Seems to be a lot of new post's talking about inheritance!

I have noticed lately that there are a lot of post's on Inheritance.
Man the baby Boomers (thats me as well) are dropping like flies!!

I will be in the same boat within the next 10-15 years more than likely due to the family genetics.

The reason for this thread is for those who have gone through an inheritance please explain the due process as you experienced it.
I am not sure if it is to different from state to state so please explain if you do not mind.
This will be important is establishing the Trust I am working on.



Regards,

RickieB

 

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Rickie, it helps if the person (loved one) has a will. My wifes Mom passed in 2006 and although she had a will, all we could find in her papers was a copy. No original. I don't know why Mom just didn't keep the original with her lawyer. Took about a year to probate everything. It wasn't something I'd want to go through again, although the process did run rather smoothly. Hopefully you won't have to experiance something like this in the near future. This sort of thing can be hard on family members....

 

I haven't had any personal experience with inheritance. I am watching this thread to learn more about the subject.

Very best regards,
collect89

 

I'm jumping onto this thread as I have likewise concerns.

I started a similar thread that petered out a while back:

http://www.cointalk.com/t60304/

Now I'm jumping on this one and hope to learn from it.:kewl:

 

Make sure that you have a will that lays it all out word by word as to who gets what, that is realy quite important

 

And make sure I am mentioned in it. :thumb:

Ribbit

 

There was a thread like this on an ancient coin forum recently. One thing that was brought up was that if you think that whoever inherits your coins will want to sell them, you should leave them detailed instructions as to how to go about this, as they probably won't know if they're getting ripped off. Give them a list of trusted dealers to work through and explain how to use resources for pricing. You might want to give them a list of the prices you payed for each coin (or at least the particularly valuable ones) perhaps with a list of what you think they should be able to get for them. In any case, whether or not you think the coins will be sold upon your death, you should have some sort of catalog of what you have, with explanations for anything that may not be obvious to noncollectors (like tell them which dates are rare, or what has a DDO and what that means).

 

LOL! include me too :thumb:


Just remember that most of our assets pass outside of the Will. Any asset that has a joint owner or a beneficiary attached, transfers AUTOMATICALLY and has precedence (sp?) over anything the Will says. So IRAs, retirement plans, trusts, life insurance, a jointly held home etc.(Make sure you update your beneficiaries - recently married?, divorced? one of your beneficiaries died? Get that done!!) For these assets, you don't need a will.
However, for coins, that is obviously a different story. Yes, for coins, the Will determines who receives them. If there is no will, the propbate court decides.
Hope this helps a little.
Disclosure: I'm not an attorney but am a CFP.

 

Excellent advice!!!!!!!!

 

Everyone else stated it, but it can't be stated enough....write a will. I've already seen my parents go through this twice now with their parents, when they didn't have a will and all the kids fought over everything, including the houses that nobody wanted to take care of but wanted the money when they sold. My parents, fortunatelly, just signed over their summer home to my sister and I, so that it's already in our names and no inheritance tax will have to be paid. Thats the other thing, all states are different. In CA they place a hefty tax on inheritance when any one thing is 100K or more in value. Property can be signed over before death with no penalties and things like coins can be given as gifts rather than left as inheritance without taxing, and yes it's legal, at least here. Something to think about. Who wants your coins if they won't be able to afford the taxes on them?
Guy~

 

I have/am going through it. My Grandfather willed me his coins. He is still living, but I took posession of his coins when he moved out of state for family/senior care.

His will states out exactly who get's what. In my case this is what got me back into collecting.

 

cole guy:
Nice of your parents to sign over the house, but.... that is not necessarily the smartest thing to do.

Sure, a lawyer will make the transfer, but consider:

If your estate is (say) $1,000,000 then there is NO estate tax due this year (2009, who know about the future). (there is no such thing as an inheritance tax).

Another thought: say you have two children, and your will says: 50:50 on all, so they share everything.

BUT!

If gifted to you right now, as Coleguy's parents did, then you pick up their cost basis, assume that they paid $50,000 for the summer house and it is worth $150,000.
Your basis on sale is $50,000, or a profit of $100,000.

Taxes due on profit of $100,000. (no exclusion, since it is not the primary residence.)

BUT: If passed to you thru their will, you get the value as of the date of death (or 6 months thereafter), say $150,000.
Six months later you sell it, for $150,000.

Taxes due? zero.

So, not always the right thing to do, but there are exceptions, say items that have not increased in value, or an estate that is high enough to increase the estate tax due.

As far as a trust is concerned, check you state laws, but, the basis rule is the same as above.


I am not an attorney, nor do I play one on TV, but I do estate taxes.

Get a good Accountant, he/she will frequently disagree with your attorney.

 

My father-in-law passed away last May. One thing to keep in mind is that the value of one's estate has a lot to do with their estate planning. I know that some states allow estates below a certian value (say $50K, but probably depends on the state and may not apply in all states) to pass to the heirs without any probate. No hassles at all. Sgoudl still have a will though. For higher value estates (not sure what the value would be) it may make a LOT of sense to have the assets in a living trust. That is how my father-in-law set things up. He still had a will too, but its only purpose was to state that any proerty not already in the trust was to be transferred to the trust. My wife became trustee of the trust upon his death and basically had immediate access to all property. We did not have to go through probate or any other hassles.

 

coleguy - There may not have been inheritance tax on those homes, but if their value exceeded $24K ($12K for you and $12K for your sister), then the federal government will probably want their gift tax. I'm not attorney, but I don't know how you get around that.

Ahh, correction - I do too know how. You can defer the gift taxes, I believe, up to a certain (fairly large) amount.

 

There is no gift tax on the estate in that instance. We merely take over the property taxes. A gift, I believe, is taxable if over a certain amount, but a transfer of ownership isn't, at least for second homes in Utah. And it's value is well over that 24K. I think when we did the appraisal last year to do all this it was just over 800K.
Guy~

 

I'm referring to federal gift taxes, not state. But as I said, I believe that below a certain point, the taxes can be deferred. But I believe that a federal gift tax form (I forget the number) must be filed if any individual is given more than $12K (okay, I was wrong above on this too. Each parent can probabbly give $12K).

 

this thread kinda reminds me of Monty Pythons Quest for the Holy Grail... When the 2 guys drag a cart thru the street yelling "Bring out yer dead!" They bring out this old timer on his shoulders and the old timer says "I ain't dead yet" The 2 guys have a bit of a secret chat and bash the old guy over the head and resume thier trek yelling "Bring out yer Dead" - I ain't dead yet Traci

 

Richie , make sure all assets are listed in both names or have the spouse listed as benificiary , my wife had some IRAs with me listed as benificiary , but there was one retirement account that didn't have a place for a benifeciary only owner and cowner , on that one only her name was listed , she should of put me as a co-owner but didn't think it was necessary , I might have to go through probate for that one account , Best is the family trust . Also have a list of accounts and how much is in them and where they are , and have someone ( your wife , or whoever you want named on the account also then they can just go get the money in case of death , It's probably best to see a lawyer about this even though I've heard of people writing their own Trusts.
Best advice dot the i's and cross the tees , make sure all forms are complete .
rzage

 

In Illinois it's $100,000 and under doesnt have to go through probate , but make sure all forms have both spouses names on them .
rzage

 

1-800-Lawyers......that's not you? :smile