Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, April 11, 1994                   TAG: 9404110145
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Mag Poff
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

YOU CAN BYPASS PROBATE, BUT NOT TAXES ON ESTATE

I have an account with the Federal Reserve Bank in Richmond in my name or my son's name. I have a stock broker account in my name and my son's name.

At my death, can my son take over the accounts without including them in my estate? I would like for him to have them without probating my will.

A: If you have joint accounts with the right of survivorship, the money would pass to your son as co-owner of the accounts at your death. This is true regardless of what the will says.

But you cannot escape taxation this way. The accounts must be added to your other assets for purposes of determining whether the estate has assets of $600,000 and is therefore subject to taxation.

You should not be afraid of your will being probated. Virginia has a simplified and relatively inexpensive probate procedure. And, after all, you have other assets besides those two accounts, such as your household goods and perhaps a home.

Q: I would like to find the address and procedure for cashing a paid-up life insurance policy on my daughter. Her mother is named as beneficiary. The insurance company is Southland Life Insurance Co. of Dallas.

The policy was paid up in 1955. The agent is deceased and the district office no longer exists.

A: The State Corporation Commission maintains a hot line that, among other things, provides information about insurance companies doing business in Virginia.

You need a touch-tone phone to call the line at 1-800-552-7945. The access system is automated, but you will ultimately speak to a person in the correct department.

Even though the company has its home office in Texas, the commission said, its office can be reached by writing P.O. Box 105006, Atlanta, Ga. 30348. The phone number is 404-980-5100. The owner of the policy should contact the company and ask for the proper forms.

Q: If you inherit money from your parents who live in Germany, at what point do you have to pay taxes here in the United States?

A: In the United States, an estate of more than $600,000 is subject to estate taxes. The heirs, on the other hand, pay nothing on previously taxed money.

Alan Moore, a certified public accountant in Roanoke, said the same situation applies in the case of an estate overseas. He said your parents' estate would be subject to German inheritance taxes, but you would not be taxed by the United States at the time you receive the money.

Once you earn money from the estate proceeds, however, you must pay taxes on that income, Moore said. That would be true whether the money is invested in Germany or in the United States. You are taxed on any earnings in your name while the estate is being settled and distributed.

Q: Please furnish me with the names and addresses of lawyers, agencies or bureaus that could help me collect back child support that has reached an arrearage of about $9,000. This case has been in the Virginia court system and before the Division of Child Support Enforcement in Roanoke for nearly 19 years with very little result. The non-payer is self-employed as a masonry contractor in another city, so there is no employer to garnish this debt.

A recent article in your newspaper said the Internal Revenue Service would become active in investigating child support cases, along with the Department of Health and Human Services. I need the addresses or contacts at these agencies to present my case to them.

A: A spokeswoman for the Internal Revenue Service in Richmond said its only participation in child support cases is a joint program with the state to claim tax refund checks for back child support. She said the Internal Revenue Service has no legal authority to take any other type of action. Unless your husband is owed a tax refund, this program would not be of assistance to you.

A supervisor with the Division of Child Support Enforcement in Richmond said it has a service to deal with non-payers who live in cities other than the home of the custodial parent. You can talk to this section by calling toll-free 1-800-257-9986.

Mag Poff will find answers to your personal finance questions. Please send them to her at the Roanoke Times & World-News, P.O. Box 2490, Roanoke 24010. Or call (703) 981-3434 and, at the telephone system's command, enter voice mailbox category MONEY# (6639#). Your message will be recorded.