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Honestly, I don't know what the account is. I think the funds could be in CDs. I'm not sure it matters.
If it is like what you say then I can see her claim clearly.
In this case things will only go down hill as my brother in law will be forced to level out the estate distribution through other means. For example, the house she is living in is still under her father's name. And all assets acquired after 2012 is to be split three ways. Technically, her brothers own majority of the home (and mortgage debt). They had talked about just transferring the title to her name and taking equal shares of the account, but now it's yet another pita because she will now have to use that money to buy her portion of the home. Using lawyers. And since the value of the home is less than the account my brother in law will have to tweak things inside the family business. Things that will make her look bad in front of the outside partners. Could very well risk the entire vote of confidence between her and the partners and employees.
If the account falls under transfer on death or joint with rights of survivorship(ira beneficiaries included)its not included in the estate. If this was US domestic based the executor couldn’t simply decide to deduct the value of said accounts excluded from the estate in the distribution process. Executors are acting in a fiduciary capacity and carry legal ramifications if you do what you want or simply think is “right”
Most banks, if not all, permit TOD, Transfer on Death. This is called the poor man's last will and testament. The assets are transferred to the beneficiary. The funds are included in the value of the decedent's estate.
You need a will that's been witnessed by a notary public. It should have an actual raised seal certifying it authenticity. Otherwise, it is not admissible to a probate court.
Most banks, if not all, permit TOD, Transfer on Death. This is called the poor man's last will and testament. The assets are transferred to the beneficiary. The funds are included in the value of the decedent's estate.
Roughly half of the states in the US do not recognize TOD so even if a bank allowed it, it wouldn’t be legal
If the account falls under transfer on death or joint with rights of survivorship(ira beneficiaries included)its not included in the estate. If this was US domestic based the executor couldn’t simply decide to deduct the value of said accounts excluded from the estate in the distribution process. Executors are acting in a fiduciary capacity and carry legal ramifications if you do what you want or simply think is “right”
This makes sense. One of my mom's IRAs was distributed (right word?) nearly right away, but everything else, including another IRA has been put on hold until my sister became executor. I am guessing she didn't put down beneficiaries on the 2nd IRA and that's why I haven't seen a distribution.
I understand there are ethical issues and legal issues and what is ethical isn't always legal and what is legal isn't always ethical. I really don't want to get into that part. It's been an extremely challenging situation from the moment everyone realized the updated will wasn't signed.
Legally the money might very well be hers, but it's also appears that, legally, it's not her house.
The end result will invariably be a long, expensive legal process for all parties.
Well most bank accounts don’t have beneficiaries and won’t accept them. If the account was joint with rights of survivorship the executor wouldn’t have any claim to it or information as the ownership would fully transfer to the other account holders. Transfer on death is a possibility but I don’t know if Mexico as a jurisdiction allows it but if they do again the executor isn’t involved as the transfer of ownership occurs at death
Well, at most banks you can assign Payable Upon Death beneficiaries. But if it's a joint account, then upon the death of one owner, the other owner is THE owner - of all the funds. Period. This falls outside of probate in fact, so no will would have any application.
My mom died and I was the co owner and co signer of her bank accounts. Now, I have never spent any money from any account on anything other than her expenses, or her estates, but when she died, technically all the money in every account was mine. My brothers know about it and once the entire estate and all the taxes are paid, I am going to close out those accounts and distribute the money evenly among the heirs but technically I could keep it all - it's just on the honor system and I didn't have to declare any of those funds when I filed for probate because technically I own them now.
Well, at most banks you can assign Payable Upon Death beneficiaries. But if it's a joint account, then upon the death of one owner, the other owner is THE owner - of all the funds. Period. This falls outside of probate in fact, so no will would have any application.
Most banks don’t just take benes on regular accounts, tod or pud are different but roughly half of the states don’t recognize the designation. I completely understand how this all works
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My mom died and I was the co owner and co signer of her bank accounts. Now, I have never spent any money from any account on anything other than her expenses, or her estates, but when she died, technically all the money in every account was mine. My brothers know about it and once the entire estate and all the taxes are paid, I am going to close out those accounts and distribute the money evenly among the heirs but technically I could keep it all - it's just on the honor system and I didn't have to declare any of those funds when I filed for probate because technically I own them now.
I could give you all my money if I wanted but that’s entirely irrelevant to what is legally required. You also will be responsible for gifting tax or applying said gifts towards your lifetime exclusion
Well, at most banks you can assign Payable Upon Death beneficiaries. But if it's a joint account, then upon the death of one owner, the other owner is THE owner - of all the funds. Period. This falls outside of probate in fact, so no will would have any application.
My mom died and I was the co owner and co signer of her bank accounts. Now, I have never spent any money from any account on anything other than her expenses, or her estates, but when she died, technically all the money in every account was mine. My brothers know about it and once the entire estate and all the taxes are paid, I am going to close out those accounts and distribute the money evenly among the heirs but technically I could keep it all - it's just on the honor system and I didn't have to declare any of those funds when I filed for probate because technically I own them now.
It doesn't matter at this point, but I suppose I never thought too much about estates, estate planning and the concept of co-ownership of accounts. So when you decide, like my FIL did, to make her a co-signer, it made it that regardless of his intentions, she was going to become owner of the account in the event of his death. It's like me making a will where both sons split our estate, but at some point I add my son to my account to pay for my old lady bills or whatnot.. when I die he takes whatever is left in that account for himself and then everything else is split.
So it seems that whatever was in our names only (mom and/or dad) are split, but if anything includes one of the kids than that item belongs to that kid.
Neither my father or mother's wills were notarized. My father's was self-made and holographic, but he was careful to meet state requirements. No issues at all getting probate courts to recognize either of them.
you could probably argue that the will distributed to everyone was infact the deceased holographic will. I would ask a probate lawyer about it.
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