Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Transfer on Death and Pay on Death

Exactly...

My Will states that all of my used socks and underwear are given to the former Democratic Governor... he is listed specifically by name.

I'll let that dumbass sort it all out after I am gone!

I am unsure what state you live in, but are Trusts not legal there?

I was speaking of the continued references to TOD.

To my knowledge Trusts are legal in all 57 States that Obama visited on the campaign trail.

Again... I am not sure what state you are from... but with the name Houston (maybe Texas?).

TOD in Texas is like a 5 second Google Fu exercise...

https://texaslawhelp.org/article/transfer-on-death-deed-todd-information-and-answers

Cash;
Good morning to you my cyber friend, I'll begin with sincere condolences for your loss.

Thanks for the informative thread, as I've mentioned on numerous occasions, encouraging others to have proper and complete estate planning is a bit of a life mission with me. I've come to believe that having well done exit documents is the least selfish thing we can do for those who we care for that will be left behind when we've shuffled off.

It started with me when we were involved in transfers of the financial matters with both of our Moms when both of our fathers passed within a year of each other.

They had decent wills and up here at that time the transfer of all estate property went to the surviving spouse without any wrinkles. This was nearly 20 years ago.

As both of our mothers aged, became dementia patients and required 24 hour care, we were able to facilitate that as we had been named co-signers on their bank accounts and had what's known as a Representation Agreement up here along with a Power of Attorney. It used to be that a POA was all that was needed to make enable medical decisions to be made on behalf of the named individual, but it seems that changed here and now the Representation Agreement is required as well.

That said, we were advised by a couple different financial advisors to make sure there was less than $30,000 in total in all accounts in their name when they passed, even though we were named as co-signers.

We did that and had no issues with the Federal Government or any other coming in for probate fees.

We've both had friends who went through years of grief when the wrong person was named as executor and/or the assets were still in the deceased's name when they passed and probate took place.

Your advice that the gentle reader needs to know what the rules are in the particular state that the person's involved reside in is spot on. I'd opine that any Canuck folks reading this check with their province and honestly go talk to a lawyer who specialized in estates and wills.

Just as a pre-purchase inspection and title/lien search on a new to you vehicle is money well spent, so is talking to a lawyer before hand. That's been our personal experience for sure and certain anyways Cash.

Oh, to any who'd ask, we do practice what we preach at our house and have current wills, POA, RE and contact information for all banking, investments, gun safe combinations, etc and etc.

Thanks again for the thread sir, again I can't encourage folks enough to get this life chore taken care of.

Happy New Year to you.

Dwayne

Failing to plan is planning to fail.

It's true about anything.

Many states do allow it. Some states do not.

If one has assets in multiple states he better known and not guess or take for granted that what is posted here is Gospel across the spectrum.

You can Google fu that very quickly also.

Another consideration might be the use of LLC’s.

Again, Cash, I mean no slam at what you posted as it’s very relevant information.

Got it... some do and some don't... but all allow Trusts. Seek legal counsel (or self education) and get your affairs in order.

Didn't I not say that previously?

Or do you just like to hijack threads and argue nuance without specifying actual factual information. Please clarify your LLC advice if you know that topic well.

It is probably worth mentioning that being the financial power of attorney for someone after they die doesn't mean a thing. Financial accounts are frozen unless it is a joint account.

Maybe I missed it, but what's the difference between Transfer on Death vs Pay on Death?

Great Point... Thanks

Cash accounts pay on death, deeds and titles transfer

We had a local lady that passed in November.
Neighbors are fighting to get ranch.
Mom had execute a beneficiary deed to estranged daughter.

Mom did not include daughter info. Lawyer who drafted beneficiary deed had passed himself, secretary said they did not have daughters info.

Was a bit of drama of neighbors racing to detective the daughter.

She found the obit in the paper and is now dealing with it.

TOD, TODD, POD and Trusts are all kind of an aggregate stratify to keep .GOV for stealing money that you want to leave to your wife, kids, friends, hunt club or whatever.

Some terms are interchangeable and some are not. Self education or legal counsel is recommended to know more. Google can be very helpful as a start.

Good luck.

At the risk of over generalizing, POD are generally bank accounts and TOD are as mentioned plus brokerage accounts independent of IRAs in both cases. IRAs already have a beneficiary form as do insurance policies and annuities/401k/etc....

All POAs are revoked at death as pointed out. Which is in contrast to trusts. Not all trusts are created equal in the eyes of necessary or not necessary probate. A living trust for example will avoid probate, but the ever popular pushed by attorneys Testamentary Trusts will need to go through probate. I bring this up in spirit of the OPs thread of avoiding probate if possible.

Don't buy into "probate isn't that big of a deal" as many attorneys will espouse. How about during this pandemic when you couldn't get on the probate docket for months. Stuff like that can happen and is evermore the reason to avoid it if possible in my opinion.

Great add on Sir... Thank You!

FYI... regarding my sister's TOD Deed on the Real Estate home. My attorney was quite adamant that it be a TOD Deed and not a Quit Claim. My sister was quite mad at me over this (again... he husband is a Senior VP with a large financial firm so they thought they knew best).

In the end... the TOD was best.

IIRC... Quit Claim deeds cause downstream drama for the next buyer? Or had tax implications? Not sure on what I was told (or remember) specifically... but the TOD Deed was flawless transfer in the end.

My sister was even groused at me at mom's funeral about what "I/She had to do now/next?"

I said "Nothing... house is yours and in your name (gave her a Death Certificate as backup)... and I prepaid the utilities and taxes for 3 months until you can decide what you want to do with it".

I was/am a good Executor... I do/did what my folks asked.

You guys that are facing this chit... think it out ahead of time... PLEASE!

No hi jacking occurred here. Apologies for your taking obvious offense to my part of the this discussion that you initiated.

LLC’s can be very effective tax savings devices for heirs and is a bit long to go into here. A person would need the services of a skilled tax/estate attorney for the crafting of it. The terms requires strict adherence. You could probably Google fu that one, too and get a flavor of how it could work as it would concern sizable estates of which yours may or may not be.

Having said that I’ll not risk “hi jacking” your thread any further.

Have a Happy New Year.

If you live in a state that's going to fugg with your finances when you die, WHY ARE YOU STILL LIVING THERE?

I don't know that it is necessarily that the states are messing with your finances rather than clearly proving who is the rightful beneficiary of a deceased person's assets. Most states are pretty straight forward and it isn't difficult to make things much easier as the OP is pointing out if these tools are available to you.

Probate is another way to prove the lineage of ownership. Probate comes from the Latin word "Probare." It basically means "to prove" which is the function of the Probate Court. TOD, POD, trusts, beneficiary forms, etc...are written proof of how the assets are disposed which is why they avoid probate. Wills come into play if you don't have those things thus the requirement to "probate" the will.

You can have all the aforementioned documents and it may be a good idea to also have a will as general cleanup for something you might have missed. Stuff happens and you don't want to die intestate (without a will) because then the probate judge has to figure out what needs to go where after the attorneys battle it out plus the process is public in many states.

How does the trust thing work. My dad has his [bleep] in a trust for we 3 worthless bastards. Taxes? It's well over a million.