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I’m the executor of my mothers estate so I know what you all are going through. Mom passed away in August of 2021. My problem is that I know nothing about financial matters like stocks for example, and mom had a lot of stocks. My estate lawyer, her assistant and CPA do help me but I do have to do some things on my own; and it’s frustrating! At least I’m an only child so no battling with siblings.
I’m the executor of my mothers estate so I know what you all are going through. Mom passed away in August of 2021. My problem is that I know nothing about financial matters like stocks for example, and mom had a lot of stocks. My estate lawyer, her assistant and CPA do help me but I do have to do some things on my own; and it’s frustrating! At least I’m an only child so no battling with siblings.
Tell me about it! I was my dad's executrix. He was obsessed with squeezing every possible cent out of investments and had little brokerage stocks, bonds, mutual funds, CDs, and bank accounts ferreted away everywhere. If most people contented themselves with one savings or checking account he had to have three of each at different banks. Not one IRA but three; some Roth, some regular. Four small life insurance policies, not one. I had to twist his toes before he would designate a single beneficiary on ONE account so I would have access to travel and expenses $ preparing for probate. Trying to get reluctant brokerage houses, banks, and other institutions to acknowledge my authority and permit re-titling or redemption of all those assets was a nightmare and took months!
Mercifully, he was also obsessed with tracking every asset's value down to the penny every month. He never did trust getting any of this information electronically. His office was filled with filing cabinets and binders full of statements that took a couple of solid weeks to search through. Stacks of minutely-scribbled ledger books. Took a magnifying glass to decipher those. Seem to recall the sheer weight of all the paper I dragged out to the curb for the shredder truck approached 1200 lbs. The vast majority of his carefully-hoarded paper was of little to no use.
Last edited by Parnassia; 02-17-2022 at 03:38 PM..
Parnassia, my brother was the executor of my Dad's estate. Thankfully we found the trust documents. We gave him all the help we could and mostly just stayed out of his way. Dad had 25 or more pickup truck loads of paper from 1949 that went to dump. Then he had to clean out and sell the farm AND deal with Dad's younger wife now widow.
But he got it done and his brother and sister are very grateful. It would have been a much easier job (and the wife would have gotten more $$) if she had not hired an attorney.
I am going to make sure our lives are much simpler. We have even assigned a guardian for our pets.
. It would have been a much easier job (and the wife would have gotten more $$) if she had not hired an attorney.
Oh I also had an attorney. He got me started down the right track in terms of probate and kept me there, helped settle a few minor squabbles between heirs so I didn't need to be the bad guy, made mandatory public notices and court filings so I didn't need to fly 2000 miles to make them in person. My dad left a complicated holographic will that required a bit of interpretation so his help was invaluable. I did everything else myself including clearing, repairing, and selling a not-quite hoarded house. There were no hiccups so the attorney did what he was paid to do. His documentation also simplified the final estate tax filings. Based on his final billable hours and considering what that would have been split between each heir, I didn't think his final fee was outrageous.
I feel your pain. Received the same notice however it indicated that there is a credit on the account. They requested a copy of the return. Why are you trying to send a copy of the cancelled check?
It gets worse. I also filed an amended return for the decedent for a prior tax year and received a notice that the IRS has the account locked. They have the wrong DOD and I had to contact Social Security for documentation concerning the correct DOD. I sent all this in with an appeal letter and so far have received two notices of extensions to resolve the matter. I no longer expect anything to get done correctly the first time.
My CPA sent me a notice from the IRS saying to tell their clients NOT to send copies of returns. This was dated just a few days ago. It just adds to their pile of unopened or unread mail. She said to just sit tight for a few weeks and then she will mail them a copy of the canceled check and we can take it from there.
Lordy. What a shambles! I am so sorry about all your drama!
My mom had too many assets to avoid probate in our state. It had to be probated.
What a mess. Sorry you have to go through it.
A friend recently died. He thought he had all the ducks in a row, because they knew the time was coming.
Not so. The minute the funeral home notified social security, SS must have notified all the credit reporting agencies because his widow could not access their joint bank account. She had to produce a death certificate. That takes time these days.
She cannot even get rid of an extra car until probate. And the lawyer friend had had do all the will, etc. would not return her calls for over a month. She had to get another lawyer. So she went to our lawyer. The lawyer did take her call immediately.
IIRC, her lawyer tells us if there is real property in another state, there has to be probate in Texas.
Thank goodness we found a really great geezer lawyer. Even to the point of prepaying for cremation so the kids need not worry about that, either.
Now we just hope the bank doesn't screw up, we will be fine.
Good luck on the land sale.
DH's family is from Rusk county. All the men got together and redid the land. Trouble was some of those men were inlaws and didn't own the land they sold to each other. . DH and his cousin, a NYC lawyers spent weeks to get it straight.
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