Posted on 08/20/2014 12:55:18 PM PDT by Cementjungle
RANT!
It's a frustrating situation to have in your hands a check from the US Treasury for over $141,000 and you can't do a darned thing with it except frame it and hang it on the wall as a souvenir.
My MIL passed away in 2011, and my wife (as the only surviving relative) was named in the will as the executor of the estate and successor to the trust. The will was filed with the courts in L.A. and the long process began.
We paid the IRS $240K the first year in estimated estate taxes along with a request for an extension. The next year we filed the 706 and were refunded $68K. My wife transferred her mom's properties into her name and sold them, dealt with bank accounts, IRA and other investments.
Last year we get a notice from the IRS that the estate filing had been chosen for an audit... so we did all the work involved in that. The IRS attorney wound up REDUCING the estate and then finally (recently) issued her a check for over $141K. Great... except the check is useless.
The check is made out to my wife (on line one) and on line 2 it says (Estate of..... her mom's name). Our banks (Chase and B of A) will not touch the check because there's no account with the name of "Estate of XXXXXX". We showed them the will naming her as executor, the trust agreement, the IRS estate filing, the subsequent tax filings for her mom's trust, the correspondence with the IRS that led to the refund.
No go... since this was a trust there was no probate court... but the banks insist on a letter from a probate court. We can't probate the estate because the estate has already been properly settled.
We called the IRS attorney... he was very nice, but said there's nothing they can do.... and this happens a lot. He says you just have to keep trying different banks until you can find one that will take the check.
Anyone here have any experience with this sort of thing?
Once the US Treasury check clears... I don't want to jinx it by getting on the Feds' radar as a supporter of a terrorist organization!!!
I brought back some bush-meat from our African safari... good stuff. Want me to mail you some of that?
On the other hand, just coming back from safari... You coughing much?
/johnny
/johnny
Not yet... day 3 and counting... it did make us pretty nervous however, especially being close to people getting on/off flights to/from Lagos, Nigeria. Scary stuff.
We do have to keep taking our malaria pills until Friday...fun.
I had a very similar experience, but a smaller amount, about 16k. I called someone at the bank and they “took care of it”, we deposited the check, no questions asked.
Did you try getting the IRS to reissue the check just in your wife’s name?
And/or — having your wife sign once for herself and once for the estate as “executor”? There doesn’t need to be a bank account in the name of the estate. Suppose the check is made out to person x and person y — they just have to sign, they don’t both need to have accounts at the bank.
I think you may need to get a lawyer and have him/her help with an approach, that will hopefully work.
Yes. The IRS attorney in Oakland who did the audit actually returned our call, heard our story... did some checking and called back. The IRS will not issue checks any other way... her name on line one, the estate name on line two, and then the address. He was very nice and all, and sympathetic... and said this happens to a lot of people. His advice was to try other banks...
The bank(s) refuse any such deposit unless you have an account that is titled "Estate of....". You can only create such an account with a court letter (dated no more than 60 days ago) in hand....period.... no exceptions. At least for Chase and Skank of America.
LMAO.
Pay yo taxes. We’re depending on you!
-Washington DC
Hello
My name is Akinlana and I am from Nigeria and can help you out. Sign over check and I will cash it in my bank in Nigeria and wire you the money.
I am going through a similar situation as executor. I bank with Chase and I had no problems, however you need a tax id to open an estate account. Easy to get one with a phone call. Hope this helps
I know, I got mine with an executor appointment letter from the court. There was effectively no probate because the will was simple and the lawyer worked on time at my request. However, this needs to be directed at the original poster!
Awesome Akinlana and thank-you so much!!!
Of course we will send you the check, once we've confirmed receipt of the minor handling fee and export license fee. Please wire us that $10,000 and we'll immediately forward the check to you for processing.
Set one up.
If I were you, I would jump on that deal with Mr. Suleman Bello of the African Development Bank in Burkina Faso. He sounds like a totally trustworthy person, and would probably give you a good price for the unsold artwork too.
I did that (term was chosen by an IRS trained preparer), and we got a bill from the IRS for a couple of thousand bucks, because they assumed one of us had worked as a paid fiduciary......it all got squared away, though, by our explanatory letter than neither is a working fiduciary, and that this was my 'fee' for settling the dead parents' estate.
(We got the original invoice the same day I'd had my gallbladder yanked, so we sent them a check immediately, with a letter asking WTF - which they actually answered, pointing us in the right direction to get it all cleared up)
I think that there is a bank in Nigeria who would kindly accept that check. A prince of a man contacted me by email once.
I still get those emails from time to time
10000 Nigerian Naira dollars are on the way.
I need your bank account numbers.
http://themoneyconverter.com/NGN/USD.aspx
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