July 16, 2020 By

Thursday’s need-to-know money news

Today’s top story: Probate workarounds can save your heirs time and money. Also in the news: Student loan refi rates keep dropping, which airline you should fly in 2020 (and beyond), and how to know if you should refinance your mortgage.

Probate Workarounds Can Save Your Heirs Time and Money
There are often workarounds to help get assets to heirs, but avoiding probate isn’t the right move for everyone.

Student Loan Refi Rates Keep Dropping, Should You Take the Plunge?
The advertised minimum fixed interest rate on refinanced student loans dropped to an average of 3.51% on July 1.

Ask a Points Nerd: Which Airline Should I Fly In 2020 (and Beyond)?
Flying has become a lot more complicated.

How to Know if You Should Refinance Your Mortgage
Mortgage rates continue to drop.

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July 14, 2020 By

Probate workarounds can save heirs time, money

A reader recently reached out after his elderly mother died, asking how soon he could distribute the $10,000 she had earmarked in her will for each of her two grandchildren.

Because she lived in California, I had to break the bad news: He won’t be able to hand over the money any time soon.

Probate is the court process to distribute someone’s estate after their death, even if there is a will, and is notoriously slow in California. A typical probate takes nine to 12 months, and court shutdowns related to COVID-19 mean the wait could be longer. Probate is also expensive in California: By law, an attorney could charge $11,000 in fees to handle the woman’s $400,000 estate.

In my latest for the Associated Press, what to keep in mind if you’re trying to decide whether to make the investment to spare your heirs the expense and hassle of probate.

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November 6, 2017 By

Q&A: Adding daughter to home could create a tax burden

Dear Liz: My wife and I are both 80 and we are contemplating adding our 56-year-old daughter as a co-owner and borrower to our home. The house is now valued at $600,000 and our mortgage balance is $196,000.

If it is advisable, and I am able to do this, will it prevent the house going into probate when my wife and I have passed on? Because my daughter will be the sole beneficiary of our assets, is a will or living trust required?

Answer: Please don’t do this without consulting an estate planning attorney — who will most likely tell you not to do this.

You can’t add your daughter to the mortgage without refinancing the loan. Adding your daughter to the deed means she would lose the valuable “step up” in tax basis that would otherwise happen after your deaths.

If she’s made a co-owner, she could be subject to capital gains taxes on all the appreciation that happened on her share. That tax burden essentially would disappear if she were to inherit the home instead.

How you should bequeath the home to her depends on where you live. In most states, probate — the court process that typically follows a death — isn’t that bad.

However, in some states, such as California or Florida, probate can be lengthy, expensive and worth avoiding. It can be worth investing in an attorney to draw up a living trust.

Another option in many states, including California, is a “transfer-on-death” or beneficiary deed, which allows you to sign and record a deed now that doesn’t transfer until your death. You can revoke the deed or sell the property at any time.

Florida doesn’t have transfer-on-death deeds, according to self-help site Nolo.com, but the state offers something similar called an “enhanced life estate” or “Lady Bird” deed.

But again, discuss this with a qualified estate planning attorney before proceeding.

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May 22, 2017 By

Q&A: This trust avoids probate (but not death and taxes)

Dear Liz: Reading your articles I understand that having a revocable living trust makes transferring wealth quicker and easier. What about taxes? If you use a will to bequeath your house, for example, the beneficiaries get a stepped-up cost basis. What are the taxes with a revocable living trust? Do you pay taxes on assets going into the trust and again going out to the beneficiaries? What are the tax advantages and disadvantages of a trust?

Answer: Many kinds of trusts have tax implications, but revocable living trusts typically don’t. Your assets get the same tax treatment as if you held them outright.

Some people mistakenly believe that revocable living trusts can help them avoid or eliminate estate taxes. The purpose of a living trust is primarily to avoid probate, the court process that otherwise follows death. In some states, including California, probate can be lengthy and expensive, which often makes a living trust worth the cost and effort to set up.

Living trusts also offer more privacy because they don’t have to be made public, unlike a will, which becomes a public record at your death. Living trusts also make it easier for your appointed person to take over for you in case you become incapacitated.

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February 27, 2017 By

Q&A: More solutions for avoiding probate

Dear Liz: I’m wondering why, in your answer about whether to use a will or a living trust, you didn’t mention that probate can be avoided by using beneficiaries for assets such as mutual funds and brokerage accounts and now, in many states, homes. This seems quite relevant to the question and the gist of your answer.

Answer: Space limitations, and reader attention spans, prohibit exhaustive answers to many personal finance questions. Nowhere is that more true than in estate planning, which can get complicated quickly.

It’s hard to avoid probate entirely without a living trust. So-called transfer on death designations can indeed work for small estates, providing that the rest of the estate — the “tangible personal property” such as furniture and jewelry — is small enough to qualify for simplified probate proceedings. (In California, that limit is $150,000.)

Even with small estates, though, transfer on death designations aren’t necessarily the right solution for everyone. Beneficiary designations are easy to forget, for one thing, which can mean accounts going to the wrong people after life changes. In other words, your ex-wife or your mother may wind up with an account that should have gone to your spouse. People who choose to use transfer on death designations instead of a living trust need to remain vigilant about keeping those designations up to date.

They also need to explore other potential ramifications, especially if they’re taking a do-it-yourself approach. For example, if a beneficiary dies first, or simultaneously, the asset may wind up having to go through probate.

Also, as this column discussed a few months ago, real estate transfers in certain circumstances can cause the property to be reassessed, leading to much higher tax bills for heirs. That’s something an attorney would be able to explain to a client while preparing a will or living trust, but it’s something a DIYer might miss.

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February 27, 2017 By

Q&A: When a living trust can save money

Dear Liz: Here’s another advantage to a living trust. If the person owns real estate in more than one jurisdiction and just uses a will, there will be a probate in the resident jurisdiction and ancillary probates the other location or locations, with the attendant time, costs and delays — all of which could be avoided with a living trust. All properties would have to be transferred into the trust, of course, and it’s always wise to have a pour-over will to make sure that anything inadvertently left out of the trust is included and protected from probate.

Answer: Good points. Living trusts are more expensive to set up than wills but can save money in the long run in such situations.

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November 9, 2016 By

Wednesday’s need-to-know money news

Zemanta Related Posts ThumbnailToday’s top story: Probate, and how to avoid it. Also in the news: A Class of 2016 Postgrad student loan checklist, how to haggle down your rent by offering to do your own maintenance, and a few things to consider before moving to Canada.

Probate, and How to Avoid It
Learn the three common ways.

Class of 2016 Postgrad Student Loan Checklist
Get ready to start paying back those loans.

Haggle Down Your Rent By Offering to Do Your Own Maintenance
All they can say is no.

6 reasons to think twice before moving to Canada
Some things to consider.

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October 24, 2016 By

Q&A: How to pursue money owed to heirs

Dear Liz: My stepmother passed away in December 2006, and her executor, who was her financial planner, distributed the estate according to her trust. A while after this, I discovered that she had a life insurance policy that hadn’t been addressed. The executor pursued this and found that $80,000 was due to the three primary heirs. However, he kept saying things were “in process.” At least a couple of years later, he said he had the check but didn’t know how to proceed because the estate was settled and also the insurance company had been taken over by another company. I finally saw the actual check (in April 2016) that he had. He claims he’s pursuing this but keeps going silent on us for extended periods of time. What can we do?

Answer: One possibility is that he showed you a phony check after pocketing the money. The other possibility is that he’s stunningly incompetent. It’s not clear which option is more disturbing.

Any estate planning attorney, or financial planner who has taken an estate-planning class, could tell him that life insurance proceeds typically pass outside the probate process, which means the estate wouldn’t necessarily have to be reopened. (Even if the estate did need to be reopened, every state has procedures for doing so.)

“I would think that the executor could merely endorse the check over to the three heirs,” Los Angeles estate planning attorney Burton Mitchell said. “Or he could open an estate bank account, deposit the check, write a check to the beneficiaries and then close the account.”

At this point, of course, the check may too stale to cash, but that’s not an insurmountable problem either. The current insurer would be able to reissue the check if the assets haven’t been turned over to the state or “escheated.” If the money was escheated, the executor can file a claim with the state to get it back.

Blaming his inaction on the insurance company takeover is absurd. All he needed to do was to call the new insurer, which has all the records of the old one.

The heirs have a number of options. They can petition the probate court to order the executor to distribute the life insurance proceeds. They can hire an attorney to help them do so or to contact the executor to demand he act, or both. They also can file a complaint with the company that employs him (assuming he’s not self-employed), with the regulator that oversees him and with the entity that issued his credentials, assuming he has any.

What they shouldn’t do is wait any longer. The executor’s inaction has already cost them years of lost potential investment returns.

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September 19, 2016 By

Q&A: Stepmom alters terms of dad’s will

Dear Liz: My father recently passed away and his will named my stepmom’s daughter as executor along with my brother. My stepmother just informed my brother that she removed him from that role, telling him it’s easier to just leave her daughter as the executor as she lives much closer. Is this legal to remove him after my father’s death? The rest of his five children have not been able to see that will.

Answer: Your stepmother doesn’t get to alter the terms of your dad’s will after his death. As mentioned in a previous column, a probate case should be opened in the county where your dad died and the will is among the paperwork that should be included in that case. It would become public record at that point so you would all be able to read it.

Your stepmother’s unwillingness to play by the rules indicates that you may need some legal help to make sure your dad’s wishes are carried out. The five of you should consult a probate attorney.

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August 1, 2016 By

Q&A: How to handle money disputes after a death in the family

Dear Liz: My son recently died. His girlfriend, who lived with him, said he told he would take care of her for the rest of her life. There’s nothing in writing that says this. She has his debit card and is using it. I am not sure, but I thought if a family member dies, the money in the person’s bank accounts belonged to the next of kin. There is a large amount of money missing, but I don’t know if my son used it to pay other debts. How do I clear this up?

Answer: If her name is not on the bank account, then most likely she doesn’t have the right to help herself to the money. Your son’s assets are supposed to be used to pay his final expenses and his creditors. Anything left over would go to the beneficiaries of his will or, if he didn’t have a will, to his next of kin according to state law.

It’s time to call an attorney familiar with probate in your state to walk you through the next steps. As angry as you might be with the girlfriend, consider staying on good terms if you possibly can, since you probably will need access to his home and his records to settle the estate.

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