Well, financial issues came to a head suddenly last week with my in-laws - my father-in-law passed away last saturday. He had been in poor health for a long time but of course it's still a shock. Family are all doing well, considering.
DH and I, along with DH's brother, spent last week managing things and getting the finances in order for my MIL. We were surprised to find how out of touch she was with the finances - she really never did anything with their money and so is having to re-learn how to balance a checkbook, etc. She didn't realize, for example, that you can use any credit card at a gas station, not just a Shell card at Shell stations (which was her habit).
The bad news was that there was about 35K of credit card debt, and another 25K of old medical debt - much more than we ever imagined. My MIL feared there was some debt but had no idea it was anything near that amount. The good news is that, according to a couple lawyers we consulted, my MIL is not liable for the debt because it was all in my FIL's name. He apparently knew this and set it up like that on purpose. No other assets were in his name, for the same reason. We will be sending letters to creditors advising them of his death and that his estate was insolvent, but we suspect they might harass my MIL anyway to try and get the money. Any advice anyone has on how to avoid this would be much appreciated.
The other good news was that my FIL had a life insurance policy through work for 50K that goes directly to my MIL (so not available to creditors). After she pays off a couple of debts that she is liable for, she will probably have around 40K to invest. She won't need to touch this money for at least 3-4 years until she stops working, if then. So we could also use some advice on where to put that money. In looking at her monthly income and expenses it appears she will only spend 1/2 to 2/3 of what she makes every month.
One last unknown is that just before we left, DH and his brother found my FIL's credit report from several years ago showing several tax liens from the IRS From initial searching, it appears they are beyond the 10-year statute of limitations for collections, but we also can't find any of my FIL's tax records for 2004-2005, which makes me nervous because he saved everything. We filed their 2006 taxes while we were there so I don't know whether that will open a new can of worms.
Tax issues aside, we felt good that we were able to (we think) get a handle on everything that needs to be resolved. The only other thing I've thought of is that we should pull my MIL's credit report as well to make sure about which credit is in her name. But I would love ideas from anyone here on how to handle any of this. Very happy I have this board to ask for advice!
DH and I, along with DH's brother, spent last week managing things and getting the finances in order for my MIL. We were surprised to find how out of touch she was with the finances - she really never did anything with their money and so is having to re-learn how to balance a checkbook, etc. She didn't realize, for example, that you can use any credit card at a gas station, not just a Shell card at Shell stations (which was her habit).
The bad news was that there was about 35K of credit card debt, and another 25K of old medical debt - much more than we ever imagined. My MIL feared there was some debt but had no idea it was anything near that amount. The good news is that, according to a couple lawyers we consulted, my MIL is not liable for the debt because it was all in my FIL's name. He apparently knew this and set it up like that on purpose. No other assets were in his name, for the same reason. We will be sending letters to creditors advising them of his death and that his estate was insolvent, but we suspect they might harass my MIL anyway to try and get the money. Any advice anyone has on how to avoid this would be much appreciated.
The other good news was that my FIL had a life insurance policy through work for 50K that goes directly to my MIL (so not available to creditors). After she pays off a couple of debts that she is liable for, she will probably have around 40K to invest. She won't need to touch this money for at least 3-4 years until she stops working, if then. So we could also use some advice on where to put that money. In looking at her monthly income and expenses it appears she will only spend 1/2 to 2/3 of what she makes every month.
One last unknown is that just before we left, DH and his brother found my FIL's credit report from several years ago showing several tax liens from the IRS From initial searching, it appears they are beyond the 10-year statute of limitations for collections, but we also can't find any of my FIL's tax records for 2004-2005, which makes me nervous because he saved everything. We filed their 2006 taxes while we were there so I don't know whether that will open a new can of worms.
Tax issues aside, we felt good that we were able to (we think) get a handle on everything that needs to be resolved. The only other thing I've thought of is that we should pull my MIL's credit report as well to make sure about which credit is in her name. But I would love ideas from anyone here on how to handle any of this. Very happy I have this board to ask for advice!