Just started last year of Chpt. 13 and Mother passes away

[jakiesdad]

My Mother passed away last weekend and unfortunately being the only son/child I am left with taking care of Everything.

I made a call to my attorney and didn't get a call back so I went ahead with taking care of what I had to. When I get some more time I will be really pushing to sit down with him and hopefully find out that everything will work out.

In order to pay for my Mothers funeral I had to take out a loan against my deferred comp. and plan on paying that back with money from her estate whenever I get that straightened out.

She had a divorce lawyer that helped her years ago with her divorce and I made a call to her just to see if she knew of any Will or wishes that I didn't know of. She did say that she could help me with the process that I need to go thru as Executor to the Estate. I didn't tell her I was in the last year of a Chpt. 13 and wonder if we will have any problem with being the Executor since I am in the 13.

I am hoping that as long as I keep the Estate finances separate from mine and follow all the rules of paying her debts things will be OK. Like I said as soon as I am done with Mom's funeral and get her death certificate I will be pushing to sit down with our attorney.

[dmc-2008]

My Mother passed away last weekend and unfortunately being the only son/child I am left with taking care of Everything. I made a call to my attorney and didn't get a call back so I went ahead with taking care of what I had to. When I get some more time I will be really pushing to sit down with him and hopefully find out that everything will work out. In order to pay for my Mothers funeral I had to take out a loan against my deferred comp. and plan on paying that back with money from her estate whenever I get that straightened out. She had a divorce lawyer that helped her years ago with her divorce and I made a call to her just to see if she knew of any Will or wishes that I didn't know of. She did say that she could help me with the process that I need to go thru as Executor to the Estate. I didn't tell her I was in the last year of a Chpt. 13 and wonder if we will have any problem with being the Executor since I am in the 13. I am hoping that as long as I keep the Estate finances separate from mine and follow all the rules of paying her debts things will be OK. Like I said as soon as I am done with Mom's funeral and get her death certificate I will be pushing to sit down with our attorney.

Sorry for your loss.

[spidge]

Sorry to hear of your loss.

[AngelinaCat]

Hi jakiesdad. Welcome to the forum. I am so sorry for your loss.

I broke your long post up into paragraphs so that it is easier for people to read.

I do not know how to answer your question, but I wish you hadn't had to mess with your deferred comp plan. It is very difficult to re-pay in actual life, plus any income tax consequences you may incur.

[gld2pan]

So sorry for your loss.

1 1/2 years into our 5 yr chap 13 my husbands father passed away. My husband was executor of the home and his sister over the bank accounts. Split trust. Just made sure payment of home was made out to trust. No issues with that part.

We kept our lawyer in the loop at all times. 7 months after his passing the home sold and funds dispursed. Husband ended up with 93K. We were advised due the amount of $$ we had to advise trustee. Which of course he requested funds. We met with our lawyer and discussed a few options. War Chest, spend all the money and refile or turn money over. Last thing we wanted was to start chap 13 all over. Our lawyer determined we still had some of our Wild Card Exemption left and fought for addtional money needed to repair 99 Chevy we own. We turned over 77K to trustee.

Our chap 13 has been updated to 100% and we should be done in November 2016 rather than March 2017.

Due to time it takes to settle an estate you may be done with your chap 13 before estate is dispursed. Highly recommend you stay intouch with your lawyer and get all the advice you can on handling the estate.

[LadyInTheRed]

Sorry for your loss.

You being an executor does not affect your Chap 13. An executor is a fiduciary required to keep estate assets separate from his/her own. If you weren't a beneficiary, it would be a non-issue. You should tell the attorney who represents you as executor that you are in Chap 13 in case there is some restriction under your state's law on a bankruptcy debtor acting as Executor. I have never heard of such a restriction, but state laws vary.

The important question for your bankruptcy is whether your interest as a beneficiary is part of the bankruptcy estate when the death occurred more than 180 days after your filing date. My understanding is that court rulings have differed on the issue, but most courts say the inheritance is part of the BK estate. Whether the estate is distributed before your plan is complete is irrelevant. Assuming the estate will not be distributed to an ongoing trust, it is the date of death that is important because that is the date you became entitled to the inheritance. You should definitely let your bankruptcy attorney know that you are the beneficiary of the estate.

[jakiesdad]

Thank You for the responses and condolences. My Attorney did respond to my e-mail and didn't seem to concerned with my deferred comp loan or taking over as Executor, main concern was inheritance so he could check on what exemptions I have left.
I told him it will be awhile before I even get access to all if her bank and debt info and even longer until I know just what is left over after all her debts are paid. I definitely will keep him in the loop and let him know if it looks like I end up with anything.
Thank You again for the responses, feeling a little less stress with the funeral now paid for and things slowly falling in place.