My fathers Estate is a mess
May 13, 2007 3:26 AM Subscribe
My father recently passed away and left my mom to clean up their poor estate planning. In one of his bank savings accounts in Florida he never put her name on the account. She has asked the advice of an attorney who wants to charge her $3,000 to fix this. She has the death certificate and the living will, I think this is an outrageous amount.
Any ideas what she (I) should do?
Ditto jayden. It seems like the documentation she has, plus the marriage license, is all the bank would need (no $3000 required).
posted by selfmedicating at 4:12 AM on May 13, 2007
posted by selfmedicating at 4:12 AM on May 13, 2007
I once worked in the back office of a brokerage firm. This sort of thing came up all the time. The bank will have a very specific set of documents they need to change the title and will do so easily if you have them. It sounds like you have them.
What Jayden said.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 6:00 AM on May 13, 2007
What Jayden said.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 6:00 AM on May 13, 2007
assuming your parents had no will, then under the law of almost every state, the spouse inherits the entire estate. you could just account in the estate, and when you do the probate work on closing the estate - the money would go to your mom
posted by Flood at 6:51 AM on May 13, 2007
posted by Flood at 6:51 AM on May 13, 2007
Sorry for your loss.
What flood said sounds right. Assuming no children from previous relationships and no will, the surviving spouse should get the lot of the estate. $3,000 is a lot of money. Was the lawyers quote just for the savings account or was it to help probate the entire estate? Depending on the size of the estate, that could be a very (too?) reasonable figure.
The bank should not be expected to do anything with that money before the estate is probated. If they give the money to someone (even a spouse) and it turns out your father has a will somewhere giving it to a charity, the bank is on the hook. Your mother will get the money, eventually. If she needs the money now, she should be able to apply to the probate court for an allowance to get her through the waiting bit.
posted by jaysus chris at 8:46 AM on May 13, 2007
What flood said sounds right. Assuming no children from previous relationships and no will, the surviving spouse should get the lot of the estate. $3,000 is a lot of money. Was the lawyers quote just for the savings account or was it to help probate the entire estate? Depending on the size of the estate, that could be a very (too?) reasonable figure.
The bank should not be expected to do anything with that money before the estate is probated. If they give the money to someone (even a spouse) and it turns out your father has a will somewhere giving it to a charity, the bank is on the hook. Your mother will get the money, eventually. If she needs the money now, she should be able to apply to the probate court for an allowance to get her through the waiting bit.
posted by jaysus chris at 8:46 AM on May 13, 2007
Also: A living will is not a will-will. A living will is a document expressing a persons health-care preferences should they become unable to make their own decisions. It wouldn't have anything to do with a bank account. If you meant your mother showed the bank a "last will and testament" type of will, then that's still going to have to be probated. A judge, after being satisfied that the will is the last one and some other formalities, will put the wheels in motion for the bank to release the money. $3000 isn't outrageous to probate an estate depending on how much its worth. Call another lawyer in your area, give them the pertinent details, and ask how much they'd charge.
posted by jaysus chris at 10:23 AM on May 13, 2007
posted by jaysus chris at 10:23 AM on May 13, 2007
Ask a lawyer you know personally for the name of the best lawyer who handles this type of work. Hard to go wrong with this technique.
posted by Ironmouth at 2:54 PM on May 13, 2007
posted by Ironmouth at 2:54 PM on May 13, 2007
From when I worked in IRAs (and you're just saying "savings," so I don't know if this is retirement acct or just a savings acct), Florida is not a marital property state. So, that means that the check may not be payable to your mom, but will certainly be payable to the estate. The bank may or may not change the title of the account - that's to do with each bank's individual policy. Some banks will want a court order to do with the execution of his estate by the court (as jaysus says above) but some might just want to see a death cert and some proof that your mom and dad were married (I don't remember enough about the death certs I saw to say for sure whether or not they all listed current spouse or not). Some banks follow marital property rules even in states where they don't apply by default.
Plenty of people have died without putting their spouse's name on any number of bank accounts, and when I worked in this area, one didn't necessarily need a lawyer to fix it. Call the bank and work with them, or have your mom - whomever is representing the estate will do. If the bank is being a pain in the ass, you need to find out what their policy is and how you can work WITH it in order to get this resolved. That's a lot easier than fighting with them in the end. As someone said above, they should already have a set of procedures for this.
posted by Medieval Maven at 4:02 PM on May 13, 2007
Plenty of people have died without putting their spouse's name on any number of bank accounts, and when I worked in this area, one didn't necessarily need a lawyer to fix it. Call the bank and work with them, or have your mom - whomever is representing the estate will do. If the bank is being a pain in the ass, you need to find out what their policy is and how you can work WITH it in order to get this resolved. That's a lot easier than fighting with them in the end. As someone said above, they should already have a set of procedures for this.
posted by Medieval Maven at 4:02 PM on May 13, 2007
The OP left out two important items of information. Where did the father live and how much is involved? Unless the amount was small enough to use an expedited procedure, assuming Florida has one, then a probate filing is mandatory before the money can be distributed. No bank will give the wife the money just because she was the wife, or was the beneficiary under the will, if the proper probate procedures have not been followed.
The sense of the question seems to be that the father resided in a different state but had an account in Florida. That can make things a little more difficult and more costly. A probate estate opened in, say, New York could not deal with an account located in Florida. But the proceedings would be "ancillary" to the proceedings in New York, not full-bore probate proceedings.
posted by yclipse at 4:11 PM on May 13, 2007
The sense of the question seems to be that the father resided in a different state but had an account in Florida. That can make things a little more difficult and more costly. A probate estate opened in, say, New York could not deal with an account located in Florida. But the proceedings would be "ancillary" to the proceedings in New York, not full-bore probate proceedings.
posted by yclipse at 4:11 PM on May 13, 2007
Whatever you do don't forge a check or online transfer to some other account that has your mother's name on it, and then just leave the Florida account to eventually be closed for lack of activity, IANAL but I'm pretty sure that would be illegal, even if it was a fairly small amount.
posted by yohko at 10:01 AM on May 14, 2007
posted by yohko at 10:01 AM on May 14, 2007
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by jayden at 3:59 AM on May 13, 2007