My mother died on Tuesday a month after her 100th birthday. Some accounts were held in her name while others were held in the name of a revocable trust that she and my father established in 1991. My mother became the sole grantor/settler of the trust after my father died in 2017.
How does one title a checking account established to settle her estate? Is it in the name of the trust or as Estate of her name?
Is income received by the revocable trust prior to my mother’s death reported on her final income tax returns while income received after her death is reported on the trust’s income tax return?
At the moment I don’t know if my mother needs to go through California’s probate system or is able to go through the simple probate procedure for estates less than $162K.
How does one title a checking account established to settle her estate? Is it in the name of the trust or as Estate of her name?
Is income received by the revocable trust prior to my mother’s death reported on her final income tax returns while income received after her death is reported on the trust’s income tax return? - McCrockett
You may want to also ask your question on the Estate Planning Board. Lot’s of expertise over there. Here is a link
First thing to is get in touch with an estate attorney. If you haven’t dealt with an estate before, you will likely need the assistance of an attorney.
In the mean time, find out is who is the successor Trustee for the revocable trust. That might be you. If so, you should be able to continue using the revocable trust account by proving to the bank that you are the new trustee of the trust. Typically, that would take a death certificate and the relevant portions of the trust stating who is the successor trustee.
The same process would apply to any other accounts (brokerage, perhaps) that are in the name of the trust. You may need death certificate for both of your parents, depending on how much clean up your mother did after your father’s passing.
Another thing you can do before meeting with the attorney is to try to collect up a listing of her assets, with relevant identification information. Bank and account number (feel free to use an abbreviated account number - perhaps the last 3 or 4 digits) and owner - trust or in her name or perhaps in both of your parent’s names. Brokerage and account number and owner. Real estate. Cars. Other physical assets of some value - perhaps artwork.
Don’t forget to find her will as well as the trust.
Any assets in the name of the trust will follow the instructions in the trust. Any assets NOT in the trust will follow her will. Any assets with a named beneficiary (like IRA or annuity or life insurance accounts) will go directly to the named beneficiary.
The answer to your question (what name on a new bank account) will depend on what you find in the initial discovery process outlined above. Possibilities include no account needed (just take over the existing trust account), one account needed, or two new accounts needed - one for the trust assets and one for the assets that are outside of the trust.
Is income received by the revocable trust prior to my mother’s death reported on her final income tax returns while income received after her death is reported on the trust’s income tax return?
I missed this piece.
Yes, that is the correct handling. In theory. Work with the theory for now. In practice, you might tweak this a bit. But don’t worry about that for now. Just follow the theory. The time to consider practicalities is early next calendar year.
The limit for California small estate probate is now $184,500. This doesn’t include any assets that are included in the trust or have beneficiaries specified and transfer outside of probate such as IRAs, life insurance or TOP Accounts (Transfer On Death).
First thing to is get in touch with an estate attorney. If you haven’t dealt with an estate before, you will likely need the assistance of an attorney.
My only experience dealing with an estate was when my wife died. Unfortunately, the inheritance that she received from her mother wasn’t received until after she died. She didn’t have a will and her estate was subject to the full California probate process.
In the mean time, find out is who is the successor Trustee for the revocable trust.
Based on the original trust document, my brother and eldest sister are co-trustees. My sister has just left for the bank to see if she can get her will and the latest trust document from the safe deposit box. My sister wants me to help her but I’m only listed as an alternate trustee because I lived furthest away from my parents when they created the trust. Not sure how much help I can legally be.
My sister has just left for the bank to see if she can get her will and the latest trust document from the safe deposit box.
Too late to help, but this is could be a problem. If the safe deposit box is held in the name of the trust, the bank will need a death certificate and the relevant portions of the trust to allow your sister to access the box. If it’s held in your mother’s name, she will have to get probate started and be named as executor.
Either one requires access to the box, but that access requires documents IN the box. You may be set up for a catch-22 problem.
Best case, the box was held jointly with your mother and one of your siblings, and they can simply access it on their own authority as a joint owner. Best not to mention the death in that case. Banks can get wonky once they are alerted to the death of an account (or box) holder.
My sister has just left for the bank to see if she can get her will and the latest trust document from the safe deposit box.
Too late to help, but this is could be a problem. If the safe deposit box is held in the name of the trust, the bank will need a death certificate and the relevant portions of the trust to allow your sister to access the box. If it’s held in your mother’s name, she will have to get probate started and be named as executor.
Either one requires access to the box, but that access requires documents IN the box. You may be set up for a catch-22 problem.
Best case, the box was held jointly with your mother and one of your siblings, and they can simply access it on their own authority as a joint owner. Best not to mention the death in that case. Banks can get wonky once they are alerted to the death of an account (or box) holder.
My sister wasn’t able to access the safe deposit box at one bank without a death certificate. She was able to access the box at the second bank but it didn’t contain her will, the updated trust document, or any of the stock certificates that were supposed to be in the box.
We have found a marked up copy of the trust document from 2006 in our mother’s filing cabinet with a revised Appendix A attached indicating what should have been found in the safe deposit box. This may be the most current but we thought it might have been updated after our father’s death in 2017.