tranquility
Senior Member
When you write us in the future regarding what to do with sister, the answer is:
Sorry. There really isn't any recourse.
Sorry. There really isn't any recourse.
I don't recall you mentioning your father's age, but I assume that it was greater than 59-1/2. If so, then the IRA value will be subject to PA Inheritance Tax. (One of the other exceptions to the PA Inheritance Tax - the major one being life insurance proceeds - is retirement accounts where the deceased would have been subject to penalties for distributions.) You will have to look to the will to determine who has liability for the tax. Many wills state that any estate/inheritance tax is to be paid from the residuary probate estate (which might give your siblings heartburn). But that is not a sure thing.Will this have tax consequences for the estate or will that be all on her? We of course will present this to the attorney but don't meet with him again for a few days.
Try to talk her out of it. It is easy to take money out of a tax-deferred account. It's much harder to get money into a tax-deferred account.My daughter is young so she is most likely gonna cash it in. Yes, the tax will be huge. Sigh.
The tax consequences will be on your daughter. That IRS is passing outside of the estate. If she rolls it over into an IRA of her own she can avoid the taxes consequences, at least in the short term. Make sure that your daughter understands that between tax and penality, she could be paying out nearly 50% of it in tax.Another piece of the puzzle:
Just found my daughter is beneficiary of an IRA. It isn't a HUGE amount.
Will this have tax consequences for the estate or will that be all on her? We of course will present this to the attorney but don't meet with him again for a few days.
My daughter is young so she is most likely gonna cash it in. Yes, the tax will be huge. Sigh.
Just to clarify. It must remain an inherited/beneficiary IRA. She cannot make contributions to it. And she must take at least annual required minimum distributions (RMD's) based upon her life expectancy. And, unless it is a Roth or there were non-deductible contributions, those distributions will be subject to income tax.If she rolls it over into an IRA of her own she can avoid the taxes consequences, at least in the short term.
There is no early distribution penalty for inherited IRA distributions....that between tax and penalty, she could be paying out nearly 50% of it in tax.
I would think that the personnel at the paper could help. It is also probably something where the clerks at the Register of Wills office would give guidance.§ 3162. Advertisement of grant of letters.
(a) Notice generally.--The personal representative,
immediately after the grant of letters, shall cause notice
thereof to be given in one newspaper of general circulation
published at or near the place where the decedent resided or, in
the case of a nonresident decedent, at or near the place where
the letters were granted, and in the legal periodical, if any,
designated by rule of court for the publication of legal
notices, once a week for three successive weeks, together with
his name and address; and in every such notice, he shall request
all persons having claims against the estate of the decedent to
make known the same to him or his attorney, and all persons
indebted to the decedent to make payment to him without delay.
The "unfinished issues", from everything I've seen in this thread, is the OP and family not trusting each other. ALL estates can be profitable for an attorney, no matter the size. It is probably the family dynamics, partly shown as the number of administrators, which caused the attorney to feel he can't make money if the estate paid per percentage rather than time.But basically he didn't agree to take on the case because there are to many unfinished issues and not much money involved.
No, we didn't go to the attorney with 'our' issues. We went in as a team. We didn't waste his time, we had things settled just fine before we met with him. He in no way discouraged the two of us as co-reps either.The "unfinished issues", from everything I've seen in this thread, is the OP and family not trusting each other. ALL estates can be profitable for an attorney, no matter the size. It is probably the family dynamics, partly shown as the number of administrators, which caused the attorney to feel he can't make money if the estate paid per percentage rather than time.
Time to buy some books on self-probate. Nolo has a good one.
Sure. As a general statement, the personal representative has a duty to maximize the value of the estate. There is some common sense applied to that general principle. Most personal representatives don't sign up for the job of voluntarily becoming a temporary landlord (as opposed to having to become one because the estate contains pre-existing rentals). But, it is fine to do so.Speaking of the house here, the house he lived in before passing:
Could we, acting for the estate, rent it out, even for a 6 month lease?
As I wrote:I can't get into many details about the oddities.
Because, there do not seem any ministerial legal issues which are hard listed in the thread. The only difficulty is what the heirs are going to fight about.The "unfinished issues", from everything I've seen in this thread, is the OP and family not trusting each other.