Insurance benefits

[Henna29byd]

What is the name of your state?Ohio

My father just passed away he had a will made leaving everything to me so I could pay bills and we didnt have time to devide everything but the problem is we didnt change the beneficiary from my deceased mother to me and I dont know how to have that money go to funeral home and not my brothers

 

[adjusterjack]

Let me see if I understand this.

Your father had a life insurance policy with your mother as beneficiary. Your mother died first.

Your father's death benefit gets paid to the estate of your mother and you will have to probate your mother's estate according to her will or under intestacy.

Did she have her own will? Did it have a residuary clause in it? Something like "Anything I haven't addressed in my will goes to..."

If there was no residuary clause, anything not specified in the will would be distributed under intestacy.

That's going to get complicated so I suggest you talk to a probate attorney.

 

[LdiJ]

Let me see if I understand this.

Your father had a life insurance policy with your mother as beneficiary. Your mother died first.

Your father's death benefit gets paid to the estate of your mother and you will have to probate your mother's estate according to her will or under intestacy.

Did she have her own will? Did it have a residuary clause in it? Something like "Anything I haven't addressed in my will goes to..."

If there was no residuary clause, anything not specified in the will would be distributed under intestacy.

That's going to get complicated so I suggest you talk to a probate attorney.

Or possibly not even claim the life insurance, depending on the amount of the policy and the cost of probate.

 

[HRZ]

THe insurance policy benefits seem to go to Moms estate ..absent contract language to the contrary, .and her funds get distributed as per her will or intestacy if properly administered .....the funds are not in Dads pot to pay his bills . Your job if his appointed executor and his will is being probated is to pay his bills from his funds , among other things .

 

[HRZ]

Read Dads insurance policy with care....it's common that the contract includes a secondary benificiary if the primary one were to redecase the holder . And my post above might be wrong ....The policy benefits might well by contract revert to the holders estate if the named benificiary died first and there are no named successor benificaries

 

[Zigner]

What is the name of your state?Ohio

My father just passed away he had a will made leaving everything to me so I could pay bills and we didnt have time to devide everything but the problem is we didnt change the beneficiary from my deceased mother to me and I dont know how to have that money go to funeral home and not my brothers

I'm sorry for your loss.

The rest of the "stuff" that your father owned (his estate) would be used to pay the funeral/burial costs before you get anything through the will.

 

[HRZ]

Well as executor you are probably entitled to your costs and a small executors fee out of estate pot ahead of most other debts being paid .

 

[Zigner]

Well as executor you are probably entitled to your costs and a small executors fee out of estate pot ahead of most other debts being paid .

To be clear for the OP: Funeral costs come first.

 

[HRZ]

They come second , after administrative fees and expenses and in OH the executors commission starts at 4% of gross pot ( and goes down for second $100k etc )

I think the key issue is to sort out to whom the life insurance is paid

 

[Zigner]

They come second , after administrative fees and expenses and in OH the executors commission starts at 4% of gross pot ( and goes down for second $100k etc )

I think the key issue is to sort out to whom the life insurance is paid

I stand corrected.

For reference, here is the Ohio law on the matter: http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/2117.25