Military Pension/Social Security/Inheritance/Long Lost Grandmother

[Bernardo de la Paz]

Ah, I see. No commas screwed me up. That makes me feel WAY better actually

 

[Concrete Helmet]

Damn.....Brad did a "Zambo Covid count"

 

[bradgator2]

So... Part 4 of the story.

It gets crazier. He didnt pull all his social security/pension money into cash. Turns out, he also had ~$780,000 in the bank. Most of it was in money market accounts. My sister and I were listed as the beneficiaries, so the money was instantly transferred. After everything was added up, it was $1.16M total. Split between my sister and me.

He also left his house and his 2 vehicles to my sister in his will. We are not certain why. That'll have to go to probate. She said she'll split it all, but that is her decision. The house is a complete gut job in a really bad section of town. It would probably fetch $90-$100,000 if it was offloaded. Cars will probably bring in $25,000 total.

What's even crazier is part 5.......

 

[bradgator2]

Part 5.

My dad was an only child and didnt have a relationship with his parents. In his belongings, he had cards from them that he never opened. But he kept them. To my knowledge, I had never met them. Last week, a "supposed" CPA of his mom calls out of the blue after hearing about his death. We do a lot of double and triple checking of some of things he was saying, along with cross referencing names and addresses on those cards.. Long story short, we fly out to Texas yesterday to meet.

My grandmother is 93, and is pretty much bed bound. Super sweet. She has been living in assisted living for the past 25 years. She has pictures of her and all of us together when I was about 3 and my sister was 5. My sister and I have no memories of her. She even has older pictures of us that my mom sent her. But my mom never told us. My grandfather was retired air force and died in 2007. Listed as a civil servant of 38 years.

She still owns a home in their town, but hasnt stepped inside in several decades. We got to visit it afterwards. It's is truly a bulldoze situation. She was hoping to leave it to her son. Classic 1200 sq ft home built in 1953. It was like walking into a time capsule. Truly amazing it was even standing (seriously.... trees were growing out of it). County records has it valued at $95,000.

She already had accounts in all the great grandkids (5 of them) names where she was putting $1000 into each year for each kid. It was basically an account with zero interest. My sister's oldest (22 and 20) have to take them now, due to some custodial account rules. Although she stopped contributing to theirs when they turned 18. My kids were excited at the discovery that their unknown great grandmother was giving them $18,000 on their 18th birthday.

Between her social security and my granddad's military pension, she has more than enough annual income to pay all her bills forever. So her savings just slowly grows. Right now, it has a balance of just under $800,000.

Right now, the CPA is working with her and getting her will re-written so that everything just falls to my sister and me.

Too many small details to list while typing on a phone. Nuts.

Sorry @Detroitgator , no crazy stories or skeletons or other families. Just a sweet, lonely, and very old lady who was kept from her only child's family for some reason.

 

[Detroitgator]

Part 5.

Sorry @Detroitgator , no crazy stories or skeletons or other families. Just a sweet, lonely, and very old lady who was kept from her only child's family for some reason.

Well, either your dad was a massive prick, or something really bad happened between him and his mom when you were approximately 3-4 years old... we'll get @PastyStoole to work on a backstory worthy of GCMB.

 

[bradgator2]

My dad was an only child.
His dad was an only child.
His mom (the one we just visited) had a sister with an extensive family. None of us have any interest in connecting with those distant cousins.

My dad’s grandfather just appeared as an adult out of nowhere. Definitely illegally entered the country right around 1900. There is documentation he used 5 different last names that are a very close variant of our current last name. Probably came over Russia, Austria, or eastern Poland.

My grandma’s mom also appeared out of nowhere, but as an infant. There is one story where her parents found her abandoned on their front porch. The other story is her parents went to hospital, delivered a still born boy, but came back with her. Whatever happened, there is no documentation of her birth. She was killed walking across the street in 1958, when my grandmother was 26.

Besides those mysteries, my grandparents have everyone else tracked back to the 1600s, even into Europe. That was their big project when they retired. In days before the internet. They traveled to each birthplace and burial site and have actual photos of the birth certificates, death certificates, gravestones, etc.

We are even a descendant of this chick, who was captured and raped by the Iroquois in 1693. Her mom was burned alive in front of her and she was forced to eat her ashes.



I wonder if my kids can claim to he be part Iroquois and go to college for free.

 

[Concrete Helmet]

My dad was an only child.
His dad was an only child.
His mom (the one we just visited) had a sister with an extensive family. None of us have any interest in connecting with those distant cousins.

My dad’s grandfather just appeared as an adult out of nowhere. Definitely illegally entered the country right around 1900. There is documentation he used 5 different last names that are a very close variant of our current last name. Probably came over Russia, Austria, or eastern Poland.

My grandma’s mom also appeared out of nowhere, but as an infant. There is one story where her parents found her abandoned on their front porch. The other story is her parents went to hospital, delivered a still born boy, but came back with her. Whatever happened, there is no documentation of her birth. She was killed walking across the street in 1958, when my grandmother was 26.

Besides those mysteries, my grandparents have everyone else tracked back to the 1600s, even into Europe. That was their big project when they retired. In days before the internet. They traveled to each birthplace and burial site and have actual photos of the birth certificates, death certificates, gravestones, etc.

We are even a descendant of this chick, who was captured and raped by the Iroquois in 1693. Her mom was burned alive in front of her and she was forced to eat her ashes.

View attachment 60229

I wonder if my kids can claim to he be part Iroquois and go to college for free.

Yup same cloth for sure....my parents spent years doing our families genealogy tracing it back to the 1700's....

 

[bradgator2]

Yup same cloth for sure....my parents spent years doing our families genealogy tracing it back to the 1700's....

To be fair... my dad's parents were the ones that did all the genealogy. There is a note where one of these lines contacted my dad at some point and my dad's response, "I dont give a shiit about any of this. Dont ever call me again." They actually wrote that down. Might point back to deet's "massive prick" theory.

 

[Detroitgator]

My dad was an only child.
His dad was an only child.

I sent this to my sister immediately... she's on the case, prepare for "family pandemonium."

 

[Detroitgator]

Yup same cloth for sure....my parents spent years doing our families genealogy tracing it back to the 1700's....

My sister has no kids, no extended family other than me, retired from govt job last year, and has NOTHING but time... you're next, buddy.

 

[PastyStoole]

Well, either your dad was a massive prick, or something really bad happened between him and his mom when you were approximately 3-4 years old... we'll get @PastyStoole to work on a backstory worthy of GCMB.

I would rewrite the whole thing as a romcom, including the indian rape scenes, which I would probably make a little more brutal than brad depicted here. Eventually, through the magic of the kindly old lady's story and her narrating words, Brad and his sister realize they are really only half-siblings, and romance ensues. Cut to a year later, and they are together on a sailboat which they bought with old lady and miser inheritances. They playfully kiss over a sundowner, she cracks a corny joke, which is a pun on brad's pet name, and they disappear below deck for an afternoon romp.

 

[Detroitgator]

I would rewrite the whole thing as a romcom, including the indian rape scenes, which I would probably make a little more brutal than brad depicted here. Eventually, through the magic of the kindly old lady's story and her narrating words, Brad and his sister realize they are really only half-siblings, and romance ensues. Cut to a year later, and they are together on a sailboat which they bought with old lady and miser inheritances. They playfully kiss over a sundowner, she cracks a corny joke, which is a pun on brad's pet name, and they disappear below deck for an afternoon romp.

You know the line he says here...

 

[bradgator2]

You know the line he says here...

I hate you for this

 

[Detroitgator]

I hate you for this

I think it’s going pretty well!

 

[Nalt]

Part 5.

Right now, the CPA is working with her and getting her will re-written so that everything just falls to my sister and me.

We found out when Mrs. Nalt's mother died last year, that since Mrs. Nalt was listed on the bank account with her mother, all that money became her's upon the death of her mother and that didn't have to go through probate. It just became hers. As a suggestion, you might want to look into that as a possibility for the accounts with your grandmother. That might take the CPA's salary commission out of the equation... Best of luck...

 

[bradgator2]

We found out when Mrs. Nalt's mother died last year, that since Mrs. Nalt was listed on the bank account with her mother, all that money became her's upon the death of her mother and that didn't have to go through probate. It just became hers. As a suggestion, you might want to look into that as a possibility for the accounts with your grandmother. That might take the CPA's salary commission out of the equation... Best of luck...

Correct. If you are listed as a beneficiary... it is instant and automatic. The "poor man's will". It also also bypasses a will if the will said something contradictory. A beneficiary trumps all. It's smarter in my opinion because it bypasses probate and lawyers.... who take a cut. Just make sure it is up to date

 

[Nalt]

Correct. If you are listed as a beneficiary... it is instant and automatic. The "poor man's will". It also also bypasses a will if the will said something contradictory. A beneficiary trumps all. It's smarter in my opinion because it bypasses probate and lawyers.... who take a cut. Just make sure it is up to date

It sounds like you and Sis need to go talk with Grandma again and suggest she add you two, and any others to whom she wants to leave $$ to to those individual accounts if she hasn't already.

 

[PastyStoole]

It sounds like you and Sis need to go talk with Grandma again and suggest she add you two, and any others to whom she wants to leave $$ to to those individual accounts if she hasn't already.

Half-sis. And yes, this will make it easier for the two to withdraw all the savings from the account while Grandma is still alive.

 

[CDGator]

it is a HUGE pain in the ass for banks (and especially branch locations) to deal with even $10,000 in cash.

True story. Banks don’t hold a lot of cash now. My friend was having a facelift done and the Dr didn’t receive the payment in time. They told her the day before she would need to bring cash. The first bank said she would probably need to visit 3 branches to get enough. Turned out two was sufficient but it surprised me.

 

[Concrete Helmet]

It sounds like you and Sis need to go talk with Grandma again and suggest she add you two, and any others to whom she wants to leave $$ to to those individual accounts if she hasn't already.

Sometimes that's hard to bring these things up, especially if you haven't been real close....BUT it should be brought up.....Fortunately in my case my Mother knows all too well that 2 of her daughters are/have been mooches their entire lives and terrible with money and the 3rd is a certifiable Gold Digger who would screw everyone out of their share of the Trust if she had any say so, which is why Mom had no problem making my brother and me co executors despite me being the youngest of 5 which chaps their asses royally