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Administrator for fisrt time. Need help.

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bonnie crowder

Guest
I live in Indiana and have recently been appointed Administratrix of my mother's estate. There was no will and I have 2 brothers involved. I have no problems with my brothers at this time.
My mother had a joint savings account with me and it was frozen.
After my mother's death I went to the bank to unfreeze the account. I thought I was Administratrix at the time but all I had was a notorized paper that said Declaration of Trust and not a living trust. The bank did not ask to see any documentation and started the paper work to unfreeze the account. In the meantime I got a court appointment and returned to the bank to get the money. I found out that the account had been unfrozen.
The bank pres. asked how I wanted the check in my name or the estate name. I replied, "I thought it was in the estate". He said he was not an attorney but it looked like the money was mine
something about an heirship. Of course I had the check made out in my name. It is in an account in my name. Is it mine? Or do I have to put it in the estate account. My attorney said it's mine. Also, on the estate how much can one inherit without paying inheritance tax (state), and ( federal)? Is there a place I can go for Indiana laws. Do I have to get court permission to sell my mother's house? The attorney I am using is my cousin's husband. He seems pretty knowledgable on everything but I probably made a mistake by not hiring a probate attorney. My mother's estate is about $250,000 to $300,000.

Most things are being liquidated - investments, etc. She had a stock broker who handled everything. She had one small $10,000.00 dollar investment with a bank that has been liquidated. I hope I did the right thing by doing that.

Thanks for your help.
 


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advisor10

Guest
OCTOBER 6, 2001

DEEAR BONNIE:

Congratulations on your having been named as administratrix--your mother must have had confidence in your business sense and common sense in order to trust you with her final affairs.

Since this bank account was a joint savings account, the concept of joint tenancy applies, which means that property owned in the names of 2 people AUTOMATICALLY TRANSFERS to the 2nd person when the first person has died. This money (How much was it?) is yours to spend any way you want, and does not even have to be reported as a probate asset. Your attorney was correct.

Since there was no will, the estate will be divided up according to predetermined Indiana probate law (Indiana Code Annotated, Title 29, Sections 1-1 and others). You can look at the law to inform yourself, but you must realize that it is written in complex and confusing language, and you would be much better served by hiring a probate attorney to interpret and advise you on your duties. If you don't have the time or patience to periodically process ongoing paperwork for a month or 2, you may want to consider having the attorney be the administrator (but first find out what the fees would be--you would be entitled to receive a fee as administratrix, but you would forfeit that if you give the administrator duties to the attorney). Most states allow executors/administrators to get a percentage of the estate (usually less than 6%) in fees, but some states only say "Reasonable Compensation", which you would have to ask a probate attorney for information about how this is calculated.

OTHER HEIRS. Is your father still living? If so, he gets 1/2 of the estate. If he is not living, then the surviving children get to share equally in this estate.

However, your situation is a little bit more complex since a trust exists. One reason that people have trusts is so that the financial information will not be reported as public record in the probate file. Therefore, you will have to examine the trust to see how it instructs the monies to be designated (it is likely that the 2 brothers were probably named along with you as beneficiaries of the trust). Any probate attorney who has experience in trusts can advise you on this.

For your own personal benefit, you should also visit your local library to check out some books on probate/trusts so you will have a better idea of what responsibilities are involved.

Indiana has an state inheritance tax of up to 20%, and there may also be a federal tax amount involved. This is why you need to consider hiring a CPA to do those estate tax returns for you (but first check with your probate attorney--maybe this is included in the costs of administering the estate or perhaps he can recommend someone who is highly qualified to do this for you).

After the estate expenses, debts, funeral bills and taxes have been deducted from the estate assets, what is left over will be divided amongst the heirs or distributed according to the instructions of the trust.

You probably made the right decision by liquidating the investment--the stock market is in a downward trend right now and you cashed it in for what you could get now instead of watching it decrease in value.

Good luck to you in getting the affairs of this estate taken care of!

SINCERELY,

[email protected]
 

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