I'm the executor of my late aunt's estate.
I'm finding out that it's an interesting process. You not only have a responsibility for ensuring that her wishes get carried out; you also have a responsibility for ensuring that the county, the state and the federal government get their cut wishes carried out. And of course the attorney has to be paid.
The county and the state of Tennessee isn't going to get any money from taxes from her estate but they are getting fees. You can't just go into probate because you want to. You have to pay a fee, and not a small one, to do that in both the county and state in Tennessee. The federal government may get involved through income taxes from certain investments. Fortunately it doesn't appear any government will get any inheritance tax.
I will be submitting her will for probate today. That's for the portion of her estate which only represents about 10 to 15% of the amount she left. The attorney advised me that it would probably take the remainder of the year to fully distribute that portion and possibly longer. The remainder of her estate was all in transfer on death accounts. That gets handled by her investment firm and will probably get fully distributed in 30 days or so. I only have to present the death certificate and sign some documents for that. They do the rest.
I see a message in this. Don't ever think that government can do anything as efficiently, as thoroughly or as quickly as the private sector. Of course that's why we have so many laws (and fees). If the government had to compete on a level playing field it would be no contest. That's why I get a little shiver up my back when I hear the new administration saying that government will be taking a larger role in medical care. Yikes.
June 5, 2009 in
Life |
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If overhead cost is a measure of efficiency, Medicare beats private for-profit health insurance companies hands down. Medicare overhead is 4 - 5% while private health care overhead is 15 - 50%.
Posted by: Jerry Critter at Jun 5, 2009 4:21:24 PM
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