Hi. I have been thinking about posting here for a few days and decided to try it out because I'm not sure what i'm doing. My mom and dad got divorced 12 years ago, mom died in January and she was broke and left nothing, and my dad died in an accident last month and was not prepared with a will. About 3 days after my dads death, his dad, my grandpa, had me sign a paper allowing him to be executor of his will, and in my grief I agreed, and I still believe I potentially made the right choice in that but I have some questions. I live in WA State, and I am a 28yo single male. My brother is a drug addict on the streets and my grandpa said we need to go through probate court so that my brother doesn't inherit money and use it for drugs, in an attempt to set up a trust for him. My dad listed his girlfriend as his life insurance beneficiary, and she is the sole beneficiary and will receive 30k or so. He had about 185,000 in retirement, a 401k i'm assuming, that will be split between my brother and myself. His only assets were also a 2008 pickup that is entirely paid off, a trailer, and a boat to put on it (the boat that killed him). My grandpa said that if I receive my half, and decide to take it out all at once, I will get taxed about 25% on it, and have it put me in another income bracket. For now, I am a student, and work part time, and receive insurance benefits from the state and help with financial aid through the pell grant. He suggested I invest it with his stock guy, and keep it in an account that it can gain money, while taking out smaller amounts at a time that are free from a giant tax hit. He also said my dads personal assets(truck, boat once it's recovered from the river, and trailer) would need to be sold to cover any money he owed, and as far as I know, the only money my grandpa is trying to get covered is the funeral expenses, which he covered, my dad didn't owe much else besides that and my dad didn't know he'd be covering the funeral expenses with his estate. My questions are:
Does this sound all legitimate? My grandpa is a stand up guy but it just sounds like he's hiding something from me. I don't know what.
Does the truck need to be sold, or as a beneficiary, the one that isn't on drugs on the street, am I entitled to receiving his personal assets such as his truck/trailer/boat, by law, without my grandpa trying to sell them for money to cover expenses? When my mom died, I took her death certificate, and the registration to the DMV and transferred the title with no problems over to my name and didn't have to pay any taxes. My grandpa told me that because this truck is worth more that I cannot do the same with this vehicle, and that my brother owns half of it, so therefore I can't just take it.
Is there an inheritance tax in WA state that would go after the retirement money if I decided to withdraw it? Is my grandpas suggestion to keep it with his stock guy a good idea, he says he can get a family discount, or should I get my own stock guy, or what? I don't know what to do.
Can we prevent my brother from getting the money and using it for drugs somehow? It's in probate court right now so I'm not sure what to do now or where this is even going, we just know that if he gets the money, it'll be spent on heroin and he will be dead within a year we're guessing, so we want to avoid that and keep it safe for him to use when/if he gets clean and has his head on straight.
Will I lose my health insurance and financial aid if I receive this retirement money, because I suddenly would have more money in my name?
I don't care to see the boat or trailer end up in my name but I know my dad would want me to have his truck and i'd like to keep it in the family, I have no lawyers to talk to, or anyone else experienced with this sort of thing to help and I know i'm asking a lot i've just seen you guys work miracles here and I'm under a mountain of stress and still grieving I just don't know what to do.
thanks for any help, I know i'm asking a lot...
Submitted July 24, 2018 at 08:59PM by benjam3n https://ift.tt/2LJXdaN
