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I called the trustee and asked them. They said it most likely would lead to my frustration and not much action. But they did say they'd visit the bank again. I will too.
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Tough, tough couple of weeks for me
- Thread starter WobblyHand
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Sorry for you. I wish I had more time with my dad too. He lasted a long time, he was 95 when he passed. He would have been 100 this year. I learned a whole lot from him.
Biggest take away: When you don't exactly know what to do, ask yourself, "what would I do if I was smart?" Then do that.
Kind of corny, but it's a life lesson, don't go out of your way to do dumb. Instead, figure out what the rightest, best, or at the very least, the least bad option, and do that, instead of rushing to do dumb.
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This is ever so slowly moving along. I had these checks from the closing, but they were made out to a trust, which didn't exist according to the IRS. Well now there is such a trust. Today, I brought up all three checks to a branch office, signed them, and deposited them in that account. I'd imagine it will take a little bit of time to actually get the funds. But I don't have to worry about them being stolen, or me losing them. Once this place holder account gets the funds, I'll transfer it to a more convenient account. Or that's what I was counseled to do.
Talk about making stuff difficult, this estate was set up to enrich the lawyers rather than the beneficiaries. Still plugging along, trying to get control of all the assets... They sure don't make it easy to accomplish.
Talk about making stuff difficult, this estate was set up to enrich the lawyers rather than the beneficiaries. Still plugging along, trying to get control of all the assets... They sure don't make it easy to accomplish.
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One more thing is in the way to settling things. There's a bank that has been stalling. I called my hotshot ($$$) lawyer and asked for some help with this a while back. I reminded him of this yesterday. He was able to contact some back office at this major bank and actually talk to someone today. Naturally, the bank wouldn't tell him very much, without my authorization. And naturally, the bank never contacted me... So I got to sign yet another legal paper that I probably got charged $1K to write, to authorize the bank to talk to my lawyer, on my behalf. Man, the estate is getting milked over stuff like this. But the fiduciary person said that this case is far along in the approval cycle - whatever the heck that means. Yeah, it's only been what, 18 months? Maybe, just maybe, this can get mostly settled next week. I hope so. For all I know, there's $0.59 in the account...
But, finally the money is getting consolidated and getting ready for distribution. Truly been a pain in the neck. Don't know if I will be able to distribute before the end of the year, but I hope so. Why, because I want this task to stop sucking away my time.
All I can say is RUN if offered a job like this. It's so much work, filled with mindless BS minutia that has to get done, or nothing moves at all. Banks and trusts all want to hold on to your money as long as possible and extract fees from you. They give you the maximum run around and make up arcane rules - roadblocks really, but they don't even tell you what you need to clear them. They expect folks to be born knowing what to do. All I can say is I was not prepared for this at all. But at least I can see light at the end of the tunnel, and for that I am grateful.
But, finally the money is getting consolidated and getting ready for distribution. Truly been a pain in the neck. Don't know if I will be able to distribute before the end of the year, but I hope so. Why, because I want this task to stop sucking away my time.
All I can say is RUN if offered a job like this. It's so much work, filled with mindless BS minutia that has to get done, or nothing moves at all. Banks and trusts all want to hold on to your money as long as possible and extract fees from you. They give you the maximum run around and make up arcane rules - roadblocks really, but they don't even tell you what you need to clear them. They expect folks to be born knowing what to do. All I can say is I was not prepared for this at all. But at least I can see light at the end of the tunnel, and for that I am grateful.
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I went through this when my Dad died. The lawyers kept adding on fees. It took over 3 years to clear all but one item. I'll likely never get about $7500 of a stock that had been my mother's but had not been officially transferred to my Dad when she died. The lawyer says it will cost more than the $7500 to get it. It is held by an east coast financial services firm. They have been totally uncooperative and threw up every legal line of BS possible. If those stocks where held in Nebraska they would be required to turn them over to the state "Unclaimed Property Division". They in turn would contact the last known relatives. I've been through that once before and no lawyer was required.
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For the record, this bank has refused to give me any information about this trust account, even though legally I am the trustee. And they failed to provide this information to the trustee before me. This has resulted in having to file two extensions on Federal Estate Taxes, because information on these accounts have been withheld from me.
Hard to file taxes without the requisite statements. I get to pay the penalties and interest to the Feds, because of this bank's foot dragging.
Hard to file taxes without the requisite statements. I get to pay the penalties and interest to the Feds, because of this bank's foot dragging.
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you know you could call the AG in your state, or the banking entity in your state. And the IRS. if they are refusing important tax info, it's easy. Make them regret it.
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I will talk to the IRS and possibly file a complaint, but I don't think much would come of it. My AG won't care, since this is out of state. The other state AG won't really care since I'm not a resident... But that's me, who's become a cynic due to my experiences. Little guys get squashed like a bug, whereas the CEO of Nvidia doesn't have to pay his $8B estate taxes through some dodge. https://www.thewealthadvisor.com/article/how-nvidia-ceo-avoided-8-billion-taxes-inheritance
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yep, and it's going to get worse.
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Last week spent 3 hours in a bank office straightening things out. Got full access to the account, I'm the trustee. Finally can do the tax returns. Of course nothing's easy. I asked them to wire most of the money to my Dad's trust account. This was above their pay grade, we couldn't wire the amount I wanted. Exasperated, I said, write me a check. So they did. Of course this was another trip to the bank.
Supposedly my Dad's account would allow an electronic deposit this size. But the weird stuff the bank had on the check screwed up the OCR software. The OCR improperly read the amount on the check. The number it read didn't match what was on the check. So I gave up for the evening. But I needed to leave the next day to see my new born granddaughter. This week, will my family, I found a branch office a half hour away and made a deposit the old fashioned way, in person. That worked. Like I said this account just fought me, all the way. I have a token amount in the "cursed" account, since there's still some activity that needs to wind down.
So the big stuff is coming to a close. The "real money" was secured and consolidated. Set up a reserve for expected final expenses, per direction of legal counsel. With the balance, I wrote up checks for all five beneficiaries. I'll be giving them out very shortly. Should make a nice holiday surprise. Heck, I'm surprised I could do disbursement this year. I thought this would never happen, at least the ways things were going earlier this year.
This is the bulk of the estate. Phew, what a lot of work. Don't ask me to do something like that again, once was enough!
There will be chasing down loose ends, finding little bank accounts with $200 in them, and selling off some shares in an insurance company. And paying off any legitimate expenses of the estate. Then a final tax return. The rest of the money will then be distributed. And maybe I'll be free of this estate stuff. Hopefully the 2025 tax year is it.
Thanks for hanging in with me this year. It helped me a lot. I felt pretty lonely, and honestly, wronged by what happened. Your sympathy and good wishes helped me persevere through this tough time. Next year will be a lot better. For one thing, I have a beautiful new granddaughter to dote on, and an active 5 year old grandson that keeps me busy.
Supposedly my Dad's account would allow an electronic deposit this size. But the weird stuff the bank had on the check screwed up the OCR software. The OCR improperly read the amount on the check. The number it read didn't match what was on the check. So I gave up for the evening. But I needed to leave the next day to see my new born granddaughter. This week, will my family, I found a branch office a half hour away and made a deposit the old fashioned way, in person. That worked. Like I said this account just fought me, all the way. I have a token amount in the "cursed" account, since there's still some activity that needs to wind down.
So the big stuff is coming to a close. The "real money" was secured and consolidated. Set up a reserve for expected final expenses, per direction of legal counsel. With the balance, I wrote up checks for all five beneficiaries. I'll be giving them out very shortly. Should make a nice holiday surprise. Heck, I'm surprised I could do disbursement this year. I thought this would never happen, at least the ways things were going earlier this year.
This is the bulk of the estate. Phew, what a lot of work. Don't ask me to do something like that again, once was enough!
There will be chasing down loose ends, finding little bank accounts with $200 in them, and selling off some shares in an insurance company. And paying off any legitimate expenses of the estate. Then a final tax return. The rest of the money will then be distributed. And maybe I'll be free of this estate stuff. Hopefully the 2025 tax year is it.
Thanks for hanging in with me this year. It helped me a lot. I felt pretty lonely, and honestly, wronged by what happened. Your sympathy and good wishes helped me persevere through this tough time. Next year will be a lot better. For one thing, I have a beautiful new granddaughter to dote on, and an active 5 year old grandson that keeps me busy.
