bluebutterfly
New Member
A couple of general questions regarding the mechanism of probate of a Will
1. If a rather sizeable bank account (over 200K) is created as a "pay on death" account, my understanding is that such an account is considered to be "outside the will" and not subject to probate. But an Executor needs monies to carry out various duties associated with settling an estate such as: selling property (a house), a car, paying an attorney, and whatever else may be necessary. It is my understanding that the POD account can go swiftly to the beneficiary (in this case, a charitable organization is the primary on the Will), and thus, those funds would rather soon be unavailable to the Executor. Therefore, is it perhaps not a good idea to set up such an account as POD so that funds are available to the Executor? The concern here is that if the account is NOT set up as POD, and something goes wrong with the Will (i.e. the Executor fails to properly file Will documents with probate court in timely manner or some other snafu), the bank account might end up in the hands of an heir that shouldn't have it. It's supposed to go to a charity, and not to any family members or other individuals. To make clear, there are a couple of sizeable bank accounts, so perhaps if at least ONE of them is set up POD, that would take one of them firmly out of the Will proceedings.
One of the bank accounts apparently cannot even be shown as POD to a charity according to the brokerage rep who is handling the account, so for now, the estate is shown as the 100% beneficiary. Two other brokerage accounts (at different banks) are permissible to be POD to a charity. Apparently different banks have different policies as to POD and how they handle it or what they allow. So, at least one account will need to be probated. btw, this estate is one in which probate is a good thing, because there is court oversight and other "eyes" watching how things are handled, so there's no desire to avoid probate entirely. Just wondering if it's a good idea to take a sizeable account and list it POD which might potentially deprive the Executor of funds needed to accomplish various things associated with the estate such as paying taxes on a home, paying outstanding bills, etc. etc.
Just looking for some general advice about this particular issue.
2. This may seem like a rather dumb question, but here goes: when someone dies, even if the Executor has a copy of the notarized Will, and the Will is also safely deposited at the courthouse for safekeeping, how does the Executor even know a person HAS died in order to get probate started? What are the mechanisms that go into play to get things started? In particular, a situation where an Executor is not a particularly close family member (unfortunate, but was the only practical individual available to serve). An alternate Executor has also been named.....but again, not a close family feeling of warmth, etc. A Will is merely a piece of paper until it is filed. That much I do know. A small bequest is included in the Will for the Executor, and the Executor has been told that if they fulfill their duties as Executor, they receive 2-4% of the value of the estate, so there is some financial incentive there. But there's still a worry that something will go wrong and the particular Executor (or alternative), won't even file the Will or bother with it at all and just let it go. How would any outside party such as a bank or creditors find a Will at the court or even know to look for one? Thank you so much for addressing these two issues!
1. If a rather sizeable bank account (over 200K) is created as a "pay on death" account, my understanding is that such an account is considered to be "outside the will" and not subject to probate. But an Executor needs monies to carry out various duties associated with settling an estate such as: selling property (a house), a car, paying an attorney, and whatever else may be necessary. It is my understanding that the POD account can go swiftly to the beneficiary (in this case, a charitable organization is the primary on the Will), and thus, those funds would rather soon be unavailable to the Executor. Therefore, is it perhaps not a good idea to set up such an account as POD so that funds are available to the Executor? The concern here is that if the account is NOT set up as POD, and something goes wrong with the Will (i.e. the Executor fails to properly file Will documents with probate court in timely manner or some other snafu), the bank account might end up in the hands of an heir that shouldn't have it. It's supposed to go to a charity, and not to any family members or other individuals. To make clear, there are a couple of sizeable bank accounts, so perhaps if at least ONE of them is set up POD, that would take one of them firmly out of the Will proceedings.
One of the bank accounts apparently cannot even be shown as POD to a charity according to the brokerage rep who is handling the account, so for now, the estate is shown as the 100% beneficiary. Two other brokerage accounts (at different banks) are permissible to be POD to a charity. Apparently different banks have different policies as to POD and how they handle it or what they allow. So, at least one account will need to be probated. btw, this estate is one in which probate is a good thing, because there is court oversight and other "eyes" watching how things are handled, so there's no desire to avoid probate entirely. Just wondering if it's a good idea to take a sizeable account and list it POD which might potentially deprive the Executor of funds needed to accomplish various things associated with the estate such as paying taxes on a home, paying outstanding bills, etc. etc.
Just looking for some general advice about this particular issue.
2. This may seem like a rather dumb question, but here goes: when someone dies, even if the Executor has a copy of the notarized Will, and the Will is also safely deposited at the courthouse for safekeeping, how does the Executor even know a person HAS died in order to get probate started? What are the mechanisms that go into play to get things started? In particular, a situation where an Executor is not a particularly close family member (unfortunate, but was the only practical individual available to serve). An alternate Executor has also been named.....but again, not a close family feeling of warmth, etc. A Will is merely a piece of paper until it is filed. That much I do know. A small bequest is included in the Will for the Executor, and the Executor has been told that if they fulfill their duties as Executor, they receive 2-4% of the value of the estate, so there is some financial incentive there. But there's still a worry that something will go wrong and the particular Executor (or alternative), won't even file the Will or bother with it at all and just let it go. How would any outside party such as a bank or creditors find a Will at the court or even know to look for one? Thank you so much for addressing these two issues!
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