New 2B Annuity Rant

[2B]

While no help to 2B, I would think the rest of us would rather avoid this kind of hassle. The outcome of this IMO would have been quite different had 2B's father had a proper Will naming an "Executor" to set up an estate and distribute the assets according to the Will. I believe then, the annuity could have been in your fathers name and the estate would pay the taxes.

My father did everything perfectly except setting this annuity up. He had a good will and had my youngest sister as executer. He set it up in all of our names as owners but the idiot that set it up for him put it in my youngest sisters name/SS for when it could be taken out without penalty. We went round and round trying to redo the annuity into 5 individual annuities or to get individual checks. They were not able or willing to make any changes.

We would have all been much happier if he had spent the money himself or had it in his estate when he died. All the annuity did was give away a bunch of fees for poorly performing funds and create a mess for his children as they try to get the money.

 

[2B]

Can she ask WAMU if they will accept a power of attorney from each of you?

That's what I had told my sister to ask about. Everyone but me lives in the greater Seattle area so they could meet at a central banking location. It's not real convenient to all get together since that goes all the way from Bellingham to Buckley but except for me it's not a major deal.

My sister is figuring her taxes and will distribute our shares as after tax. She has almost no income so she's probably the best one to take the hit. The annuity people were very clear that she was going to get the 1099. I'll look into the possibility of her creating 1099s for all of us but I'm not sure it would be much better.

To avoid the gift tax issues, she was going to fill out the form taking it away from her estate tax exclusion. There's no way she'll ever have to worry about leaving an estate any where near $1MM.

Mostly, my siblings are sick and tired of this and just want it over with.

My sister is supposed to go by the bank to see what WaMu's legal review says they will do. They will either let her deposit the check or force us to open a joint account. If its the joint account, we'll have to see if they will work with a mailed/internet application from me.

 

[heyyou]

Your joint account is with the bank, not with the branch. Why do you each have to go to the same branch to open the joint account when you could each go to a different branch closer to your residences?