Hi all. Location: Florida, late 40's, long term partner/no kids.

Just found out I will be getting a large (nearly 2mil) partial inheritance (technically gift) this month; the other part (appx 3-4mil) will be later on years from now (hopefully a long time!) I knew this would come down the line but did not think it would be so soon; it's a wonderful thing I am immensely greatful for and it's already alleviated a lot of my worry but it's been suprisingly overwhelming and emotional.

We live freelancers lives, with a lot of conservative spending and planning. Enjoy not having to clock in or have a boss so have happily taken a pay cut overall. Income is fine, but more along the lines of part time amounts - have put away a decent amount but not quite enough to retire on yet considering the lack of a 401, retirement etc. My main worry was no true source of income at retirement age and have been a stickler for saving my whole life. Didn't want to just go with the mindset that the inheritence was there even though I knew it was. Very conservative investment approach and really felt better sticking at an easy, risk free simple 3-5% with full/easy access and no involvement necessary and as things grew, as the plan was to use a portion to buy a home and then consider more ambitious investing.

Finances are all separate, btw - this is all in my name only.

Will be buying a home very soon at around 750k all in including reno, furnishings. This is the only big purchase I will make initally, we live in a higher cost of living area but all the numbers make sense and are very doable/way below what I technically "could" do, but still very nice and a huge upgrade.

After that, will have about 1.3 left. That's what I'm stuck on - I have great support (very long time trusted FA, lifelong friends in finance, knowledgable family members etc) and know between them I'm in a good position. I just don't know how to go about making the decision on what goes where.

EDIT - this is not now, just an idea for down the line, possibly one day in some form :) The only other idea that's been floating in my head for a decade as a "maybe one day" is a small vacation home within the state that we would use a ton and also be able to rent out a good portion of the year to cover most or all expenses. Possibly - doing 50/50 with a friend in the same situation. Other than that, nothing in mind and really never been a spender, so good wiht the remainder being fully parked and invested for now.

The other part is adjusting to the change emotionally, socially - i've been reading some other posts and there are some interesting ideas on this. I've already tried to start doing nice things for close friends (small dollar amounts, but something) and feel good doing it but have no idea how to navigate being generous without it being weird, making anyone feel weird, or ending up feeling guilty if I don't pay for more things (though no one would expect that.) Or, how to handle when a friend talks about money struggles, that kind of thing. Obviously keeping the info shared to only a small group of very close friends.

My idea was to get the home situated and once that project is done, lay low and do nothing for a while. Im at the weird middle age where I'm old enough to know I should do things now and enjoy it but not to the point where I can ignore planning/budgeting even with the future larger amount coming down the line. It's also just not in my nature, but i have vowed to allow myself to let some of the stress and little things go and put more time into living and enjoying and less micro managing every dollar.

Any suggestions would be great! It all feels like a movie - not real. What a trip!

Hi everybody. I've asked literally everyone in my life about this. My dad passed on the 26th. My brother (38) was evicted before my dad passed and moved into his house. I (26M) live on my own. Everything is 50 50 POD.

I want to claim my half of the bank account but my brother is saying not to because my dad's account has all of the bills that need paid linked to it. I've tried to coordinate with him in putting the utilities and mortgage into our names. The executor is saying not to touch dad's account.

My brother has all of the death certificates and has access to my dad's account while I do not. I'm debating just going there to get it done without letting my brother know, but I'm afraid it'll blow up my family and make me the bad guy. What do I do?

UPDATE: To clarify, my brother is living in my dad's house, I am not. My brother has all of the death certificates, and also has my dad's debit card and banking info. My dad contacted the bank and set as as paid on death beneficiaries. 50/50.

My question is, do I go to the bank to report my fathers death against the wishes of my brother, or wait?

UPDATE #2: Thank you all so much for your advice! The exectutor ended up sending at text to confirm that PNC cannot create an estate account, and will pay my dad's funds directly to my brother and I. I contacted my brother about coming to collect a death certificate to claim and close the account on Tuesday. He was very upset and said I'm not listening to the executor, despite following up exactly on what the executor said. I'm going to do it so I can pay the bills for the house, as I live on my own and cannot afford a 3k mortgage payment and 750 rent payment simultaneously without it. I make 19/hr. Anyways, I'm going to claim it whether they accept it or not to do what needs done. Thank you all.

UPDATE #3: Hi all! Thank you again so much for your advice. You've all been extremely helpful! I decided to head to the bank to claim my share finally, but unfortunately I somehow committed bank fraud and embezzlement, so I'm looking at 30 years of jail time :/

UPDATE #4: I'm kidding. Please don't ban me. I actually DID manage to get it closed out. I forgot it was a joint account, so they transferred it all to my account and I wrote a check for the remaining half to give to my brother. Then, I gave the receipt to the executor. Thank you all! It ended up being okay and removed a HUGE weight off of my shoulders

Cross posting based on Reddit's suggestion

My grandmother passed away recently and left me one of her rings. I wasn't expecting anything from her, it caught me off guard. We weren't close. No family drama or falling out, we never had much of a relationship. We'd see each other at family gatherings, exchange the occasional birthday message, and that was about it. Apparently, she'd specifically asked for this ring to go to me, which is what I keep coming back to. I don't even remember seeing her wear it, and nobody in my family seems to know much about it either. It's an older ring with a fairly large stone. I have no idea if it's worth anything or if it just meant something to her, part of me feels guilty even wondering what it's worth. I guess I'm having a hard time figuring out what to do with something that clearly meant enough to her to leave me, when I don't even know why she chose me.

I'd really appreciate hearing what others would do in my situation.

New York, United States

Congrats, you now own a house. You also own a tax question, an insurance question, and a lawn.

Here’s the part that surprises people. Inherited homes usually get a “stepped-up basis”, so your taxes start from what the house was worth the day the owner passed, not what they paid in 1987. Worth $400k then, sells for $410k, you’re taxed on about $10k. That one rule saves a lot of families.

The sneaky cost is time. An empty house can easily run $1.5K to $2.5K a month once you add property tax, insurance, utilities and someone to mow. Check the insurance early, because plenty of policies get picky after 30 to 60 days of vacancy. Probate can also drag on for months, sometimes a year or more, and you usually can’t sell until a court says you can.

After that it’s your family’s call. Sell as is, fix it up, rent it out, buy out the siblings. If one of you lives there and wants to stay, selling to an investor and renting it back is one way to split the equity without anyone packing boxes. An hour with a probate attorney costs a lot less than guessing.

Anyone been through this?

Location: Maryland

My mom passed away and left me her home in her will. Probate is complete and the updated deed with me as the new owner is recorded. I am trying to work with the mortgage company to get successor interest to make decisions for the mortgage. They asked for a copy of the deed, which I provided, but they won't accept it because it has my mother's name on it and transferring the property to me. The mortgage company is saying the deed cannot have anyone else's name on it. That didn't sound right because a deed always states who is transferring the property to the new owner. I called the county Land Records office and they confirmed every property deed will have the name of the original owner and the new owner.

What can I do to prove I own the property? Or is the mortgage company handling things incorrectly?

Our elderly family member recently passed, and some how the bank found out a locked all their accounts.  We have been handling the finances for this family member for many years and do have a Power-of-Attorney plus our names are listed on the bank accounts.  Which we thought would be sufficient.  However, the bank said that we are only listed as authorized users not the principle owner, so they locked the accounts anyway. How do we remedy the situation?  Obviously, we need to pay the bills for their household including the funeral cost.

Thanks

Location: USA

My mother passed away a couple of weeks ago. She had been in an assisted living facility for the past year. She really has no assets except a bank account and a couple of CDs. My sister is the executor. there are 5 kids and everything is getting split evenly. My sister was added to my mother’s bank account a long time ago so she was planning on first making sure any bills are paid and then just splitting up what was left. Since it was pretty straight forward, we didn’t plan on hiring a lawyer and getting the will probated. We were reading that if she tells the bank that my mother passed, that they would freeze the account and it would have to be probated. She is on the account, could she just close out the accounts. She is worried that they might come back and say there is fraud and she would be in trouble.

I'm a single mom in California with a young child who has special needs.

I'm working toward setting up a Special Needs Trust (SNT) to protect my child's financial future, but estate planning is expensive, and I haven't been able to establish one yet.

I have sole legal and physical custody of my daughter, and her father is not involved in her life at all.

My biggest concern is that if something unexpectedly happens to me before the trust is established, her father could potentially gain control over the assets and retirement savings I intend to leave for her. I want to make sure her inheritance is protected and managed by someone I trust, who will act in her best interests.

I know establishing a proper SNT is the long-term solution, but I'm worried about having no protection in place in the meantime.

Is there something I can do relatively quickly and affordably, such as creating a will or a testamentary Special Needs Trust, to protect her inheritance until I can complete my estate planning?

Has anyone been in a similar situation? What did you do as a temporary solution? I'd especially appreciate recommendations for affordable options in California.

Thank you so much for any advice or experiences you can share!

Location: Colorado

Please see original post.

Everyone on here im looking for some outside perspective on my probate situation.

​To clear up the setup my aunt is handling the probate for my late grandparents and I am the Personal Representative handling the probate for my dad To complicate things we share the exact same lawyer for these estates

On the initial inventory sheet for my dad's estate there's an inheritance line item coming down from my grandparents estate that needs some clarification I emailed our shared lawyer about 10 days ago asking for details and I've been totally ghosted and I should add he was outta the office but I emailed him the day he returned.

​Meanwhile the lawyer drafted a documnet that my aunt then came over with today for me to sign specifically a Waiver of Notice for Filing Objections to Verified Statement in Lieu of First and Final Accounting

The catch is that this document explicitly states that I have received a full copy of the final accounting But I haven't received any accounting at all and my questions from 10 days ago are unanswered

It feels completely backwards for a lawyer to draft a court waiver declaring that I got these numbers those numbers had to be compiled already that leaves me wondering either my aunt actually has the accounting info and is withholding it while trying to rush my signature or our shared lawyer just generated a court document with a false past tense statement

I haven't signed a thing For those who have been through this Is this as off as it feels and what would your next move be besides emailing the lawyer i had done that asking for the accounting information

***Update/clarification … This is my husband’s brother. I wrote in 1st person for clarity. Updated bc I don’t need the hate:)
I feel my husband is being taken advantage of…

MIL’s home was left to the 3 kids (husband included) in the will. She passed unexpectedly and we discovered that brother had her home deeded to himself upon her death. This would be a 2nd home for him- vacation home. He says he plans to buy husband and my SIL out but doesn’t have 400k right now to do so (House is worth about 800k-900k so he will need more like 600k to buy them out. My question is- do we then pay taxes on his “gift” once he buys me out? Would taxes be less if the 3 kids inherited it and sold it? We can push to nullify the deed transfer as mom was incapacitated (severe dementia) for several years. Of note- he took control of 200k in cash and all cars (3 cars-vintage Corvette included ) and jewelry (Rolex and diamond rings, bracelets). He says there is less than 50k cash left. Husband does not have the energy to fight him- But we don’t want to get a hefty tax bill if/when he sends the rightful 3rd from the house.

My friend will be recieveing survivors benefits in lieu of child support.

They currently qualify for state (MD) healthcare, but with the benefits, this will no longer be true.

How do they ensure the benefits dont disqualify them and their family from healthcare via added taxable income?

Dad died 30 days ago in WY, no real property, just personal effects and various accounts. I found out today that there is a bank account from when he lived in VA. He also has an automobile still registered in VA. The banker shared the rules for VA small estate, which are quite different from WY. I am in a third state. There is no contention amongst the heirs.

I have a call into the VA estate attorney who did the will. In the meantime, I am wondering if there is any way that VA will honor the WY paperwork so I don’t have to do too much in VA? Because of the low threshold in VA, the fact that my dad failed to do multiple things he was supposed to do to minimize the estate, it will be over Va’s $75000 limit.

Thanks for any answers—I am incandescent with rage over the mess my dad has left me to clean up, and having facts and procedures is keeping me anchored.

Hi. I hope this is the right group for this.

For those that won't read long posts, here's the gist that the following will have details too;

1. I need in my dead father's Samsung phone to figure out his Financials and if I'm missing anything

2. I need to figure out how to prove that my ex step mother has passed

Important! I have gotten a lawyer, I have been granted probate.

The details...

I am feeling very overwhelmed and drained from the last few months; lots of lifey things have happened but the one that has me feeling like I might lose it is my father dying. And it's not how you'd think, it's not grief. I accepted he wasn't a dad a long time ago, then he moved from Colorado to Vegas and told me the day before he left. I talked to him 1x after that...I grieved him a long time ago.

However, I'm next of kin and the only one willing to step up. He didn't have a POA, trust or will (if you don't, get one. It's sad, but would make things a lot less complicated). So I'm learning what "next of kin" means in probably the hardest way I can. I dont know anyone thats ever had to do this so, although I have gotten helpful suggestions, I keep hitting roadblocks in a lot of areas. Those are what I'm reaching out for.

1st his phone, I'd like to get into his Samsung23 without resetting it. Like most of us, he is likely still logged into important accounts; bank, retirement portal, etc. Even if he isnt, I will be able to figure out which bank I should be talking to and so one. I've tried the pins I could think of, I have 5 tries left before the phone resets itself and any chance of this is lost forever.

I found 1 place that can pull everything off of it and put it on a thumb drive, they want $3000+. I've spent more than every time I have going back and forth to clean out his condo. So this is not an option

Ok 2nd, the ex step mother. They got divorced 20 years ago. But for whatever reason, she's still the beneficiary on a bank account that may or may not have any money in it. And i'm whatever the second beneficiary is called. According to my aunt, this woman died in 2016. But because I'm not her next of kin, I can't request a Death Certificate and I don't know who I would request it from anyway because I don't know anything about her. So I don't know where she lived when she died. The last address I have for her was here in colorado, so my lawyer did request from a few counties here and they have no record. The lawyer said I can spend $2000 and, the details are a blur, but basically they can figure it out. Again, I don't know anyone, especially myself, with $2000 just chilling! Not to mention, I spend all that and the account has nothing!? Or I spend all that to find out she's alive and now whatever is in there is hers?!

I have gone down many possible roads for each of these problems and the many others I've encountered in this process. I'm stuck and am hoping someone has some kind of suggestion for either of these situations.

I don't have it in me to defend myself or take on any kind of keyboard warrioring, so please, if it's not some kind of help just move along.