Who gets the assets and when?

[rhh]

What is the name of your state? CA

Here are the facts:

Dad was killed a few weeks ago - young man of 25

Son is 1 yr+ old

Mom and dad never married...other than a fling no relationship

Dad has about $10K in cash

Dad has car worth about $10K

Deceased father has about $12K in his possesion intended for his grandson..source.. cash donations from from friends etc.

Mom is not financially stable, welfare etc.

Dad and deceased family very close to the boy.

Questions:

1.) Assume the car now belongs to the son? Who can sell? How are the monies distributed? Simply given to the boy's mom?

2.) Cash (dad's) in the bank - how is it distributed? Simply given to the mom?

3.) Cash in the deceased father's account - how is it distributed? Simply given to mom?

The hopes of all family members of the deceased would be to protect the money until the child is 18 or later. Can any portion or all be protected? if you read between the lines, simply giving her the money will piss off the family; while a nice person..not a responsible one.

Thanks in advance for your assistance...

 

[anteater]

There was no reason for you to start another thread.

And, in that earlier thread, there was a very good discussion. I suggest that you enter "california probate inheritance minor guardian" into any search engine. You will receive several relevant links, such as this one:

http://www.scselfservice.org/probate/minor/protectminrassets.htm

Deceased father has about $12K in his possesion intended for his grandson..source.. cash donations from from friends etc.

Presumably you mean "deceased's father." That is not the child's money, at least not until the grandfather decides what to do. He could establish a 529 college savings plan for the child, an UTMA with himself or someone else as custodian, create a trust, etc.

 

[curb1]

1) Call department of motor vehicles for instructions about vehicle.

2) Talk to the bank about bank account.

3) Open up a State College Savings Plan with the cash with you or a responsible family member as the owner of the account. All income in the account until used for college is tax free like an IRA.

 

[rhh]

again thanks for the insight..

where Ii am confused is....doesn't the son inherit the $10K cash and proceeds from the sale of the car?

 

[anteater]

Unless Dad had any other "productive" flings, yes.

 

[Texas Pooh]

Rhh,

Go to the excellent website posted by anteater, which explains many of the questions you had in both the original post and this one, including, for example, that a probate proceeding will be required (assets more than $5,000), how the money must be invested and by whom (with Mom being a concern, it looks like you can petition to the court to invest the funds without mom's invovlement), and all your related questions.

anteater - thanks for the excellent reference.

 

[Dandy Don]

You neglected to mention whether the decedent left a last will and testament, but we can assume that since you didn't mention it, he didn't leave one.

His spouse will need to open up probate or hire an attorney to do so, so that all assets can be claimed, any creditors can be paid, and any money left over will go to the wife.

Also, are there WRITTEN instructions about the man's intentions to leave the money that grandfather is holding for the grandson? Probably nothing in writing. Which means that technically, that money belongs to the estate. But since he knows his son's intentions, it would be better for him to set up a trust account and probably NOT tell the mother about it and leave instructions for someone in the family to notify the boy about this money when he becomes of legal age.

 

[curb1]

Dandy Don,
No spouse.

You said, "His spouse will need to open up probate or hire an attorney to do so, so that all assets can be claimed, any creditors can be paid, and any money left over will go to the wife."

 

[rhh]

never married

no will

no debits

 

[Dandy Don]

My apologies for saying spouse--I saw you mention the word MOM and automatically assumed she was his spouse, but you did say they weren't married.

Someone from California will need to respond to see who is next in line to inherit intestate. SOMEBODY in the son's family may need to open up probate or hire an attorney do it to preserve the son's rights.

 

[Dandy Don]

I checked the law--the son gets everything.

 

[curb1]

So put the assets into a 529 college savings plan and don't worry about the money until he is old enough to go to college.