thebrit123

With the passing of my mother, we are now starting to deal with the estate. We have a probate solicitor who will arrange for all monies. He said that there are two options for distribution.

1. Either setup a UK bank account for estate money to go into.
2. Perform an International wire transfer from UK to my USA bank account.

Has anyone does this and which method is best? I am leaning towards to an international wire transfer. The amount will be over $100,000. Are there any risks or tax/cost implications?

tonrob

Sorry to hear of your loss.

I wouldn't think there would be any difference in tax implications between options 1 and 2, but I am sure somebody more knowledgeable will be along to confirm and explain why. The question s to which option to take therefore becomes based on convenience, i.e. where do you want the money to be.

That said, it's then the same answers as many people receive when they ask questions about methods of transferring money back and forth. General consensus (especially for large amounts) is that xe.com and hifx offer rates that are better than the banks. These are both established, tried and tested companies so risk should be negligible.

TerryVA

When my father died, the solicitor opened an escrow account in England, and then transferred funds to my account in VA as they became available.

The estate was small enough such that there was no tax liability. Check your state for the specifics, as well as the IRS.

Nutmegger

Condolences. In the same situation, the probate solicitor wired directly to my US account. No tax implications (I think you were advised about the IRS reporting requirements in another thread, apologies if I'm thinking of someone else). However, your bank will probably charge an incoming fee for the wire, most do, so check with them. You can ask the UK to send the wire in dollars rather than pounds to avoid any exchange fee at this end.

ian-mstm

I was the executor of my uncle's estate. I opted for the wire transfer since none of the beneficiaries were living in the UK. It was relatively pain free and my bank took care of reporting the transfer to the Department of the Treasury (not the IRS). I believe there are no US tax implications for an inheritance. I give the solicitor the name, address, and routing numbers for the banks involved (1 in the US, 2 in Canada, and 1 in Australia), and he took care of things. As mentioned earlier, there is a nominal fee for the transfer, but I chalked it up as the price of doing business. I was quite pleased with the process, as were my other family members.

Ian

Jerseygirl

My daughter inherited money when my parents died...again it was transferred from the UK via wire transfer directly into her bank account.

Bob

Xe.com for best rates on a direct transfer...much simpler.

If they open a UK account to dump the money, you'd then have FBAR and the other one to file for having overseas accounts, so it's just an extra hassle that isn't needed.

Nutmegger

Bob, can this be done via a third-party bank account? XE told me it could only come from a UK bank account in my name to my US bank account, but I could have been given incorrect advice. As I don't have a UK bank account I just had the executor wire transfer directly from the probate account to my account and it was completely pain free.

thebrit123

Just talks to my bank, a credit union. they told me to make sure that it is "no swift" or Bank Identification number (BIC) number as they don't accept this type. The said the funds would have to come from a US Bank (middle bank) and not from a UK bank. A little bit confused on that part. Maybe the UK probate solicitor will explain.

Also they said my name must match the name that is used on the UK side even up to the correct middle name.

Bob

No idea.

I was thinking the lawyer or whoever is executing the will would set it up.

That way the bank account isn't yours, so that you wouldn't have to fill in a FBAR/FATCA for having an account for a couple of minutes.

thebrit123

After doing some research have found out that my bank, which is a credit union, does not have swift codes or BIC codes. The probate lawyer a few week ago said to me and my sister that we would have to provide and IBAND number. Again, noticed thru research that the USA does not use IBAND.

My credit union said that they would have to transfer the monies thru a middle bank like Bank of America. My mortgage is thru Bank of America, so I am considering opening a checking account with them to avoid any wire transfers problems.

Has anyone else ever done an International Wire Transfer to a USA credit union?

Bob

Plenty.

Not having a IBAN isn't a problem though. Perhaps it's a case of the person at the union not having a clue?

thebrit123

Bob,

The lady that I spoke to called some person who deals with wire transfer. She did admit that they usually deal with wire transfers from the bank and not the other way. Kinda of made me feel like I was going to be the first to try it.

I may just open a Bank of America checking account, as they have my mortgage, and then provide that info to the UK probate specialist. We still have to sell my mothers flat so have plenty of time. Also, plan on paying my mortgage off with the monies as that what my mother wanted us all kids to do.