Since beneficiaries on financial accounts supercede wills, can an heir / executor have an attorney use the will to address assets of an estate and any financial accounts where the deceased did not set up beneficiaries while AT THE VERY SAME TIME the executor and heirs are processing the accounts that do have beneficiaries named?
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Since beneficiaries on financial accounts supercede wills...
- Thread Starter geercom
- Start date
army judge
Super Moderator
It won't matter what we think, say, or suggest. Why? Because the executor of the will, aided by the probate judge, runs the show.
A beneficiary on an insurance policy or a checking account, savings account, or brokerage account doesn't SUPERSEDE a will.
Those hereinabove noted forms of conveying ownership upon the demise of the (or AN) account owner have nothing to do with how a testator chooses to disburse property upon her or his demise.
It would appear things are as you suggest, but your representation of beneficiaries of financial accounts superseding those named in a will is most inaccurate.
Furthermore, the laws of each and every state determine what a financial institution must do with the remains of any account upon the passing of an account holder, if others aren't granted "rights of survivorship" by virtue of being cosignatories on the named account(s).
Betty3
Well-Known Member
If there are any life ins. policies, they pass outside of the estate & go to the beneficiary named in the policy. (no probate)
However; the assets of the estate, listed in the will, still will be distributed as per the will by the "executor" of the estate.
We do not know how any financial institutions' accounts are set up.
However; the assets of the estate, listed in the will, still will be distributed as per the will by the "executor" of the estate.
We do not know how any financial institutions' accounts are set up.
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I am the executor of the will. I want the beneficiaries on the financial accounts to determine who gets what in the cases where beneficiaries were named in POD/TOD paperwork. After that money has tranferred, then I will have to use the will to disperse the rest. Are there any obstacles? If so, what are they?
army judge
Super Moderator
Nothing outside of the will is of any concern to you.
Treat anything not listed in the will as it doesn't exist. It's not relevant to performing your duties of seeing that the wishes of the deceased as documented in the will are carried out and the property is conveyed to the designated heirs.
Betty 3 is right
My father died while my mother was still alive. There is a family trust worth about $5M. I never received a penny but a few months after my father passed, my normally frugal older brother did a top-to-bottom home remodel worth at least $100K, bought a $50K car, and went on a 2 week European vacation, all in a short period of time. I could only presume he came into a nice windfall and, since no will was filed, that must have come from a life insurance policy naming him (but not me) as a beneficiary. My father always played favorites and my brother was always the perfect "first son".
My father died while my mother was still alive. There is a family trust worth about $5M. I never received a penny but a few months after my father passed, my normally frugal older brother did a top-to-bottom home remodel worth at least $100K, bought a $50K car, and went on a 2 week European vacation, all in a short period of time. I could only presume he came into a nice windfall and, since no will was filed, that must have come from a life insurance policy naming him (but not me) as a beneficiary. My father always played favorites and my brother was always the perfect "first son".
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