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Old 11-23-2017, 12:53 PM   #21
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
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I hope I'm not thread jacking here, but my question is along the same lines and not worthy of it's own thread;
My dad's 2nd wife passed away and my dad has a diagnosis of Alzheimers and now lives with me. I have his power of atty for both medical and financial. A few months after her passing, 2 checks from a life insurance company showed up made payable to :The Estate of (insert deceased wife's name here). I took it to the bank and they would not cash it or deposit it. I called the insurance issuing company and they would not reissue the check to my dad in his name. The amounts were very small, short of $1K each. I asked the bank what it would take to cash them, they told all sorts of stuff that sounded like it wouldn't be worth the combined value of the checks. If anyone has any idea how to cash these for my dad without it incurring more fees or trouble than it's worth, I'd appreciate the advice.

As a side note, I highly recommend anyone here with elderly parents to check any insurance policies on them to see who the beneficiary actually is. If it's to their estate, good luck getting money. I checked the two policies my dad has in his name and TRIED to get the insurance company to change beneficiary from "The Estate Of ..." to my name. They required my dad's signature and notarized. I did and they rejected it, said it might not be my dad but me that signed. I made sure the second notarization was clear on the subject and they rejected it again since my dad has Alzheimer's and they said he's unable to make that decision. I got real pissed, then calmed down and reviewed the policy. Turned out the cash value was worth only a few bucks less than the death benefit. So I had Dad fill out the paperwork to cash them in. I highly recommend anyone in similar situation to do the same; check the difference between cash value and death benefit and cash 'em in if they are close. Dad could use the money now more than I or heirs can after he's gone. The insurance company e-deposited the money to his bank account shortly after the request to cash in was made.
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Old 11-23-2017, 01:23 PM   #22
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Kerrville,Tx
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Quote:
Originally Posted by skipro33 View Post
I hope I'm not thread jacking here, but my question is along the same lines and not worthy of it's own thread;
My dad's 2nd wife passed away and my dad has a diagnosis of Alzheimers and now lives with me. I have his power of atty for both medical and financial. A few months after her passing, 2 checks from a life insurance company showed up made payable to :The Estate of (insert deceased wife's name here). I took it to the bank and they would not cash it or deposit it. I called the insurance issuing company and they would not reissue the check to my dad in his name. The amounts were very small, short of $1K each. I asked the bank what it would take to cash them, they told all sorts of stuff that sounded like it wouldn't be worth the combined value of the checks. If anyone has any idea how to cash these for my dad without it incurring more fees or trouble than it's worth, I'd appreciate the advice.

As a side note, I highly recommend anyone here with elderly parents to check any insurance policies on them to see who the beneficiary actually is. If it's to their estate, good luck getting money. I checked the two policies my dad has in his name and TRIED to get the insurance company to change beneficiary from "The Estate Of ..." to my name. They required my dad's signature and notarized. I did and they rejected it, said it might not be my dad but me that signed. I made sure the second notarization was clear on the subject and they rejected it again since my dad has Alzheimer's and they said he's unable to make that decision. I got real pissed, then calmed down and reviewed the policy. Turned out the cash value was worth only a few bucks less than the death benefit. So I had Dad fill out the paperwork to cash them in. I highly recommend anyone in similar situation to do the same; check the difference between cash value and death benefit and cash 'em in if they are close. Dad could use the money now more than I or heirs can after he's gone. The insurance company e-deposited the money to his bank account shortly after the request to cash in was made.
Was an estate opened for the Wife? If so the executor could have cashed the check with the letters testimentary. If there was just a small estate a small estate proceedure could have been followed, to get the authorization.
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Old 11-23-2017, 01:33 PM   #23
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
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To show how complex things can get I had an uncle whose wife owned a town lot before marriage in IN, she died but the uncle never bothered to transfer the property to her son after she died. Then when he died things had to be cleaned up. This sort of thing is why title insurance is needed because otherwise it becomes impossible to sell the property because title insurance becomes unavailable until the statute of limitations time limit expires (up to 25 years sometimes less as in Tx where if you pay the taxes after 5 years the property is yours if no one disputes it during the 5 years)
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Old 11-23-2017, 04:16 PM   #24
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I don't know about the OP, but since my legal signature is completely illegible I would have no problem cashing it online and distributing it properly. Although not strictly legal, it would certainly be the most expedient solution.
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