Preventing personal rep. from keeping funds

[DanWard]

My parent is planning to leave me a small amount of money. Let's say it's $5K. My sibling is the parent's personal rep., power of attorney, joint on all bank accounts, etc.
and expected to take the full amount of time to put a creditor notice in the paper and waiting the number of months suggested which is several, etc. Even though everyone knows the parent has no debts and to delay the distribution of the $5K would be intential with no reasonable grounds to delay. Should my parent die and the personal rep. lag and delay and lag, etc. and I happen to die before they send me the check they may try to put the $5K in their pocket with the rest of the financial assets they themselves are receiving which could be triple digits, easily. How to prevent this and I don't currently have a will since no beneficiaries. And not sure how long after my parent's death would my death have to be the rightful owner of the $5K. Thanks.

 

[quincy]

My parent is planning to leave me a small amount of money. Let's say it's $5K. My sibling is the parent's personal rep., power of attorney, joint on all bank accounts, etc.
and expected to take the full amount of time to put a creditor notice in the paper and waiting the number of months suggested which is several, etc. Even though everyone knows the parent has no debts and to delay the distribution of the $5K would be intential with no reasonable grounds to delay. Should my parent die and the personal rep. lag and delay and lag, etc. and I happen to die before they send me the check they may try to put the $5K in their pocket with the rest of the financial assets they themselves are receiving which could be triple digits, easily. How to prevent this and I don't currently have a will since no beneficiaries. And not sure how long after my parent's death would my death have to be the rightful owner of the $5K. Thanks.

What state or states are involved?

 

[Zigner]

I can hear the hands rubbing together from here.

 

[adjusterjack]

How to prevent this

One solution is to express your concern to your parent and have your parent set up a separate bank account with you as beneficiary. The money bypasses probate and is yours the moment of your parent's death.

 

[Bali Hai Again]

I can hear the hands rubbing together from here.

Yup, the skin might be worn off by the time the parent passes.

 

[zddoodah]

My parent is planning to leave me a small amount of money. Let's say it's $5K. My sibling is the parent's personal rep., power of attorney, joint on all bank accounts, etc.

If "joint on all bank accounts" means that your sibling is a joint owner of the accounts, then, upon your parent's death, the sibling will own all of the money in the accounts. The money will not be part of your parent's estate to be distributed upon death. Unless your parent has set things up so this "small amount of money" will come from another source, then it may be that your parent didn't set things up to achieve the result that he/she intends.

Even though everyone knows the parent has no debts

I can assure you that "everyone" does not know this.

And not sure how long after my parent's death would my death have to be the rightful owner of the $5K.

Depends on the laws of the unidentified state(s) in which you and your parent live. Usually, it's not more than 30 days.

How to prevent this and I don't currently have a will since no beneficiaries.

If you have no spouse or lineal descendants and both of your parents are dead, your sibling would inherit your entire estate. If you don't want that result, then you need to make a will.

 

[Zigner]

If you have no spouse or lineal descendants and both of your parents are dead, your sibling would inherit your entire estate. If you don't want that result, then you need to make a will.

OP could also assign a beneficiary to the accounts (e.g. payable on death or otherwise, as appropriate) naming some other person/entity.

 

[Bali Hai Again]

Should my parent die and the personal rep. lag and delay and lag, etc. and I happen to die before they send me the check they may try to put the $5K in their pocket.

Let’s say 5 full years have passed from now when this happens, the personal rep. will only be getting in effect $4347 in purchasing power at the current inflation rate.

 

[DanWard]

South Carolina and the parent is unable to create or amend a new or any existing account. They are controlled totally by the personal rep. The parent told me a few years ago that they were leaving me money in their will. Three times they referred to it as "it's not much."
Our other parent had no financial assets stated in the physical will. With the current matter when the parent said they were leaving money in the will I assumed that meant their will would contain "I leave to ------ the sum of ------" That does require the personal rep. to execute the will for all named persons unless they try to take advantage of my death and fail to pay $x to a deceased person. I tried to explain to my parent that the proper way to leave $ is with beneficiary forms for all accounts. Decide the % such as person #1 80% person #2 20% etc.
That way the amounts gain value as the accounts gain value even though the % stays the same. If my name is in the will connected to $x it will be very disappointing that the 100% beneficiary amount values have gone up as the accounts grew whereas the $x left me in the will remained a set dollar amount that never increased as the accounts went up in value. This situation is worse than stated. The personal rep. travels round trip 700 miles every couple weeks for a stay of a few days. They may very well hope their parent dies while they are here so they would have the evil chance to take deceased parent in their car to their state and tell everyone the parent died up there.

 

[Zigner]

Be careful, or you'll get blisters...

Your parent wanted to leave you a certain amount of money, as stated in the will. If the parent had wanted to leave you a certain amount of money plus interest, then they would have stated it.

 

[Just Blue]

South Carolina and the parent is unable to create or amend a new or any existing account. They are controlled totally by the personal rep. The parent told me a few years ago that they were leaving me money in their will. Three times they referred to it as "it's not much."
Our other parent had no financial assets stated in the physical will. With the current matter when the parent said they were leaving money in the will I assumed that meant their will would contain "I leave to ------ the sum of ------" That does require the personal rep. to execute the will for all named persons unless they try to take advantage of my death and fail to pay $x to a deceased person. I tried to explain to my parent that the proper way to leave $ is with beneficiary forms for all accounts. Decide the % such as person #1 80% person #2 20% etc.
That way the amounts gain value as the accounts gain value even though the % stays the same. If my name is in the will connected to $x it will be very disappointing that the 100% beneficiary amount values have gone up as the accounts grew whereas the $x left me in the will remained a set dollar amount that never increased as the accounts went up in value. This situation is worse than stated. The personal rep. travels round trip 700 miles every couple weeks for a stay of a few days. They may very well hope their parent dies while they are here so they would have the evil chance to take deceased parent in their car to their state and tell everyone the parent died up there.

Why would they do this...Why would they drive with a corpse for 700 miles, with all the risks that such a bizarre action would involve...Why? To what end?

 

[DanWard]

Why would they do this...Why would they drive with a corpse for 700 miles, with all the risks that such a bizarre action would involve...Why? To what end?

Your math is off. It's 700 round trip or 350 one way. No risk in their eyes. No risk from me because I'm not sure what my rights are in such matters.
Just remember what I say when I say "they are capable of anything".
The personal rep. has been influencing and brain washing the parent for a decade or more. They have dictated to the parent how much $ to leave me with the history of that going back to 2009.

I have two hypothetical questions about wills so should I start a new thread or ask here? The questions and answers are important.
They are hypothetical but could easily become real life for an unlimited number of people in similar situations.

 

[Zigner]

In general, we aren't keen on answering hypothetical questions because the the facts tend to be fluid.

Your math is off. It's 700 round trip or 350 one way. No risk in their eyes. No risk from me because I'm not sure what my rights are in such matters.
Just remember what I say when I say "they are capable of anything".
The personal rep. has been influencing and brain washing the parent for a decade or more. They have dictated to the parent how much $ to leave me with the history of that going back to 2009.

I have two hypothetical questions about wills so should I start a new thread or ask here? The questions and answers are important.
They are hypothetical but could easily become real life for an unlimited number of people in similar situations.

 

[Just Blue]

Your math is off. It's 700 round trip or 350 one way. No risk in their eyes. No risk from me because I'm not sure what my rights are in such matters.
Just remember what I say when I say "they are capable of anything".
The personal rep. has been influencing and brain washing the parent for a decade or more. They have dictated to the parent how much $ to leave me with the history of that going back to 2009.

I have two hypothetical questions about wills so should I start a new thread or ask here? The questions and answers are important.
They are hypothetical but could easily become real life for an unlimited number of people in similar situations.

Okay...350 miles with a dead body...Why? To what end? And there is a risk for them to do such a thing.

We do not generally entertain hypothetical questions.

 

[Ohiogal]

Rigor mortis would set in quickly. There would be evidence of where the person died. And to move a corpse? That would be criminal.