Plan B Forum

for lawyers and others who want to pretend they are...

As some of you may have read in another thread, my mother recently passed away.

Afterward, among many other things, I canceled her cable tv and her telephone service.

Recently, I received refunds from each of them - or I should say, my mother...er... no my father did (he died in 1994).

My mother left all of the utility bills in my father's name.

My first thought was to sign my father's name and endorse it over to myself. Nobody's going to pay attention, right?

Then I thought, the $80.00 or so isn't worth the risk.

But what is the risk?

I am trustee of my mother's estate, but my father's name isn't on the trust.

Whattaya think?

I accept legal and illegal advice.

thanks...

If you are thr trustee, doesn't that give the equivalence of power of attorney? I'd say it's yours.

Liberty1 wrote:If you are thr trustee, doesn't that give the equivalence of power of attorney? I'd say it's yours.

Yes, I'm the trustee and also the beneficiary of most of what is in the trust. But the checks aren't made out to my mother - and the trust is in her name. I suppose I could sign the checks and add 'as attorney in fact' and see what happens but I don't know if that is the correct way of doing it.

Well I'm an engineer, don't listen to me, but I think you just need to find out the correct procedure.

I know someone else will weigh in.

Drop the endorsed check into a Salvation Army kettle.

dales wrote:Drop the endorsed check into a Salvation Army kettle.

Great idea.

That's probably the best solution.

Who would challenge that?

Who was the trustee for your FATHER'S estate?

Then again, I assume Mom has power of attorney for him...?

JG: As a technical matter, the check payable to your dad belongs in his estate (which presumably was closed years ago); if your mother was the beneficiary of his estate, then it goes to her and is now part of her estate, to be distributed with the rest of her estate according to the terms of her will, if she had one, and if not, according to her state's intestate succession statute. As a pratical matter, did your mom still have a bank account, and did she leave your dad's name on the account? Even if not, I would simply write "For Deposit Only" on the back of the check and your mom's account number, then deposit it into her bank account (or trust account).

You may be her trustee, but are you also the executor of her estate? What are the terms of the trust, and why was it created? Did she have any assets outside the trust?

Sue U wrote:You may be her trustee, but are you also the executor of her estate? What are the terms of the trust, and why was it created? Did she have any assets outside the trust?

My mother set up the trust in order to avoid probate and pass on her real & residual property to me. The only property she had outside of the trust was in a bank account - in her name only - that was POD to me. If I hadn't already changed the bank account to my name, I suppose this wouldn't be an issue.

There is no will, and according to California law at least, the trust is all that is needed to leave the property to your designated beneficiaries, although a pour over will is recommended.

So, in my unlegal mind, I'm the person who has the legal right to the refund but when I spoke to AT&T and Comcast, I was told they have to pay the refund to the account owner. I didn't challenge them and figured I'd deal with it later. There were (and are) too many other important things that I'm dealing with.

To answer Jarlaxle; when my father died, there was no trust or will. My mother's name was on her real property and bank accounts and everything just went to her.

And thanks for the link, Keld.

It looks like if I were to send a copy of a death certificate and the trust to AT&T and Comcast, I may be able to get them to make the refunds out to me.

But I'm still leaning toward the much simpler idea of forgery for charity...

Your Mama raised you right, son!