united-states inheritance
Cash only inheritance process
<p>My father passed away with no will. He had no property and a smattering of random stuff my sibling and I are sorting through. </p>

<p>The only thing of real value is a checking account of about $100k. No beneficiary was named on the account.</p>

<p>However, I have his online access to his bank account. In theory I could transfer the money out as per the agreement between my sibling and I, there is no disagreement between us. </p>

<p>As far as I can tell there is no inheritance tax on sums of this size, especially since it’s all cash. </p>

<p>Am I allowed to transfer the money out of his account using his online bank access?</p>

<p>You should really investigate the legally correct way to deal with the estate and the transfers of the assets; if not, you could have considerable legal and tax liability in the future with the bank (if they flag and investigate the transfers due to the death of the account holder and the size of the transfers) and the IRS (inheritance taxes), as well as other possible heirs who are not yet identified or notified of the death.</p>

<p>Probate laws differ greatly according to jurisdiction, so either find a lawyer or Google for free or low cost legal help in your city/county/state in order to learn how to administer the estate in a legally sufficient way to protect everyone involved. Or go to the local county courthouse and inquire. It may not take much effort or cost much in legal fees, and it's a good investment of research and time to prevent legal and tax issues in the future.</p>

<p>Many US states have expedited procedures for "small" estates. What counts as small varies from stets to state. So do tax rules and inheritance rules generally. You need to get a lawyer, or check with the clerk's office in the court that handles wills and probate if you can have the estate handled without one.. If the estate is uncomplicated and small, fess should not be very large. One thing you will almost surely have to do is provide a list of all of your father's relatives, and they will need to be informed of his death. Depending on how close they are, some of them may be entitled to a share. that varies by state also. If your father owed income or property taxes when he died, those will have to be paid.</p>

<p>Simply transferring the money out without notifying the authorities would not be legal, I think. In fact, if the bank has heard of your father's death, they may have frozen the account.</p>
