Vanguard is going downhill

[pb4uski]

Scrapr, I'm in enough trouble with MRG... rule #1... stop digging!

 

[MRG]

Scrapr, I'm in enough trouble with MRG... rule #1... stop digging!

I've been called much worse.[emoji4]

 

[jazz4cash]

Yeah I thought that issue was at VG also and assumed the state of PA had extraordinary powers over VG.

 

[audreyh1]

My DF had a TOD pointed at my Fidelity brokerage account, when his death certificate triggered the TOD it also notified the Commonwealth of PA. They had Fidelity lock the entire account from withdrawals. I could trade, heck I could have written naked puts on the VIX as far as these folks knew. PA wanted the 10% inheritance tax owed and locked me out of 500k to guarantee 12k of taxes owed. Took them 6-8 months to settle his simple estate. Despite folks raving about Fidelity's great customer service there was no rolling that transaction back.

That is just wild!

 

[MRG]

Yeah I thought that issue was at VG also and assumed the state of PA had extraordinary powers over VG.

Nope. Any state can do the same thing for any legal reason. "They" can make your money theirs.

 

[pb4uski]

Nope. Any state can do the same thing for any legal reason. "They" can make your money theirs.

WADR, the last part is a bit of an overstatement. They can freeze your account pending a determination of what is owed but they can't make your money theirs. Besides, would you have had that issue if all the requisite paperwork had been filed with the state and any amounts due paid?

 

[MRG]

WADR, the last part is a bit of an overstatement. They can freeze your account pending a determination of what is owed but they can't make your money theirs. Besides, would you have had that issue if all the requisite paperwork had been filed with the state and any amounts due paid?

Ok yes the state has to have a reasons to make your money theirs, like its owed. I was happy to pay, they just took months to tell me how much.

There was nothing to file prior to death. Not sure what could have been done differently other than don't used a TOD in a state with an inheritance tax. If you do, dont commingle assets.

 

[pb4uski]

By requisite paperwork I was referring to an inheritance tax return of some sort. Looks like you would have been responsible for filing an inheritance tax return within 9 months of the decedent's death (assuming that the TOD assets were transferred to you within that period).

WHO MUST FILE
A Pennsylvania Inheritance Tax Return, REV-1500, must be filed for every decedent with property that may be subject to Pennsylvania inheritance tax.....
• A transferee is any person to whom property from the decedent is transferred, including surviving joint tenants, beneficiaries and heirs. The transferee must disclose any asset in which or of which he or she receives any ownership, interest, income, possession or enjoyment, whether present or future, and whether in trust or otherwise. Separate returns are not to be filed by transferees for property included in a personal representative’s return.

WHEN TO FILE
An inheritance tax return should be filed as soon as possible after a decedent’s death, but no later than nine months from the decedent’s date of death.

 

[BarbWire]

OK, I've taken first steps. I still had a FIDO account -- empty -- from my w*rk days, so yesterday (having just discovered their HSA as I was researching ways to get out of Health Savings Administrators) I initiated moving my HSA to Fido.

My concern re: lock out (I do remember the PA story) is name matching. This was a bit of a problem when I was executor of my parents' estates and had inheritances (thank goodness both they and I used Vanguard).

I go by my middle name, and have since birth. Prior to the Patriot Act, everything in my legal/financial life was styled like "J. Prufrock Morgenstern" and there had never been any issues. After the Patriot Act, I had to style new accounts, car registrations etc as 'Jedediah Prufrok Morgenstern" which matches my passport, birth cert, DL. etc. So now I had -- and have -- accounts etc with names that don't match. And to make the matters worse, TIAA has my name as "First = J Last = Prufrock Morgenstern" and Vanguard has it as "First = J Prufrock Last = Morgenstern". I have "one and the same name" docs on file at various financial institution, and have been changing my account registrations to the triple-barrel version when possible. Vanguard won't change.

 

[pb4uski]

Where you say Vanguard won't change.... I suspect that you can set up accounts at Vanguard under Jedediah Prufrok Morgenstern and then transfer securities in-kind from your "old" accounts to your "new" accounts.... ask them about it.

And thank you for your post... it reminded me that my Fidelity accounts did not include the Jr. in my name... it worked out well at the time since it smoothed the transfer of HSA money that also didn't have the Jr. in my name but now that that is done i want to get it straightened out so it doesn't cause problems in the future.

 

[BarbWire]

Where you say Vanguard won't change.... I suspect that you can set up accounts at Vanguard under Jedediah Prufrok Morgenstern and then transfer securities in-kind from your "old" accounts to your "new" accounts.... ask them about it.

And thank you for your post... it reminded me that my Fidelity accounts did not include the Jr. in my name... it worked out well at the time since it smoothed the transfer of HSA money that also didn't have the Jr. in my name but now that that is done i want to get it straightened out so it doesn't cause problems in the future.

That's a good thought, though I'd have to find someone at Vanguard who could help manage such a transfer. That would challenge my faith in Vanguard!

This discussion does remind me that I need to make a new master list of how my accounts are registered everywhere -- not only how they are styled, but how the institution has them formatted. The list should probably include credit cards and vehicle registrations too ... and I should put it with my estate documents.