Chins

Looking for ideas as to where we can get professional advice and some feedback.

My wife UK and USC - she is now living during these interesting times in the UK to be close to her mum. We still have an apartment in NJ which i use when i can escape the UK.
Her father was a joint UK/USC as well. Contracted the Big C last year and passed away the other month. He did create a living trust in Dec, but i think we may have a nightmare here.
He had an interesting life and a few marriages and has left his estate to his siblings. One is a USC and lives in the US, my wife dual but as mentioned in UK for a while and then some more children that are all UK only.

He only dealt with US assets in his trust and pour over will. But we think he missed a couple of retirement accounts. Is there are easy way to uncover ones he may of forgotten about ?
He didnt put his main bank account into the trust and now we are being told the lawyer and executor are trying to move it into the trust. Seems strange that you can do it post death and need to understand the benefits.
The other complication is that he also owned a UK property on top of his SD one which isnt properly covered off.

The other big concern is tax implications for all here and seeing what we need to do (yes we are braced for the worst) We are thinking of buying a property in CA with most of the proceeds.

carcajou

A lawyer, pronto. The quicker you move, the better.

A lot will depend on jurisdiction.

civilservant

If he owned property that is not in the jurisdiction of the US, you're going to need am estate and lawyer for each too.

Rete

How does this involve your wife? It is her father who died, not her brother. Her father left his estate to his siblings (i.e. brother(s)/sister(s)), not his children. An estate will encompass all of his assets and debts, not just those mentioned in the trust and/or will.

sibling. A sibling is your brother or sister. It's that simple. The word sibling once meant anyone who is related to you, but now it's reserved for children of the same parent or parents. ... If you and your brother fight all of the time, your parents might call it sibling rivalry.

Chins

Sorry going mad. Siblings was the wrong word

Glasgow Girl

If he filed a US tax return (which he should have) then you should be able to find details of all of his accounts there. Possibly from the UK tax return as well (but it is so long since I filled in a UK tax return that I cannot remember what you have to put on it).

Chins

Good point. He will of filed in the US.

petitefrancaise

what is the "right" word then?

Your use of siblings suggested that you were wanting to find assets that had not been gifted to the siblings in the will/trust so that you could have them. If you could clarify, maybe we could offer better advice?

Chins

He left the majority of his assets via a living trust to his living children of which my wife is one. He only listed one retirement account which is going to his partner, but it is felt he had a few from his time working. Kept going until he was 74.

S Folinsky

A “pour over” will is a device to move personal assets into the trust post death. California has a summary administration procedure which avoids formal probate. I don’t know how it works.

Who is the current trustee? How well does your wife and sibs get along? It really helps if everybody cooperates.

Generally retirement assets pass independent of the trust or estate. Do note that many employer pensions pay benefits only during the life of the beneficiary.

I went through this recently with my dad. Things were complicated because Mom long predeceased dad as did my brother.

Russet

Many IRA - Retirement accounts will have beneficiaries named directly on the plan. These accounts will be settled directly to the beneficiaries and fall outside of the Will/Probate. Contact the plan provider and if the children are the primary beneficiaries they can make a claim directly with the IRA provider. The beneficiary on these plans cannot be changed after death.

Rete

I had been thinking about your wife's situation and I have a investment retirement account and an investment savings account with a trading institution. Also have a bank savings account. All these accounts have a beneficiary linked to the accounts. On my passing the monies will go to the designated beneficiary and not into the estate. Perhaps your father-in-law's accounts are the same.

HDWill

I believe that many retirement accounts only have the name of a beneficiary listed, not full contact info such as address and phone number. So what happens when the beneficiary is not aware of the existence of the account?

Russet

Once they are informed of a death, the company would write to the last known address on file. Generally following up every 6 - 8 weeks waiting for a response. The account would eventually (after number of years) transfer to the State as Unclaimed Property. In addition they would gather information from the person who reported the death to assist in a search beneficiaries. Of course, if they are not aware of a death then the account would remain open and acitive until advised otherwise. If you have any statements where you believe an account may still be held you should reach out to them directly.

Chins

Thanks for the replies. Having some fun finding out if there are extra IRA's etc. Some good tips on here. Luckily he lived in the same house for 20+ years, but hopefully didnt leave his IRA to one of his ex wives by mistake. Paperwork was not his strong point. We have two cars with no titles !! TR3 which interests me.