Did you try a tax/estate lawyer?
Even if your Mom avoided probate, the executor can sometimes open an estate account, I believe. After all, the check is addressed to the estate; it’s part of the estate; and the executor is empowered to take actions to distribute the proceeds of the estate.
Also, the estate has not been properly settled.. a new asset was found.
Some of the better banks even have trust departments who can guide you here. Don't give up.
Yeah, I think you just have to find a bank that will cash it. Check around, try small local banks, as they are usually more accommodating. Show them your paperwork, and see if you can open an account for the “Estate of XXX” and deposit the check there.
I’m guessing you will find some small bank more than happy to cash the check if you are depositing those funds with them.
The estate isn't settled, and wasn't, if there was a settlement from the IRS still in limbo.
/johnny
“Never give up. Never, never, never, never, never, never, never.” — Winston Churchill.
Send it to me….I’ll give you a thou…..(just endorse it first….)
yikes!
I have no experience.
Comments one and two sound goodb
The point is you need an attorney that represents you, not the IRS.
Just have your wife endorse the check and send it to me.
Just kidding...I’ve had a similar situation many years ago (and for a piddling amount of money) and had to “shop around” to get it properly paid. If you haven’t already done so, you should go back to your county office that handles probate (if that’s how it’s done in your state) and see if they can “reopen” the estates. Failing that, I’d recommend shopping for an attorney who would be willing to get it settled for a reasonable fee.
Good luck!
So you are saying there was no probate, before, because all assets were held in a trust, so there was no “estate” to which probate would pertain? But now there IS an estate, which is the IRS check. So you should be able to go to court and open the estate, get a court document showing your wife as the executor/administrator. Then you can go to a bank to open the account to use the check.
This isn’t unusual. Some legwork and an attorney can help set up the estate paperwork and bank account.
What would happen if you took the check to one of the Federal Banks and ask them to cash it for you(check issued by the Feds)?
Too bad your wife can’t just sign it twice, with “Executor” after her second signature (line 2).
Try East West Bank. I think they are headquartered in CA. I have had an account with them for years. They are a Chinese owned commercial bank out of Hong Kong. Lets just say they are flexible sometimes.
Without pretending to give you legal advice, the IRS atty is correct. You just have to find a cooperative bank and it may take a while. We had a trust situation and the brokerage where my Dad/folks had been for 20+ years had a problem with something or other similar to this topic. Aka “’titling’” on a remittance instrument”.
We (my brother included, who is an attorney but not an estate attorney for 40+ years) showed the brokerage the trust, including the original notarized copy, he wrote a letter, we showed them my folk’s underlying will.....and they still would not do what we wanted which was utterly normal.
My Dad was 92 at the time, so at that age, you never know what might happen. He was reasonably cogent but it was dicey whether he would pass as such from a notary. (Had he become non-competent during this transition period, that would have been $50K++ in fees to get that fixed as far as him making a change in the trust, so we were quite freaked out, to say the least) We worked with the brokerage for 2 weeks with no luck, meanwhile looking for another who *would* execute the terms of the trust. On the day we decided to exit the brokerage we just did. We ACH’ed the contents of the brokerage account and ten or so days later, all the contents had landed at the new brokerage.
You sound like you understand more than normal amount of stuff about the trust, etc; but you are probably going to have to get with an attorney (and not just any atty, a genuine estate/trust atty) and have him/her negotiate with the bank, but you can present your story to the bank (more specifically, the banks legal department) and it is possible in the worst case that you might have to purchase a bond to guarantee the validity of the remittance and the endorsement. And it might cost you 10% of the corpus plus a few grand for the atty.
My advice would be to on your own seek face to face with people in the legal depts of prospect banks and see if you can develop personal rapport an an algorithm as to what specifically they would require-—before you hire an atty.
Not legal advice!
Just get a local bank that is not a chain or have your lawyer deposit it in a trust account and then cut you a check.
Subject : IRS REFUND CHECK
FROM THE OFFICE MR SULEMAN BELLO
AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK (ADB).
OUAGADOUGOU BURKINA FASO.
WEST AFRICA.
I AM SULEMAN BELLO, THE AUDITOR GENERAL OF AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK HERE IN BURKINA FASO. I THINK THAT WE MAY BE ABLE TO HELP ONE ANOTHER OUT OF EACH OTHER FINANCIAL PREDICUMENTS. DURING THE COURSE OF OUR AUDITING, I DISCOVERED A FLOATING FUND IN AN ACCOUNT OPENED IN THE BANK BY MR JOHN KOROVO AND AFTER GOING THROUGH SOME OLD FILES IN THE RECORDS I DISCOVERED THAT THE OWNER OF THE ACCOUNT DIED IN THE (BEIRUT-BOUND CHARTER JET) PLANE CRASH ON THE 25TH DECEMBER 2003 IN COTONOU (REPUBLIC OF BENIN).
AND NOBODY HAS OPERATED ON THIS ACCOUNT AGAIN, THE OWNER ……..
This attorney is at least aware of the all the antecedent events and wouldn't necessarily regard this request as "fishy." At the very least, the attorney could point you in the right direction.
Best of luck!