ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, April 14, 1997 TAG: 9704150036
SECTION: MONEY PAGE: 6 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: MONEY MATTERS
SOURCE: MAG POFF
Q: My wife died recently. We didn't have wills, but all of our money, cars and house were titled jointly. We have two children. I was wondering if I need to contact a lawyer or if that's not necessary.
A: You have as simple a situation as possible with jointly held assets and a single heir who holds the joint title. Jointly held property, provided it is titled properly, would pass to you outside of any will had one existed. You could probably get away with handling this estate on your own if you feel competent to do it.
There is one important caveat: This assumes that your children are both the offspring of the marriage in question. If the children came from a former marriage, they become potential heirs as well. In such a case, you would definitely require legal assistance.
Be sure to clean up the details of this estate, even if you handle it on your own. You should visit the clerk of the circuit court in your community and qualify as administrator of the estate. You should follow this procedure because it will clarify your now-sole ownership of the assets and ensure that everything concerning the estate is proper. You should not leave these details for your own heirs to try to resolve years later.
Have you considered writing your own will now? You could perform the service of waiving a bond for your executor if nothing else. But if you ever marry again, a will would be absolutely essential.
Saving heirs expenses
Q: I am a 67-year-old widow who does not have any life insurance. My health is reasonably good for my age except that I have diabetes. Because of this, I feel that I would not be insurable.
What can I do to keep my family from having to pay for my funeral expenses and final debts? I am allowing $5,000 to $7,000 to work with on this.
What about prepaid funerals? Is is OK to put money into a certificate of deposit that could grow? I realize that some things would not be protected if a nursing home is in the future for me.
A: Life insurance would be prohibitively expensive at your age. You should rule out that possibility.
Arranging now for a prepaid funeral would be a very viable idea. You would save your heirs the task of preparing for your service. You would establish the cost in advance right now. In addition, prepaying for your funeral would protect that asset in case you should enter a nursing home in the future. The government would not take this money toward your qualification for Medicaid benefits for a nursing home.
You can keep your other assets in a certificate of deposit, mutual fund or any other investment that can be converted into cash easily. Your estate, not any particular asset, would be used to pay for your final expenses.
Tracking down policies
Q: My husband (now deceased) and I took out 20-year, whole-life insurance policies on each of our two sons when they were born. These policies have been paid up for more than 30 years.
The insurance company, Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., was located in New York City, when the policies were issued. Can you give me any information regarding this company or whom to contact in regard to these policies?
A: Metropolitan Life is an old-line company that still does business in Virginia and nationwide.
Because the policies are paid up, you and your sons should probably leave them alone and take no action in connection with them.
Anyone with a question about any insurance company licensed to do business in Virginia can locate the company by calling the toll-free hot line of the State Corporation Commission. The number is 1-800-552-7945. Punch 1 to be connected to the Bureau of Insurance and 3 to say you want information about a company. You will then be connected to a real person.
If you do that and ask about Metropolitan Life, you will be told that the company is still located at 1 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y. 10010. The telephone number for Metropolitan Life is 212-578-2211.
LENGTH: Medium: 76 linesby CNB