when they come to see me, they want to set up a Trust, is said, why do you want to set up a trust? The usual answer I get is because I want to avoid probate. Well, there’s alternatives to that, particularly if you want all your assets to be distributed at the time of your death to the beneficiaries. If that is the estate plan and the purpose of the Trust, that can be accomplished by how you title your assets. Just like your bank accounts, you can set those up so that they’re payable on death to the beneficiaries. Doesn’t have to go through probate. If you have your home, you can execute an enhanced life estate deed called a Lady Bird Deed works the same as a payable on death bank account. You have all the rights of ownership during your lifetime, but upon your death, it’ll go automatically. Go to the beneficiaries with a death certificate and avoid probate. If you have a brokerage account with say, Merrill Lynch or Raymond James or any brokerage account, you can then set that up so that there’s beneficiaries. That’s called a TOD designation, so those would automatically avoid probate and go to the beneficiaries. Also, your life insurance, annuities, IRAs, all of those have beneficiaries or should have beneficiaries, and so none of those go through probate. So if you don’t have a good reason to set up a Trust, that would be a reason why it would be bad to set one up because you’re basically just spending money that you don’t need to. In the past, Trust had been set up to avoid estate taxes, but estate taxes have been now elevated to you have to have assets over $13 million before there’s any estate taxes. So that would be the circumstance whenever I would not recommend, or I basically don’t draftTtrust if the person wishes their assets to be distributed at the time of their death and designated. Now, there are good reasons set up Trust, such as if you have minors and you want to delay the distribution of their money, or if you have a beneficiary that has a drug dependency or is a special needs trust. Any number of other good reasons set up trust. But if you just wish to do it, to avoid probate and you want an outright distribution, I think that’s a bad idea and save your money as far as the cost of setting one up. If you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
Why Would I Want to Avoid Probate?
Video Summary
Why would I want to avoid probate? The primary reason most folks want to avoid probate is the expense involved. Also, there is some delay as far as the distribution of the decedent’s assets if you have to go through a probate proceeding, and so the probate proceeding is designed to make sure that the creditors are paid and the property is distributed to beneficiaries designated by a Will or a Trust. So, there is ways to avoid probate by how you retitle your assets or possibly set up a Trust. If you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
How Can I Simplify Probate?
Video Summary
How can I simplify probate in Florida? Well, the best way to do it is to do estate planning and to avoid probate entirely, and that can be done on how you title your assets and designate beneficiaries. As far as your assets are concerned, the probate is the legal term, which refers to the legal process involved when someone passes away to have their assets transferred to the appropriate beneficiaries under a Will or if they don’t have a Will under the Florida statutes. That also is to protect the creditors, so the creditors can be paid. There are several forms of probate and there’s that depending on whether or not there’s creditors, and also depending on the value of the estate as to whether or not those can be utilized. But the best way to simplify probate is to avoid it entirely, which can be done through estate planning. If you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
What Happens if Someone Doesn’t Claim Their Inheritance?
Video Summary
What happens if someone doesn’t claim their inheritance? Well, if it’s a stocks or money and bank accounts, anything such as that, then after a certain period of time, the company turns the property over to the state of Florida and it’s held in an account for unclaimed property under the person’s name who’s entitled to it, and I think it’s called the Treasure Hunt, but I’m not a 100% sure. But if it’s with that, if you Google Unclaimed Property Secretary of State of Florida, you’ll go to the website and list all the various names that their property there, and there’s any number of companies that try and contact folks to see about getting that for you for a fee. If it’s real property and they don’t ever take charge of it or receive it or have it probated and put in their name, then it is usually just lost for taxes. And so,after a certain number of years, the tax is not being paid, then it’ll be sold on a tax deed sale. That’s what happens if you don’t collect your inheritance. If you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.