<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by warren8945:
my uncle charlie lived with my aunt ceil. charlie had a totten trust in which i am a beneficiary. assuming aunt ceil is in the trust, she dies without a will do i still get what my unclie charlie wished me to get? does ceils only living relative, her brother ben get her share? he has now become executor. this whole thing has been in probate for at least a year. how much longer might it be to clear all this up<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
My response:
Is Uncle Charles still alive? Was Aunt Ceil also a beneficiary of the Totten Trust? Sometimes called a payable-on-death account, a Totten trust is an account your uncle Charles owns and he controls it during his lifetime. Like any other account, he can add or withdraw money at any time, but with a Totten trust, he needs to specify one or more beneficiaries to that account. You, as the beneficiary only gets control of the account at the time of Uncle Charles' death; in other words, the money belongs to the beneficiaries at the moment of Uncle Charles' death, and has nothing to do with probate. All you need do is show the bank a Certified Death Certificate of Uncle Charlie, prove to the Bank who you are; i.e., the named beneficiary, and the account is immediately yours, along with all other beneficiaries.
IAAL
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