Back to trusts in stuff, in mine everything not specified goes into the trust automatically, I mean everything.
BATMAN John-NYBW My biggest asset is my house which has a reverse mortgage. My Father-in-law lost his retirement fund through mismanagement and needed a reverse mortgage to live. He was about to pay 6.5% for it, however, I found out and got him a private lender @ 1.85%. Registered and legal. Made a big difference over the past 18 years.
John-NYBW My biggest asset is my house which has a reverse mortgage.
My Father-in-law lost his retirement fund through mismanagement and needed a reverse mortgage to live. He was about to pay 6.5% for it, however, I found out and got him a private lender @ 1.85%. Registered and legal. Made a big difference over the past 18 years.
I've had my reverse mortgage for 7 years and property values have increased significantly in that time but not enough to make it worthwhile to refinance it. I have a line of credit with mine and it is there as emergency funds. Last year my reverse mortgage company offered me a re-fi but it wouldn't have made much difference to my line of credit. Most of the additional funds would have gone to paying the new closing costs which is why they wanted me to re-fi. A good deal for them. A bad one for me. I might re-fi someday if I can at least double my line of credit. Until then it won't be worth it.
John-NYBWMy biggest asset is my house which has a reverse mortgage.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
John-NYBWI am not a lawyer or an accountant, but my layman's guess is that would still be taxable income.
I am in Canada and the tax structure is quite different as I found out being the Executor for a couple of Americans that had moved to Canada. I was very careful about checking with the accountants and lawyers about receiving a "gift" after the fact and it is quite legal and is done that way most of the time.
Having done the Estates of two Americans, I had to do a lot of work through the U.S. Consulate in Vancouver. They are awesome to work with and take you through the whole thing step by step. I also had a direct line to a person at the IRS and she actually phoned me often as things progressed along. Very easy process all in all but just took time.
I had to move a lot of money North of the border from seven different financial institutions in the U.S. The Tax treaty between the two countries makes things easy. The beneficiary was Canadian.
BATMAN I have been an Executor for a few people and have never taken a fee as it is taxable income. I get the beneficiary to gift me the money after the Estate is settled. I am taking a chance of not getting paid but that has never happened.
I have been an Executor for a few people and have never taken a fee as it is taxable income. I get the beneficiary to gift me the money after the Estate is settled. I am taking a chance of not getting paid but that has never happened.
I am not a lawyer or an accountant, but my layman's guess is that would still be taxable income. It's off the books so it would be hard to prove, but I think the IRS would say it is compensation for a service rendered and would expect their cut.
I recently turned a part of an Estate over to the State of Washington. It was items worth about $35,000.00. Without going into detail it was going to cost an estimated $50,000.00 to clean up the mess in legal fees to free it up. If there is no Will there is no Executor, until the State (court) appoints one. If there is no Executor you cannot dispose of anything that requires a legal signature such as a car, house, bank accounts, or investments.
I recently turned a part of an Estate over to the State of Washington. It was items worth about $35,000.00. Without going into detail it was going to cost an estimated $50,000.00 to clean up the mess in legal fees to free it up.
If there is no Will there is no Executor, until the State (court) appoints one. If there is no Executor you cannot dispose of anything that requires a legal signature such as a car, house, bank accounts, or investments.
In Ohio, the executor has the power to do all those things. My dad had moved into a retirement home and didn't have a lot of personal property left, other than his car. He had already donated a good chunk of his personal library to Ohio State where he worked for 25 years. The rest of his books were willed to them. The rest I disposed of in a garage sale with the proceeds going to the estate. His investments had all been placed in his trust and I was able to distribute those free of the estate but it was all still subject to the death tax.
As an Executor, it is not my job to sell off the possessions of someone myself. I usually call in the Beneficiaries and let them take what they want, then call in the auction house to take what they can sell, then call the Real Estate company to sell the house and leave it up to them to have what's left taken to the dump and prepare the house for sale.
My brother wanted my dad's car to give to his daughter so I signed that over to him and we deducted the blue book value from his share of the liquid assets.
As an Executor, it is my job to see that it is done, not hold garage sales. I had an Estate where the house was sold as was with all contents still in the house. The person had been removed to the hospital where they died shortly afterward. I removed important papers and had someone empty the fridge. It took a year to get it sold due to legal delays associated with the pandemic. All the clothing, food, TVs, other electronics and appliances, and furniture were still in place. The dishes were still in the cupboards, it was as if the person walked out the door and never came back, which is basically what happened. The beneficiary did not want the belongings as they did not live locally and the economics of disposing of them other than including them in an "as is, contents included" sale did not make sense.
As executor, I could outsource many of the tasks but that would cost the estate money and since I was also one of the heirs, it was in my interest to do most of the tasks myself. I had to pay the lawyer of course and we had to get an appraiser for some of his assets and he was paid a fee as well.
I am no legal expert by any means, but people don't know what they don't know when it comes to Estate planning and unless you really don't have anyone you care about that may have to take care of your affairs after you die and are quite content to let the Government look after things, having a will in place is the considerate thing to do. I get calls sometimes from people that want advice on how to deal with a loved one or friend's Estate where they did not have a Will in place. All too often the best way to deal with it is to just walk away.
That would depend on the size of the estate. I retired early and went through the lion's share of my investment portfolio before I reached the age where I could draw my pension and Social Security. My biggest asset is my house which has a reverse mortgage. That will have to be sold within a year to pay of the mortgage and the heirs get the rest. It won't be a lot of money since it will be split about 13 ways, but it's better than nothing. I have a lot of personal property that will have some value at an estate sale, two cars, two TVs, golf clubs, guns, appliances, etc. in addition to the trains. None of it by itself will sell for that much but collectively it will be a decent amount. Nothing to walk away from.
The Government often cremates and/or buries people with means just as they do a homeless person just because that person had no Will in place with an Executor named that could access their bank account to pay for the services of a funeral home.
That is the least of my concerns. For all I care, they can throw me out with the trash.
As an Executor the first thing I have to pay for is the Funeral Service, it ain't coming out of my pocket. I just go get it out of the bank account of the deceased.
Both my parents were cremated and it was prepaid. There was a modest cost for the church service and a reception afterward. I can't remember whether I paid that out of the trust or estate funds.
The Government often cremates and/or buries people with means just as they do a homeless person just because that person had no Will in place with an Executor named that could access their bank account to pay for the services of a funeral home. As an Executor the first thing I have to pay for is the Funeral Service, it ain't coming out of my pocket. I just go get it out of the bank account of the deceased.
Sorry to drag this out, but in the instance of "intestacy", that is dying without a Will, an Administrator is appointed by the Probate Court. In some states, it is called a Personal Representative. In Ohio, it is called an Administrator.
Rich
Alton Junction
richhotrain rrebell BATMAN John-NYBW I'm going to leave the liguidating of my train collection to my executor. I know I should get a will but like with most things, I have procrastinated on that for many years. If there is no Will, there is no Executor. Wrong, it is just that the executor is picked by the state, not you. Witout a Will, the probate estate is handled by the Administrator, not an Executor. Rich
rrebell BATMAN John-NYBW I'm going to leave the liguidating of my train collection to my executor. I know I should get a will but like with most things, I have procrastinated on that for many years. If there is no Will, there is no Executor. Wrong, it is just that the executor is picked by the state, not you.
BATMAN John-NYBW I'm going to leave the liguidating of my train collection to my executor. I know I should get a will but like with most things, I have procrastinated on that for many years. If there is no Will, there is no Executor.
John-NYBW I'm going to leave the liguidating of my train collection to my executor. I know I should get a will but like with most things, I have procrastinated on that for many years.
If there is no Will, there is no Executor.
Wrong, it is just that the executor is picked by the state, not you.
Witout a Will, the probate estate is handled by the Administrator, not an Executor.
I'm sure it varies from state to state. In lieu of a will, the probate court will decide who is entitled to a share of the estate. Whether the court appoints an admistrator or executor in Ohio is something I don't know but it's probably just a question of semantics. That person would certainly be paid an amount set by state law.
BATMAN rrebell BATMAN John-NYBW I'm going to leave the liguidating of my train collection to my executor. I know I should get a will but like with most things, I have procrastinated on that for many years. If there is no Will, there is no Executor. Wrong, it is just that the executor is picked by the state, not you. Court-appointed. Big time, big money, and often nothing left for those left behind.
Court-appointed. Big time, big money, and often nothing left for those left behind.
Ohio law sets the limit on the percentage the executor may take. I was the executor of my father's estate and I took a fixed percentage in addition to my share as an heir. I don't recall what the percentage was but I'm pretty sure it was in the single digits. There was a lot of paper work involved and lots of time meeting with the attorney, who also got paid by the estate. I would have been perfectly happy had someone else done it and taken the fee but since I was the only one of the siblings still living in the state, it fell to me. I was also named the trustee of my father's trust and for that I got no payment. Much less work involved but since the trust still has income and distributes to the beneficiaries, I have to file a trust tax return in addition to handling the distributions.
John-NYBWI'm going to leave the liguidating of my train collection to my executor. I know I should get a will but like with most things, I have procrastinated on that for many years.
As I mentioned in my initial reply to this thread, I'm going to leave the liguidating of my train collection to my executor. I know I should get a will but like with most things, I have procrastinated on that for many years. It's on my to-do list along with lots of other things I have been putting off. I am going to include suggestions as to how to sell off the usable stuff. There are two LHSes very close to each other that deal in used model railroading items. The other option is ebay. The entire lot could be offered but that would likely get low ball offers. The most lucrative way would be to sell the items individually but that will require more work by the executor. That will be for him or her to decide. As I noted in my first reply, I'm not going to lose sleep over it.
We recently had this discussion in the model railroading club I belong to. If requested, we will help the the deceased member's family to liquidate anything of value on the layout.
My exit strategy will or might be in the next 30 years. Sell them all in a train show or individual sell them online. This way my family isn't going to struggle, figuring out the price tags of everything I own.
Amtrak America, 1971-Present.
ATLANTIC CENTRAL If you are willing to ship items priority mail flat rate, they give you the box.
There are also priority mail, non-flat rate, boxes available free at the PO.
OldEngineman Paul wrote: "If you get into that, be sure to check out the free USPS shipping boxes of various types." Hmmmm... what are these "free USPS shipping boxes" you speak of...?
Paul wrote: "If you get into that, be sure to check out the free USPS shipping boxes of various types."
Hmmmm... what are these "free USPS shipping boxes" you speak of...?
If you are willing to ship items priority mail flat rate, they give you the box. You can request the boxes, or pick them up at the post office in advance, and pay when you ship the item - for more than a decade now..... read the whole page.....
https://www.usps.com/ship/priority-mail.htm
Sheldon
Mark BA modeler friend of mine said he wanted to eat a large bag of unpopped popcorn just before his last breath. He said his cremation would be "epic".
Mark P.
Website: http://www.thecbandqinwyoming.comVideos: https://www.youtube.com/user/mabrunton
A modeler friend of mine said he wanted to eat a large bag of unpopped popcorn just before his last breath. He said his cremation would be "epic".
Twenty plus years ago we made an agreement that the survivor between the two of us would dispose of the other guy's stuff. We shook hands on it and never mentioned it to our families or to each other ever again. When he had about a day left of his life I visited him in the hospital. He asked if I remembered our agreement. I said "yes". He touched my hand and said "you lose". I sold everything he had, gave the money to his wife, and kept the items he had previously given to me. As for my stuff, my son in law and grandson are into trains and will inherit the house after my wife and I are gone. What happens then, well I really don't care.
Mark B.
I've recently completed a semi-exit strategy. We are moving, the new home not realistic for a layout and I had not built the 5 x 10 layout moveable anyway.
I decided to keep 4 favorite engines, my DCC system and a favorite 7-car heavyweight passenger set I repainted. Plus a few odds & ends. I may join a modular club in my upcoming new home town (Denton TX) and even have a module.
- I sold other rolling stock on EBay farily successfully. Unfamiliar with the process, I learned it selling unopened car kits that I had, which made selling the primo items later quite easy. I also sold items such as vehicles, usually in groups of 6 or so. All in all, it was worth the effort, and I had the time to manage it. If you get into that, be sure to check out the free USPS shipping boxes of various types.
- Since structures would be tough to pack & ship successfully, I put them carefully in roomy boxes and donated them to the local train museum, for sale in their semi-annual train show. Other miscellaneous items (used Tortoises) also went there.
- I did not attempt to save the trackage, even turnouts, since I found it too difficult to remove (much less clean) the painted, ballasted trackage.
- The cookie cutter layout got carved up and loaded in the pickup, disposed of at the dump.
FWIW...
Paul
Modeling HO with a transition era UP bent
I really haven't given much thought about an "exit strategy." But I view all of my models as a sunk cost. (Cliff Notes definition: an accounting principal which states that once money is expended, it no longer holds financial value). Like bubble gum, once you chew it, the only value remaining is the intrisic value you receive from the actual process of chewing the gum. Whatever is left over after the chewing is spit in the trash.
So, basically I believe that all of the money I spent on my trains was money spent towards my entertainment and enjoyment. The joy that this hobby has given me cannot be expressed in dollars and cents, and far exceeds the cash investment I made to purchase my model railroad equipment.
There is no expectation on my part that my heirs will reap a financial reward from the sale of my model railroading equipment. If they seek value at that time, that is fine. Their choice; although I may provide some guidance if the subject ever comes up.
richhotrain John-NYBW My exit strategy is to die penniless but that will require perfect timing. I used to provide financial planning for corporate executives, estate planning, retirement planning, etc. In our retirement planning seminars, we would model a "composite executive" whose financial circumstances matched that of the group in attendance. We would project the performance of the composite's financial resources and then kill him off at age 85. The idea was to maintain a lifestyle that would result in a capital surplus of $1 remaining at age 85. If the composite died at age 85 with a capital surplus of more than $1, we would calculate the amount of additional spending that could be experienced without running out of capital. As John said, that required perfect timing because the composite could not afford to live one day longer than age 85. Rich
John-NYBW My exit strategy is to die penniless but that will require perfect timing.
My exit strategy is to die penniless but that will require perfect timing.
I used to provide financial planning for corporate executives, estate planning, retirement planning, etc.
In our retirement planning seminars, we would model a "composite executive" whose financial circumstances matched that of the group in attendance. We would project the performance of the composite's financial resources and then kill him off at age 85.
The idea was to maintain a lifestyle that would result in a capital surplus of $1 remaining at age 85. If the composite died at age 85 with a capital surplus of more than $1, we would calculate the amount of additional spending that could be experienced without running out of capital. As John said, that required perfect timing because the composite could not afford to live one day longer than age 85.
Just got my analysis from my financial planner - after 1000 or 10000 Monte Carlos the median result has me ending up with 2x plus what I am starting out with - this to avoid the 1% chance that I run out of money at 85. If I want to target say a 50% chance of running out of money at 85, I'd have to double our current spending plan, probably triple it if I want to be certain to run out of money.
That being said I am building the final layout in our last home, hopefully a 20+ year project. No thought of portability or salvageablility. When I'm gone I won't care what happens to it, though hopefully some of the nicer FSM modules will find a home on somebody's future layout. As far as burden to the family - I worked damn hard for 40 years to provide for them, they can deal with the layout when I'm gone. Dumpster, break it up for sale, it's all the same to me ...
John-NYBW SeeYou190 John-NYBW My exit strategy is to die penniless but that will require perfect timing. My grandmother always said she would leave on her 80th birthday and broke. She passed three months before her 80th, and her total assets were about $10,000.00 when she was gone. In her life she travelled the world and enjoyed everything. She is my hero. -Kevin She's my hero too. I'll bet if she had three more months, she could have spent that last $10K.
SeeYou190 John-NYBW My exit strategy is to die penniless but that will require perfect timing. My grandmother always said she would leave on her 80th birthday and broke. She passed three months before her 80th, and her total assets were about $10,000.00 when she was gone. In her life she travelled the world and enjoyed everything. She is my hero. -Kevin
My grandmother always said she would leave on her 80th birthday and broke.
She passed three months before her 80th, and her total assets were about $10,000.00 when she was gone.
In her life she travelled the world and enjoyed everything. She is my hero.
-Kevin
She's my hero too. I'll bet if she had three more months, she could have spent that last $10K.
John-NYBWMy exit strategy is to die penniless but that will require perfect timing.
Living the dream.
I've been thinking about this lately, not just because a retired doctor friend has strongly advised our retiree breakfast group to think seriously about "continuum of care" retirement villages, but because a group of older modelers on an email/Zoom list I belong to have been sharing their stories about themselves and their friends, including a group trip to an estate sale where a guy they knew had been accumulating top of the line stuff to start his dream layout and then -- died suddenly. 100s of Kadee freight cars selling for under $10, that sort of thing
Now that it no longer runs Trainfest, my NMRA Division has started to express interest in making money by becoming a repository for estates/leaving the hobby/downsizing and holding sales or even doing Ebay. I have quite a bit of stuff that I now realize was accumulated for projects and plans that are not going to happen. So although I am not yet an estate (I try to verify this every morning), nor leaving the hobby, I guess you could call this a form of downsizing, althugh not due to changes on housing, and I hope this Divisional project goes forward as I think it is a good practical way to thin out the collection. I just don't hope my instincts don't kick in and I start buying other people's stuff!
It used to be that when a modeler died the plague of locusts would descend on the rolling stock and structures, leaving the layout itself a dumpster candidate, but someone told me that with the cost of new lumber still way too high (and the quality often way too low) there is sudden interest in salvaging layout lumber and plywood. This makes sense to me.
My large collection of railroad research materials, books/magazines, and prototype photos/slides/digital images are a whole 'nother topic.
Dave Nelson
John-NYBW richhotrain Exit strategy? For most of us, death is a welcome relief. Sorta like giving up golf. Giving up golf is not possible no matter how miserable it makes you. There isn't a golfer who has ever picked up a driver who hasn't at some time said "I hate this (expletive) game". Yet we can't give it up no matter how mad it makes us. The golf gods know when you reach that point and will suddenly allow you to have just enough success to keep you coming back and give you the false hope that someday you will actually become good at it.
richhotrain Exit strategy? For most of us, death is a welcome relief. Sorta like giving up golf.
Exit strategy? For most of us, death is a welcome relief. Sorta like giving up golf.