Aging Parents & Finances

ASHDUMP

ASHDUMP

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My father is aging rapidly and has a variety of health problems.

We have a trust and will for real estate and it says all financial stuff including bank accounts etc go to me and the family.

With that being said, does it make sense for me to actually be on his bank accounts? That way, in the event he does kick the bucket I can just have easy access to his finances? He seems to think so but wanted to ask here first.

Otherwise, when he does kick the bucket, I guess I would have to bring the recorded trust and the will to the bank along with death certificate?

Uggghhhh....... Hate thinking the strongest man I know is weak, old and slow.
 
When my father passed, my sister was the executor. She was on his bank accounts. Her name was on his safety deposit box. She never signed the card. My parents were friendly with the branch manager. They would not allow her access to the box. 6 months and about $7000 later we got into the box. This was in Florida.
 
Very timely. I'm having similar concerns with both my parents. Mine are too stubborn to make any decisions on moving assets or financials into a trust though. I think they barely have a will from 20 years ago

I thought the whole point of a trust was to move all the assets into it so it automatically transfers upon death and doesn't have to go through probate. That said, there's a bunch of considerations you need to make when considering real estate for tax purposes. In addition to benefit of automatic transfer and avoiding probate. You could avoid the 5-year look-back if they needed to go into some type of a nursing facility.

Interested to see what the group consensus is.
 
If the money is in a trust for medicare purposes, or even a revocable one, you get it right after death w/o probate.

You should have SOME money available, especially if he has not pre paid his funeral arrangements.

When my Mom died, because we planned ahead there was never an issue with money to deal with her estate.

When my Uncle died, without a will, after putting his friend on his bank accounts that was able to legally claim the $150,000 that was in the joint account, I was out of pocket almost $25,000 to settle his estate, pay a lot of lawyers, and sell the Marshfield house once I decided I didn't want to keep it.

Luckily I had $25,000 to lend the estate, and that was not including the funeral costs that I got him to pre plan and pre pay to the tune of $12000

There are a lot of things that you need cash for, like if you are going to have a after funeral get together, I dropped almost a grand on just that alone.
 
My dad has a real estate trust in his house. When he passes, I'm the sole trustee so I have to execute the trust I guess.

His will just states that all his accounts etc get turned over to me.

My question is, how do the banks know who I am? Lol..... Me thinks it just makes more sense to be on them.

If not, I bet the banks will have to go through "discovery" and who knows how long that would take.
 
And when I say we planned ahead when my mother was older, besides the irrevocable trust and revokable trust, there was literally a shoebox full of envelopes, one a month dated and sealed, each with $1000 in it. Each month she cashed her pension check, took some cash and put it in the box in the closet.

That way there was no way for Medicare to get it.

She died at 93, and had been doing it for 20 years.... in addition to her investments and bank accounts
 
ASHDUMP said:
My dad has a real estate trust in his house. When he passes, I'm the sole trustee so I have to execute the trust I guess.

His will just states that all his accounts etc get turned over to me.

My question is, how do the banks know who I am? Lol..... Me thinks it just makes more sense to be on them.

If not, I bet the banks will have to go through "discovery" and who knows how long that would take.
Click to expand...
No you are the Trustee, just make sure there is a successor trustee so if something happens that you can not complete the duties.
 
ASHDUMP said:
My dad has a real estate trust in his house. When he passes, I'm the sole trustee so I have to execute the trust I guess.

His will just states that all his accounts etc get turned over to me.

My question is, how do the banks know who I am? Lol..... Me thinks it just makes more sense to be on them.

If not, I bet the banks will have to go through "discovery" and who knows how long that would take.
Click to expand...

You show up with the trust document, his birth and death certificates your ID and your birth certificate.... that should please the bank

If the trust was set up right IMHO the money in his accounts should revert to the trust.

There are estate tax issues you need to investigate.

You should already have a FIN for the trust and an established bank account, even f there is only $100 in it.

When he passes roll the money into the trust and disburse it from the trust.
 
ASHDUMP said:
My question is, how do the banks know who I am? Lol..... Me thinks it just makes more sense to be on them.
Click to expand...

just went thru all this with my 83yo dad.. Paid a lawyer for revocable and irrevocable trusts, will, and power of attorney.. he had at IR trust from 2015 that was all f***ed up.. some hack did it.. YGWYPF.

when bank accts are put in the irrevocable trust, you are listed as the trustee. The bank should have copies of the trusts. And yes.. they'll have your ID on file, and you'll fill out account cards

If you need a good estate attorney, PM me..
 
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My mom didn't have a trust. Her will was written so that her condo and personal property was "Transferable Upon Death" to me.
I was on her checking account. Her saving was set up to pass to me after her death. I just took her death certificate to the bank. She had also taken me to the bank and introduced me to the bank manager that had been helping her.
It was also easy because I was her only child. She did not list her car in the will so that was the one thing that had to go through probate.
 
ASHDUMP said:
With that being said, does it make sense for me to actually be on his bank accounts?
Click to expand...
One important rule: never have yourself named on an account of a relative in a bank where you have any account in your own name.

Learned this the hard way many years ago -- my parents were named on my college savings account, and also on grandma's account. When grandma went into overdraft, the bank emptied out my college savings. Was a major PITA to straighten out.
 
Put your name on the bank accounts as co-owner, joint account, whatever their terminology is. This give you one less thing to sort out when you have too many things to sort out.
 
Beware the risks - once you go on the account, the funds may be attachable for a debt, divorce, irs or civil judgment, etc. on your end.

BUT..... if the pre-decedent has over $2M in assets to bequest, it can make sense to gift enough of that to keep the estate under $2M to avoid MA estate taxes (remember to fill out IRS form 709). MA estate taxes trigger at a threshold, not exemption, so there is a window above $2M where you get less after taxes that if you inherit $1,999,999.99. Don't forget that real estate, cars, and other documented assets count towards the $2M.
 
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jct61765 said:
When my father passed, my sister was the executor. She was on his bank accounts. Her name was on his safety deposit box. She never signed the card. My parents were friendly with the branch manager. They would not allow her access to the box. 6 months and about $7000 later we got into the box. This was in Florida.
Click to expand...
Yikes. My Dad (with worsening Alzheimer's) has a box in FL. No one knows what's in it, and he never read us into anything. And high net worth, too. My mom is clueless and paranoid. It's really a mess. Us kids don't even have POA. I will definitely be wringing his neck on the other side..."Dad, what were you thinking..."
 
ASHDUMP said:
My father is aging rapidly and has a variety of health problems.

We have a trust and will for real estate and it says all financial stuff including bank accounts etc go to me and the family.

With that being said, does it make sense for me to actually be on his bank accounts? That way, in the event he does kick the bucket I can just have easy access to his finances? He seems to think so but wanted to ask here first.

Otherwise, when he does kick the bucket, I guess I would have to bring the recorded trust and the will to the bank along with death certificate?

Uggghhhh....... Hate thinking the strongest man I know is weak, old and slow.
Click to expand...
Is your Dad in an assisted living or nursing home yet? If he is not you need to get access to his $$$ ASAP.

When it comes time for long term care things happen fast, and it gets very expensive. I my case my Mother had a trust then all of a sudden she needed full time care and I took me a couple of weeks to get access to the $$$. So I had to cover the 40K to move her out here (the costs after Medicare at the first place, first and last and security at the second place) and the other moving expenses.

Unless you are quite financially solvent you need to get access to the $$$. Medicare does not pay for long term care past 3 months, and even then to qualify for that 3 months you need to be hospitalized for 3 days prior (this is how a LOT of people end up in nursing homes and never come out). When his $$$ runs out then it will be shity Medicare in a "quad" room with roommates that may all be speaking a language your Dad is not familiar with. A long term care facility will run you about 130K per year.

I am not trying to bum you out, just sharing some of the harsh realities that I had to deal with.

Best of luck to you and I will say a prayer for your Dad.
 
ASHDUMP said:
My father is aging rapidly and has a variety of health problems.

We have a trust and will for real estate and it says all financial stuff including bank accounts etc go to me and the family.

With that being said, does it make sense for me to actually be on his bank accounts? That way, in the event he does kick the bucket I can just have easy access to his finances? He seems to think so but wanted to ask here first.

Otherwise, when he does kick the bucket, I guess I would have to bring the recorded trust and the will to the bank along with death certificate?

Uggghhhh....... Hate thinking the strongest man I know is weak, old and slow.
Click to expand...
What I learned? Every case is a little different and legal pitfalls & dangers abound. It sounds like you have done more in preparation than many folks. That's good.

Putting your name on his bank account (i.e., making it a joint account) didn't really help me or my wife with our parent deaths. Better to have your name on the account as beneficiary. I say that assuming he isn't keeping a whole lot of money in there and also that you won't need it yesterday.
 
There are protections for people who homestead to Massachusetts, Im thinking this may not be feasible in the OP case. But this may help others here
 
I’m the sole caretaker for my 84 year old mom who’s in advanced assisted living and memory care. It’s hard to watch the decline but I do what I can.

If you haven’t yet get a POA and a Health Care Proxy in place. It saves me a huge amount of heartache while trying to take care of her. Also yes, get on his bank accounts.

If you haven’t had the “final wishes” talk do it before it’s too late. It’s tough but it’s good to know what he wants as he approaches that time of his life.

Good luck. I hope things work out for all of you!
 
Rob Boudrie said:
Bewaer the risks - once you go on the account, the funds may be attachable for a debt, divorce, irs or civil judgment, etc. on your end.

BUT..... if the pre-decedent has over $2M in assets to bequest, it can make sense to gift enough of that to keep the estate under$2M to avoid MA estate taxes (remember to fill out IRS form 709). MA estate taxes trigger at a threshold, not exemption, so there is a window above $2M where you get less after taxes that if you inherit $1,999,999.99. Don't forget that real estate, cars, and other documented assets count towards the $2M.
Click to expand...

Sure glad I didn’t have to worry about that! 😆
 
Random thoughts - been through this too many times.

* Make sure (=SEE) a CURRENT & VALID will exists, that means signed and properly witnessed. I made one for my grandmother, told her she need to have friends witness it - she would have bible study weekly, so I told her to do it then. I thought she did - she did not which is called 'intestate' = a kick in the nutz everytime you see the lawyer.

* Irrevocable Trusts have a 5 year look-back period, meaning a trust is there to protect assets from Medicare/Medicaid/Long Term Care costs but the trust needs to be properly executed (meaning assets transferred into the trusts name at least 5 years prior to a nursing home stay). A revocable trust provides protection for lawsuits and keep things out of probate but provide no protection for the typical elderly costs.

* Have your name on whatever you need access to when the time comes. You won't be in any mood to fight the bank for access when they want a certified copy of a Death Certificate, Power of Attorney (that some still won't accept) or can't pay property tax bills as your name isn't on the checking account.

* DO NOT MIX EXPENSES - meaning don't use your personal account to pay estate expenses as some A-hole years in the future could demand access to your private account to see what you spent. Open a different account and segregate expenses - even if you need to fund it personally to get started (write a check from your account to this one - get reimbursed later) <<I made this mistake as my grandmothers estate was under $250K so no estate tax number was/could issued - so I ran it through my checking and kept an Excel sheet of income/expenses - still sucked in court>>

* If expenses (real or anticipated) exceed proceeds of the estate - WALK AWAY the state will deal with it. Your dad will be gone by this point and the hassle and time involved IS NOT WORTH IT. I've left instructions with my wife and family to tell no one I died and bury me in the hill. I wouldn't wish handling an estate on anyone (I've done 3, been intimately involved in 2 more)

With all that said, I wish your dad a long life, good health and when the time inevitably comes peace and pain free departure from this life.
 

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