Tag Archives: probate court

Defeat of DOMA has major estate tax implications

The Supreme Court today made a decision to strike down DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act); this will dramatically expand the access of married gay couples to many federal benefits related to tax, health and pension that have been denied to them until now.  This decision affects same sex couples in the 12 states and the District of Columbia which allow gay marriage; these couples represent about 18% of the U.S. population.  With the addition of California, the percentage will shoot up to 30%.be even higher.

DOMA was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1996, and prevented the government from granting marriage benefits in more than 1,000 federal statutes to same-sex married couples in the states that allowed gay marriage.

One very important benefit of today’s Supreme Court decision is related to estate taxes.  Until now, same sex married couples could not benefit from married couple estate tax laws.  Now they will have the same benefits as all other married couples.

According to Yahoo News,  ” Eighty-three-year-old New Yorker Edith Windsor brought the DOMA suit after she was made to pay more than $363,000 in estate taxes when her same-sex spouse died. If the federal government had recognized her marriage of more than four decades, Windsor would not have owed the sum. ”

With the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down DOMA with a 5-4 vote, Windsor will finally be eligible for a tax refund, plus interest.

For more information about estate taxes and settling an estate, go to www.diesmart.com.

Need a death certificate? Here’s how to get one.

Someone wrote to us at diesmart.com and said she needed help finding an attorney so she could get an original death certificate of a deceased relative.

A death certificate is the official certified document which is filed upon a person’s death.  You might wonder why she would need an original or certified copy.  There are several possible reasons; here are just a few of them.

  • To settle an estate
  • To end government services such as Social Security or Medicaid
  • To collect on an insurance policy

We may not know the exact reason she needs one but there is one thing that is certain; she definitely doesn’t need an attorney to get a death certificate.

Here are the simple steps that she, and anyone else who needs one, should take.  There are several websites that offer to help you obtain copies of death certificates.  However, those copies are not certified or “official”.

1.  Determine whether you are eligible to receive a death certificate.  In most states, you must be a surviving relative of the deceased, their authorized representative or executor, or a funeral director in charge of the disposition of the deceased.

2.  Find the contact information for the department of vital statistics in the state where the person died.  This department may be part of the state’s department of health and human services or the state’s records department.  Regardless of its name, it is where all births, deaths, marriages and divorces are recorded for that state.  You can usually find the contact information by searching the web.  You will need the mailing address for submitting a request and, if you have questions about the process, you should also find their phone number.

3.  Some states require a letter with a great deal of information about the deceased as well as the requestor.  Others have a form available online which can be downloaded.  Regardless of whether it’s a letter or a form, you will have to provide the necessary information and either mail it to the facility or take it there.

Here’s the information that must be provided:

  •  Full name of the deceased
  • Date of the request
  • Deceased’s date of birth and date of death
  • Location of the death (city, state, county)
  • The deceased’s gender – male or female
  • Your relationship to the deceased
  • Why the certified copy of the death certificate is needed
  • A copy of your driver’s license or, at least, your driver’s license number and issuing state
  • Your name and current address
  • Your handwritten signature

4. Write a check for the amount due.  Most states charge between $10 and $15 per certified copy and it usually takes a week or 10 days for you to receive the copy.  In addition, some states offer same day service for a higher fee.

5.  Place the completed application or letter in an envelope, along with any identity documents and a check or money order to cover the fee.  Also enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope in which the certificate you’ve requested can be sent to you.  Mail this material to the department address which you obtained earlier.

Although a lawyer may be very helpful in resolving many of the issues that arise after someone dies.  However, he or she is not needed if you only want to receive a death certificate.

For more information about death certificates, go to www.diesmart.com.

Opt out – It’s one more way to prevent identity theft

You probably know that identity theft is a huge problem in the United States.  It occurs when someone uses your name or Social Security number to obtain identity documents and then uses them for financial gain.  But you may be surprised to learn that 25% of all identity thefts are of people who are deceased.

There are several ways to prevent identity theft and these are discussed in our book “Grave Robbers…How to Prevent Identity Theft of the Deceased.”  The second edition of this book will be out shortly.

One way you can deter thieves is by not getting unsolicited applications for credit cards or insurance.  If you’re like me, you get at least a few of these mailings every week.  And what happens to these applications?  If they come to your home,  you quickly retrieve them from your mailbox and then shred them, probably nothing.  But if they come to the home of someone who is deceased, they may sit in the mailbox for awhile, easy prey for an identity theft.

There’s one simple thing you can do.  Go to OptOutPrescreen.com and opt out.

What does this mean?  The consumer crediting reporting companies usually include your name on lists used by creditors or insurers to make offers.  When you opt out, your name can longer be included which frees you from unsolicited mail and protects your identity.  When you opt out on behalf of someone who is deceased, you are making it more difficult for an identity thief to steal their identity by applying for credit cards or insurance in their name.

It only takes a few seconds to do, costs nothing and will not only eliminate some of the unwanted mail you probably receive every day but will protect your identity as well.

For more information about identity theft as well as other end of life and after death issues, check out our website: diesmart.com.

 

Vermont passes doctor-assisted suicide law

Yesterday, the Vermont House of Representatives voted in favor of a bill that will legalize doctor-assisted suicide.  The State Senate had approved the measure previously.  All that remains is for Governor Peter Shumlin to sign the bill and the Patient Choices at the End of Life Act will become the law.

The bill is patterned after the Oregon model, which has several built-in safeguards.  These include a requirement that the patient state three times – once in writing – that they want to die.  Another safeguard is the requirement of a concurring opinion from a second doctor that a patient has less than six months to live and is of sound mind.

Critics of the bill feel that there is potential for abuse of senior citizens, while those in support of it believe that it makes a positive statement about the value of personal freedom.

If the governor signs the bill, Vermont will become only the fourth state in the US to permit doctors to help patients to die by writing a prescription for a lethal dose of medication.  The other three states – all in the west – where this is legal are Oregon, Washington state and Montana.

For information about end of life issues and planning, go to www.diesmart.com.

Your digital after life: Does Google’s Inactive Account Manager offer more control?

There has been a lot of discussion and controversy over the last few years about what happens to your digital assets when you die.

Earlier this week, Google took a stab at solving this issue for its users when it announced the launch of its Inactive Account Manager.  This is a system that enables you to tell Google “what you want done with your digital assets when you die or can no longer use your account.”

First, using Inactive Account Manager, you can tell Google when you want your account to be treated as inactive and “time out”.  You can choose from three, six, nine or twelve months.  At the end of that period, Google will try to contact you by text or secondary email to be sure you really meant to “time out”.

Second, you can add up to ten friends or family members who should be notified that your account is inactive.  The assumption is that you’re deceased if you have let your account go inactive.  However, hopefully, if you’re just traveling around the world and don’t have access to email or you’ve decided to hibernate for a year and not go online, one of your friends or family members will let Google know.

What happens when your account becomes inactive?  You can choose to share your data with one or more of those friends or family members OR you can instruct Google to delete your account.  In that case, all associated data will be deleted including things such as your publicly shared YouTube videos, Google+ posts or blogs on Blogger.

With the new Inactive Account Manager, Google thinks it will avoid some of the conflicts that occur today when relatives of the deceased want access to their data and, in many cases, can’t get it.  With Inactive Account Manager, you will designate what happens to the data.  If you want a family member to get it, you indicate the data you want shared and with whom.

But what if your wishes conflict with those of a  family member or close friend?  According to a Google spokesperson, “we will honor the preference you’ve made in Inactive Account Manager to the extent permitted by law.”

We wondered what an attorney would think of Google’s new tool and contacted Daniel I. Spector, Esq., a lawyer with Spector Weir, LLP in Sacramento, CA.  According to Dan, “It’s a nifty first attempt at dealing with this tricky issue, but I believe the solution is ahead of the law.  The information in one’s account is an asset ” and “the law wisely requires certain steps to be taken before a person can…..take possession of a dead person’s assets.”  Someone who is appointed the executor or trustee of the estate must have their appointment recognized by the court and must follow set procedures for identifying and distributing assets.  They can’t arbitrarily be given to a friend or relative without going through the legal process.  Someday the law will catch up with what Google wants to do but it’s not there yet.

For more information about digital assets and the way companies like Facebook and Twitter handle them after someone has died, go to https://diesmart.com.  You can also find information there about probate and what it means.