In Death and Dying (again)

[veni vidi vici]

Likewise. We had no children, but my house is now paid off (life insurance -- thank you, love!) and there are pension and mutual funds that need either to be put in trust, or to have clear beneficiaries attached. That's what I'm fighting with now: my wife called TIAA/Cref and specified she wanted me named beneficiary on all her investment funds. Well, they did that for one account (the most recent), but as an itinerant academic, she had TIAA & state pension accounts from many different universities stretching back 32 years. Some had other family members named as beneficiaries, including her now-deceased father, or no named beneficiary at all. Some had changed hands between fund owners and now exist under other names & ID numbers. Total value is ~$200k, and that's really close to the limit for claiming via Small Estate Affidavits. The alternative is probate court, which is the nightmare we were trying to avoid. I can't even find out the exact value of the funds, b/c TIAA and Value Line won't disclose the account numbers or holdings to me until I establish ownership. But I can't claim ownership without knowing the account numbers and values.

So we are playing all sorts of games to try to suss out what funds are in whose name & how much $ they represent before filing a good-faith claim for the remainder. All because the investment funds were hyper-literal about assigning beneficiaries. If you don't specify every single account and sub-account by number, you may be in for a nasty surprise. Likewise if you do hire lawyers, have a fancy will drawn up and witnessed, put it thru probate, etc & there is one asset not properly designated or represented in the probate documents, all your expensive preparation can go for naught. Like JonB's house title that never got changed. We'd like to think an estate lawyer would spot the problem and call attention to it, but my (limited) experience with attorneys suggests they might not.

Thanks for the reminder of all the things that can cause massive problems sorting it out and if it is probate there are
“ Can't you feel them circling, honey?
Can't you feel them swimming around?
You got fins to the left, fins to the right
And you're the only bait in town
Oh-whoa, oh-whoa
You got fins to the left, fins to the right
And you're the only girl in town“

 

[Goodvibes]

Years ago we had a High School Reunion. One of them was Lawyer specialising in Wills and Estate Planning.

In the years since, it has always shit me that all his emails have the footer for his practice, when everyone else uses personal templates. I got a bit suspicious.

So after 19 years of this, I discovered from one of his victims that he has been picking off group members using this pattern. Parents dying was the main trigger.

1. Offers to assist his friends, "I'm semi-retired, time to help ..."
2. Kicks it off, then "Look I'm too expensive, to keep cost down I've appointed a junior to manage the routine stuff."
3. Then sends invoices double or triple the market rate. Playing on the 'friendship' to get it payed. I saw a women cry telling the story.

Sometimes conspiracy theories are right. Fucking Christians.

Fuck him.

EDIT: Another school friend victim had to sell his house to pay the legal bills, now living in what Americans call a Trailer Park.

 

[130lights]

Likewise. We had no children, but my house is now paid off (life insurance -- thank you, love!) and there are pension and mutual funds that need either to be put in trust, or to have clear beneficiaries attached. That's what I'm fighting with now: my wife called TIAA/Cref and specified she wanted me named beneficiary on all her investment funds. Well, they did that for one account (the most recent), but as an itinerant academic, she had TIAA & state pension accounts from many different universities stretching back 32 years. Some had other family members named as beneficiaries, including her now-deceased father, or no named beneficiary at all. Some had changed hands between fund owners and now exist under other names & ID numbers. Total value is ~$200k, and that's really close to the limit for claiming via Small Estate Affidavits. The alternative is probate court, which is the nightmare we were trying to avoid. I can't even find out the exact value of the funds, b/c TIAA and Value Line won't disclose the account numbers or holdings to me until I establish ownership. But I can't claim ownership without knowing the account numbers and values.

So we are playing all sorts of games to try to suss out what funds are in whose name & how much $ they represent before filing a good-faith claim for the remainder. All because the investment funds were hyper-literal about assigning beneficiaries. If you don't specify every single account and sub-account by number, you may be in for a nasty surprise. Likewise if you do hire lawyers, have a fancy will drawn up and witnessed, put it thru probate, etc & there is one asset not properly designated or represented in the probate documents, all your expensive preparation can go for naught. Like JonB's house title that never got changed. We'd like to think an estate lawyer would spot the problem and call attention to it, but my (limited) experience with attorneys suggests they might not.

Great advice in this thread .

 

[veni vidi vici]

.

 

[hasher]

 

[NeedAClew]

I am going on hiatus from online. Too much sitting and snarking. When I get back, I hope you are here @Ed Lada , if you WANT to be. If not, I have enjoyed your posts and wish you a peaceful journey.
See y'all in a while.

 

[veni vidi vici]

Not to dimmed the wonderful sharing and pondering of life and death in this thread
.

 

[Snaggletooth]

Red pille, the $10M woude be a meare bagge of shelles comparred to what Ide haive by aige thirtey.

 

[veni vidi vici]

Checking the boxes
Not as much fun or exciting as teens and 20’s
Had a carotid ultrasound recently and was asked to call the doctor on a voicemail.
Carotid has age appropriate stenosis for my general condition of BP and cholesterol medication control. However a nodule was observed on or near my thyroid , so off to get that ultrasound this afternoon.
Whatever….

 

[Steam Flyer]

Checking the boxes
Not as much fun or exciting as teens and 20’s
Had a carotid ultrasound recently and was asked to call the doctor on a voicemail.
Carotid has age appropriate stenosis for my general condition of BP and cholesterol medication control. However a nodule was observed on or near my thyroid , so off to get that ultrasound this afternoon.
Whatever….

Make sure you tell your doctor that you think he's a deluded quack for following federal medical-science guidelines. Cholesterol is a goddam Democrat hoax!

 

[MR.CLEAN]

Red pille, the $10M woude be a meare bagge of shelles comparred to what Ide haive by aige thirtey.

What's your family worth to ya

 

[00seven]

Make sure you tell your doctor that you think he's a deluded quack for following federal medical-science guidelines. Cholesterol is a goddam Democrat hoax!

Christ sake, you're all kinds of fucked up. Leave that BS in PA.

 

[Bus Driver]

Christ sake, you're all kinds of fucked up. Leave that BS in PA.

Yeah. Please don't mess up this thread. We owe it to Ed to keep this thread clean.

 

[Ed Lada]

Yeah. Please don't mess up this thread. We owe it to Ed to keep this thread clean.

I understand how you feel Bus. However I've injected politics into not political threads, I would feel like a bit of a hypocrite to get upset if they appear here. I don't like hypocrisy so I do my best to stay honest.

 

[Goodvibes]

Checking the boxes
Not as much fun or exciting as teens and 20’s
Had a carotid ultrasound recently and was asked to call the doctor on a voicemail.
Carotid has age appropriate stenosis for my general condition of BP and cholesterol medication control. However a nodule was observed on or near my thyroid , so off to get that ultrasound this afternoon.
Whatever….

Please keep us posted on how it goes.

I may be the only one interested in whether you reject the bullshit diagnosis from the Phizer funded GP's. You know, the ones who push vaccinations. This will be fascinating.

 

[madrat]

Not to dimmed the wonderful sharing and pondering of life and death in this thread
.

View attachment 571646

Careful, the red pill could start a infinite loop, eg: if at 52 I chose the red pill, back to six - then 46 years later would the red pill repeat automagically and back to six again?

 

[Snaggletooth]

Thet woude be up to you, juste licke the firste time.

 

[Bus Driver]

Hoping Ed is either enjoying his time away from this place or that his transition was smooth and what he wanted.

 

[Ed Lada]

Hoping Ed is either enjoying his time away from this place or that is transition was smooth and what he wanted.

Thanks for the kind thoughts Bus. I'm still hanging in there, I'm a stubborn fucker. But even I have a limit.

 

[130lights]

Thanks for the kind thoughts Bus. I'm still hanging in there, I'm a stubborn fucker. But even I have a limit.

Stay stubborn…