Died without a legal will......help us understand.

[Queen K]

I have no idea what the insurance rates are for townhouses, condos and houses if they are unoccupied but I forgot to mention what the BCAA rep told me about renting but losing the renter. If the renter moves and the unit remains unoccupied for longer than a month, then the companies want something called a Vacancy Ticket, at an extra $50 bucks/month.

Not sure if ticket is the right terminology, but it may as well be a ticket.

In other words, if you have siblings who won't sign off on a offer for an asset, then the monthly costs just keep rolling in.

[Glacier]

A friend of mine's Grandma died. His aunt, executor of the Will, had one copy of the Will, while the lawyer had the other copy. When the grandma died, the aunt asked the lawyer for his copy of the will, of which he obliged willingly, and she proceeded to divvy up the assets as she said the Will stated.

She showed the rest of the family the Will, but they suspected she had doctored it slightly (she got the best property), but they couldn't prove anything because she had both copies in her possession long before she revealed the contents.

[Queen K]

I found something out about selling a vehicle with Letters of Administration.

1. You fill out the transfer paper with the deceased person's name, as if that person is still alive, and not with the live person's information (had to throw out a whole transfer paper cuz I thought the live person's name should go there, ha ha)

Then you write "deceased" and sign underneath with the title "Administratrix"

Then the Ins. Co. photocopies the death certificate and the Letters of Admin. and attachs it all to the file.

2. They look up the Gold book value and question the sale price, cuz it had a cracked windshield, and we are not trying to wring every last freaking dollar out of an asset that is going to need insurance renewed just to be showing it to dozens of different people.

[motorhomebabe]

Hang in there girl. One step at a time , sounds ghastily

[watchkat]

Yes Queen K........

It is too bad more aren't reading this forum. There is good information being offered along with the trials and tribulations of what happens when you die without a legal will.

Let's hope those that do read it, take the time to ask your spouse, brother, sister, dad, mother, etc if they have a will and if not heckle them to get one for everyone's sake.

You are never too young to die. If you have children that need rearing if you are a single parent or even married, you must make a direction as to what you want to happen to your children and also who will manage life insurance (hopefully you have at least an amount to cover their education and upbringing).

We all think it won't happen to us, but read the obituaries for a day or two and you'll discover many don't reach the "old age" we all think about.

Thanks for keeping us up to date on the procedure you are going through. It is worth passing on to jog those that think they have nothing to leave of value. Even then there is a mass of paperwork and costs if you don't have will!

[Queen K]

All along the way I've had to make tough decisions. Especially when selling stuff, too cheap? Asking too much? Try to wring out every dollar? Or just unload?

The other difficult thing is to know when you have to get on with your own life too. We have lots to do there, and here. When I'm there, nothing is getting done here. When I'm home, the trailer is not painting itself.

May have to spend my three days off there and not here to clean stuff up inside and get pics of stuff that has to go on Castanet Marketplace.

Yikes.

[CEO2BE]

Just as a side note.

Working in the Financial planning & Estate Planning industry I work closely with lawyers and accountants and we get ride clients around about getting wills, and power of attorney's and we always get the same excuses no time, too expensive, don't need one, I don't care, AND THE MOST COMMON I'll do it LATER!

It's funny because I work closely with a lawyer who practices in estates, trusts, business and real estate and we can put seminars on estate planning and the only ones who show up or care are the ones who already have a plan in place and are looking to further increase the non-contestabillity of the estate and preserve as much of there assets as they can from fee's and the biggest beneficiaries REVENUE CANADA!

I can't believe how most people don't notice that there single largest beneficiary is revenue Canada and the legal system.

[normaM]

yet another reason to dislike RRSPs - yes the bene. will get the RRSP transferred to them tax free, but any withdrawals will be taxed. If you want to cash the entire thing in then looking at about 50% to the Govt, as opposed to a bank acct that just becomes your money, no taxes. So don't put all your moey in RRSps thinking it will benefit your spouse, etc down the line.

[Queen K]

NormaM, good one. How many people get urged by their bank to top up their RRSPs to the max, even borrow and pay interest on loans for RRSPs, but the teller can not tell them about the tax ramifications of having all of their money in the proverbial "one basket."

[normaM]

if you have lots of money, then fine have RRSPs, but the fact is the Govt will have their percentage, and so you think you are leaving a fair sum of money, but if cashed your Bene. will get about half of that amt.
So much for no death tax.

[CEO2BE]

I don't mean this to sounds short... But it is frustrating to me.

Your knocking on the banks for talking about RRSP top ups.... But do you truly understand how and when RRSP's are required? The ax benefits and consequences? When and how an RRSP loan if required?

I listen to people knocking them. They may not be right in your situation but they have there place and i think it's dangerous to make claims about taxation that may not be accurate.

They are not taxed at 50% they are taxed at your highest marginal rate at the time of withdrawal.

Also if your concerned about taxes then why would anyone ever buy a GIC when the growth is taxed the same way as an RSP at your highest marginal tax rate and you lose 25% to 50% of what your earning?! The banks also push GIC's.

I agree they are over used but they have many benefits. You need to understand how you will exit an RRSP,taxes involved and the effects on the estate and bene's.

RRSP's are creditor protected.... Your bank account isn't.... Nor is your non-registered money unless your using certain investments.

Also it's not true that whatever is in your bank account isn't taxable. Bank account's with more then $10,000 in it is subject to probate and is considered part of the estate.

If you were spread $50,000 between 5 banks at 10k per bank account it would avoid probate. Then your bene's have to run around trying to track it down. When you could use something like segregated funds.

You can use segregated funds offered through insurance companies to bypass the estate and probate if there is a named beneficiary. They also pay out privately to the named beneficiary and are very hard to contest if at all possible. Also creditor protected.

These are some of the things a financial advisor who works in estate planning can help you sort out.

[normaM]

RRSPs are evil. If ppl knew the survivor would be taxed heavily I doubt anyone would bother with one. You are the first financial advisor I've heard like them.

[CEO2BE]

They roll over to the spouse tax free as long the account remains intact.

I'm not saying I love them but i'm saying they have a place. Like any financial instrument. I don't write anything off except illegal or grey area tax and investment products.

It's a matter of doing a detailed fact find and gathering all of the relevant data and meeting with a client's accountant to determine the needs and liabilities to properly produce a recommendation.

I do a lot of things that may seem out of the box or that people may not agree with but I can always support my recommendations with data that is based on a the individuals unqiue situation and I yet to have problems getting the accountants on board if it makes sense for the client. I live by the moto "It's not what your earning, It's what your keeping."

RRSP's play a major role in many financial plans. I have also seen the disaster they can create for clients when improperly used. Many times it's because there was no plan it was just the THING to do.

[normaM]

"They roll over to the spouse tax free as long the account remains intact."
But I bet a lot of people don't realize that, they name a spouse and assume they will get the money.
No more RRSPs for me.
Wasn't challenging you btw, just surprised to hear a FA so supportive of rrsps. I can see the merit of SDRSPs.

I

[Queen K]

I wondering how many spouses would have the money/funds to leave a RRSP left to them intact.

Or in other words, the luxury to allow the RSP continue to earn whatever percentage they are earning at the date of death.

I am also wondering if the RRSP's have a Management Fee, if that Fee is hit with HST, whereas before July 1/2010 Management fees were not taxed.

Looks like only the rich will have the real benefits.