{"id":1373,"date":"2023-09-08T10:01:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-08T14:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dmcccorp.org\/edu\/?p=1373"},"modified":"2023-10-26T12:20:13","modified_gmt":"2023-10-26T16:20:13","slug":"what-happens-to-your-money-and-debt-when-you-die","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dmcccorp.org\/edu\/what-happens-to-your-money-and-debt-when-you-die\/","title":{"rendered":"What happens to your money and debt when you die?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Debt doesn\u2019t just go away when someone dies.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most debts get passed on to any surviving family members after someone passes away. If you do nothing to plan for this inevitability, the state in which you live will decide how your estate should be handled.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cWhen someone dies and has no directions of how their assets should be distributed, the assets will pass according to the laws of intestacy,\u201d says Michael Silver, a Certified Financial Planner professional with Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors in Boca Raton, Florida. \u201cSo every state has created its own will if you never signed one.\u201d But your state\u2019s will may not reflect your wishes.<\/span><\/p>\n

The best way to avoid future family feuds, high legal fees, court costs and unnecessary delays is to plan now.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI always tell people I think it\u2019s just irresponsible not to have these affairs in order,\u201d says Silver. \u201cIt\u2019s our responsibility not to put the burden on others.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take a look at smart ways to dispose of your assets and debts so that your heirs don\u2019t get short-changed or perturbed.<\/span><\/p>\n

How it works<\/span><\/p>\n

If you do have a will, your assets and debts will be handled during probate, a public court-supervised process in which your assets are distributed to creditors and heirs \u2013 in that order. \u201cIf there are assets insufficient to pay the charges, there\u2019s a dictation in every state\u2019s probate rule about the ordering of claims,\u201d says Ted Kurlowicz, professor of taxation at The American College in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.<\/span><\/h5>\n

But there are ways to avoid probate. For instance, if you own a home as joint tenants with right of survivorship, the home goes directly to the other owner, typically a spouse. If you have a retirement account, a deferred annuity or a life insurance policy, these assets will be disbursed to your named beneficiaries. And any assets in a bank account or certificate of deposit also could go to a named beneficiary, known in bank lingo as payable on death or transfer on death. Or you could create a trust for your assets that enables them to be distributed outside of probate, affording your family more privacy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Avoiding probate doesn\u2019t mean you can dodge creditors though. More on that later.<\/span><\/p>\n

Different rules in different states<\/span><\/h5>\n

Each state has a probate code that determines the order in which expenses and debts are paid.  To add to the complexity, nine states are community property states, which treat marital assets differently than common law property states. Community property states include Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Washington, for example, a married couple can enter into an agreement that converts everything they own and acquire into community property with the proviso that the surviving spouse receives the property at death, says Kristi Mathisen, managing director of tax and financial planning at Laird Norton Wealth Management in Seattle. \u201cThe surviving spouse can walk into a bank with the executed agreement and the death certificate and say, \u2018Even though that account is in the name of my husband, that account is now mine.\u2019 And it doesn\u2019t have to pass through probate or anything else.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Without the agreement, all property acquired during the marriage is presumed to be owned equally by each spouse, so each spouse owns half. And when a spouse dies, both halves of the couple\u2019s property go into probate, where debts are settled and assets distributed. The spouse owns half of what\u2019s left after paying the debts and the will of the deceased directs who gets the other half.<\/span><\/p>\n

If there\u2019s no will, the surviving spouse gets all of the community property, though there are special rules for separate property that was owned before the marriage or received through a gift or inheritance.<\/span><\/p>\n

How to bequeath your home<\/span><\/h5>\n

If a home is jointly owned with right of survivorship, the survivor gets the home and generally takes responsibility for any mortgage obligation on the property.<\/span><\/p>\n

If your home is in your name only, in most cases it doesn\u2019t make sense to gift it to family members while you\u2019re still alive. That\u2019s because your family members will lose a valuable tax benefit, known as step-up in basis. If you gift the home prior to death, your heirs will have to pay capital gains tax on the difference between what you paid for the home, known as your cost basis, and the amount it sold for. But if the home is part of your estate, your heirs get a step-up in basis, so that its value at the time of your death becomes the new cost basis. Voila! There\u2019s no capital gains tax due when you sell the home.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI see a lot of people not knowing all of these different nuances and wildly and blindly transferring their home prior to their death and giving up a lot of tax advantages,\u201d says Silver.<\/span><\/p>\n

What happens to your debts<\/span><\/h5>\n

It\u2019s not a good idea to run up a lot of credit card debt before your grand departure and then expect your heirs to get your assets. \u201cDebts don\u2019t die with you,\u201d says Mathisen. \u201cThey survive your death and before considering all of the claims of your family members, your debts get paid first. Then your family inherits.\u201d In community property states, all of a couple\u2019s property can be used to pay the debts at death. \u201cThe survivor, after probate, is done with the debts,\u201d says Mathisen. \u201cSo you get some closure, you get that fresh start after.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Creditors in the strongest position to collect debt are those who finance home and car loans. \u201cAny time there\u2019s a physical asset they can take back as collateral, they\u2019ve got something to work with,\u201d says Silver. \u201cIf it\u2019s just a note, it makes it very difficult to collect.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, it\u2019s the responsibility of the estate to settle debts, so these don\u2019t just disappear. Just about every asset you own is up for grabs \u2013 including IRAs, 401(k)s, bank and brokerage accounts, and even homes held in a revocable living trust or as joint tenants with right of survivorship.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kurlowicz has seen cases where inherited IRAs were raided by creditors. \u201cThey may not be able to force you to use those assets while you\u2019re alive, but it could happen after death.\u201d That could result in unintended consequences \u2013 such as some beneficiaries getting less than others.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some assets (and debts) have wiggle room<\/span><\/h5>\n

A life insurance policy is one asset that will generally go directly to the named beneficiary, as long as the beneficiary designation is clear. Otherwise, it could end up in probate, subject to creditor claims. Even if you have permanent life insurance with a cash value, creditors can\u2019t force you to take it out to pay debts while you\u2019re still alive, and the proceeds will go to a named beneficiary after your death without any interference, says Kurlowicz.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some unsecured debts are often negotiated down. Even though creditors can go after the estate, \u201cit may be time consuming, expensive and cumbersome for the creditor and they may be happy to settle,\u201d says Silver.<\/span><\/p>\n

But if you owe the IRS, forget about expecting instant forgiveness. \u201cThe estate will have to settle with the IRS directly. That doesn\u2019t happen through probate,\u201d says Mathisen. On top of that, she adds, \u201cThe executor is personally liable for the unpaid tax if other debts are paid first or assets are distributed before the IRS is fully paid.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

If you owe more money than you own, it\u2019s a good idea to hire an asset protection attorney. \u201cMistakes in this area can lead to some unhappy beneficiaries and inefficiencies in paying off the debts,\u201d says Kurlowicz.<\/span><\/p>\n

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To read full article, click HERE<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

DMCC is a 501 (c)3 nonprofit organization committed to educating consumers on financial issues and providing personal assistance to consumers who have become overextended with debt.\u00a0 Education is provided free of charge to consumers, as well as personal counseling to identify the best options for the repayment of their debt. To speak to a certified credit counselor, call toll-free 866-618-3328 or email\u00a0<\/em>contact@dmcconline.org<\/em><\/a>.DMCC is located at 1330 SE 4th Ave, Suite F, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Debt doesn\u2019t just go away when someone dies. Most debts get passed on to any surviving family members after someone passes away. If you do nothing to plan for this inevitability, the state in which you live will decide how your estate should be handled.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5shu1-m9","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dmcccorp.org\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dmcccorp.org\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dmcccorp.org\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dmcccorp.org\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dmcccorp.org\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1373"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.dmcccorp.org\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1986,"href":"https:\/\/www.dmcccorp.org\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1373\/revisions\/1986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dmcccorp.org\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dmcccorp.org\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dmcccorp.org\/edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}