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Old 02-20-2022, 12:20 PM   #21
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Interesting. How is the executor appointed? Do you still need to have the court do it and issue the Letters of Administration? Who handles posting the notice to potential creditors, or is that not required there?
It probably varies by state.

In my state, there is no executor appointed by the court. It appears that the way the law is written, that the person who would have been appointed executor can utilize the small estate administration procedure.

No letters testamentary would be issued in this process.

No notice to potential creditors is done. The person who would have been appointed executor can file a summary document with the court stating basically that all property has been distributed and all known debts have been paid.

It's a bit unclear to me, but it seems that summary document filed with the court starts a one year clock for any unknown creditors to come forward and make a claim. (The formal probate process does involve a notice to creditors and that has a four month clock IIRC.)
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Old 02-20-2022, 01:33 PM   #22
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No notice to potential creditors is done. The person who would have been appointed executor can file a summary document with the court stating basically that all property has been distributed and all known debts have been paid.

It's a bit unclear to me, but it seems that summary document filed with the court starts a one year clock for any unknown creditors to come forward and make a claim.
In Florida, it's 90 days for the creditor notice. Nothing can be distributed until that time runs out, which makes sense. You can't give the money out first and then wait for claims to come in.
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Old 02-20-2022, 01:49 PM   #23
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Interesting. How is the executor appointed? Do you still need to have the court do it and issue the Letters of Administration? Who handles posting the notice to potential creditors, or is that not required there?
The executor does not get appointed, instead they declare themselves and file the Will with the clerk of the probate court, and of course the probate court has not yet issued any "letters of office".

I have no idea what would happen if someone tried this without being named executor of the Will.

Here in IL, it's common knowledge that Probate courts take over a year and are very expensive to process an estate.

More details are here: https://www.illinoislegalaid.org/leg...tate-affidavit
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Old 02-20-2022, 01:56 PM   #24
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The executor does not get appointed, instead they declare themselves and file the Will with the clerk of the probate court, and of course the probate court has not yet issued any "letters of office".
That link mentions this:

"Information about the decedent's assets such as bank accounts, stock, cash"

I can tell you from experience that in order to change the name on inherited stocks, I had to get a Medallion Signature Guarantee. To do that, I had to present the Letters of Administration. That was with Bank of America in New Jersey. I wonder if other places have different requirements, or if it would have been different if I was in Illinois.

The whole process is complex enough. Learning that it can be so drastically different state to state makes it even more complicated.
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Old 02-20-2022, 02:02 PM   #25
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In Florida, it's 90 days for the creditor notice. Nothing can be distributed until that time runs out, which makes sense. You can't give the money out first and then wait for claims to come in.
Right. My state doesn't have that, but some states do, for the reason you indicate.

I think if a creditor shows up later after a simplified administration, they could go after the executor, but I'm not really sure how it would work. My plan would be just to be sure to pay everyone, which sort of requires living a life where unknown creditors aren't really a thing.

Quote:
Originally Posted by disneysteve View Post
That link mentions this:

"Information about the decedent's assets such as bank accounts, stock, cash"

I can tell you from experience that in order to change the name on inherited stocks, I had to get a Medallion Signature Guarantee. To do that, I had to present the Letters of Administration. That was with Bank of America in New Jersey. I wonder if other places have different requirements, or if it would have been different if I was in Illinois.

The whole process is complex enough. Learning that it can be so drastically different state to state makes it even more complicated.
Whether the account has beneficiaries/TOD/POD or not also makes a big difference. If the former, typically a beneficiary just has to provide a death certificate to get the process started. If the latter, typically it's as you describe - letters testamentary need to be provided. So it sounds like in your case there were no beneficiaries listed on the account, which would generally make it go through the probate process.
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Old 02-20-2022, 02:06 PM   #26
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For the past 10 years, I've been helping Dad with his finances (saving him from the 2% AUM) etc.
So I knew all his stuff and already had access to nearly all accounts.
We also knew his obligations/debt which were zero.

What made this possible is nearly everything was TOD/POD so went directly to named beneficiaries and the house was in a trust, so that also transferred.
Vanguard just transferred stocks according to the TOD/POD once the beneficiaries signed up and submitted the death certificate (once).

There were no actual stock certificates in the drawer.

It made me realize having POD/TOD on most things, helps to simplify the estate a lot.
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Old 02-20-2022, 02:37 PM   #27
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It made me realize having POD/TOD on most things, helps to simplify the estate a lot.
Indeed. In my state, anything with beneficiaries/POD/TOD is excluded from the probate estate. And - crucially - it is the value of the probate estate, not the gross estate, which determines whether the small estate summary administration procedure can be used, avoiding the more costly, time-consuming, more public, more hassle "regular" probate process.
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Old 02-20-2022, 10:39 PM   #28
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I am very sorry for the loss of your father.



Not sure what you mean by "this" in your question though. If you're asking about the check, you will be able to deposit it if you don't tell the bank that the person who endorsed it is deceased. If they already know, it's up to them to decide whether or not to accept it. The state of California has nothing to do with it.



If you're asking about the process for small estates in CA, info is here: https://www.courts.ca.gov/10440.htm?rdeLocaleAttr=en


Thank you Cathy63. 🥰[emoji25]
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Old 03-04-2022, 08:41 PM   #29
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So sorry for your loss.



I used to work at a bank. Yes, deposit the check to your fathers account. I would keep the account open for a bit, so that any other checks that are received for him can be deposited. Obviously he can't endorse them, but they can be stamped for deposit only. Once you inform the bank that he has passed away, his account will need to be changed to an estate account.


You do need to let social security know that he has passed away. They will remove the social security for the month that he passed.
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Old 03-04-2022, 09:00 PM   #30
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You do need to let social security know that he has passed away. They will remove the social security for the month that he passed.
Agree on letting Social Security know. Although they may already know; typically funeral homes will make a notification.

He is entitled to SS benefits for any month in which he lived the whole month. And SS benefits are paid one month in arrears, so the January payment was actually for December, and the February payment would be for January.

So if he died in January (as it sounds like), then he is entitled to the benefits he received in January, but not the February payment.
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Old 03-07-2022, 05:46 PM   #31
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Have not read all the posts but it seems to be between legal and practical...


My mom died in Aug XX... we got a check from Fidelity in Dec XX for her RMD... I took the check into Fidelity to get the accounts moved to me as executor and they said to just deposit the check...


Now, in reality it should have gone back to the IRA and then distributed to the beneficiaries of that IRA but it was a very small check...


Convenience won out...
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Old 03-20-2022, 11:37 PM   #32
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Thanks for the SS advice. Funeral home notified SS and they stopped the benefit payments. [emoji846][emoji1431]
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