how is a saftey deposit box treated?

[flaguy]

My dad just sent me some paperwork that after reading it, I realized I would be a co-lessee of his safety deposit box if I signed it, this is legitimately his box and his stuff in a city 4 hrs a way.........I am the executor of his will and he wants me to have access to the box in case anything happens to him (his attorney suggested it to him without out knowing my drama).........

I will be filing what I assume is ch7 in 7-8 months and don't want to drag in anything more than I have to.......

if I was going to hide my own stuff in a saftey deposit box it wouldn't be in my name or a family members................

my gut tells me that this is getting to close to a "grey area" that should be avoided but thought I would get some second opinions

[backtoschool]

The box itself should not be an issue, but whatever is in the box needs to clearly belong either to you or your father with documented ownership. The trustee will expect a listing of everything in any box that you have rights to. You will have to prove that you do not own the contents of the box, or you will have to exempt the contents of the box.

[tobee43]

shoot...we had a box...but all it had in it were passports...and other pertinent documents so we just never listed it at all...since there were no valuables in it. it came free with the opening of the account...so we figured heck, good safe place to keep our important documents.

flaguy...me either...it certainly would be the LAST place i would stuff anything...but then again we had nothing left to stuff anyway by the time we filed...everything was clearly in black and white..we were actually or technically homeless.

[AngelinaCatHub]

You know, I never gave thought to all those gold bars and Krugerrands I stuck in my box.

I am an executor of my brother. My brother owns a box with his will and papers in it. I did not list nor even give it thought. It is not my box and I only have key and privilege to open it. If it has nothing you own in it, it is a non issue. However if you are a future inheritor, that may be a question. If it is only paper work and your Dad has a long life ahead of him, it is not an expected 'windfall' and the Trustee would not question it. I would not even list it as it is NOT relevant to your case.

If your Dad gave you an extra car key, would that make you a co-owner? I don't think so. 'Hub

[tobee43]

You know, I never gave thought to all those gold bars and Krugerrands I stuck in my box.

I am an executor of my brother. My brother owns a box with his will and papers in it. I did not list nor even give it thought. It is not my box and I only have key and privilege to open it. If it has nothing you own in it, it is a non issue. However if you are a future inheritor, that may be a question. If it is only paper work and your Dad has a long life ahead of him, it is not an expected 'windfall' and the Trustee would not question it. I would not even list it as it is NOT relevant to your case.

If your Dad gave you an extra car key, would that make you a co-owner? I don't think so. 'Hub

you crack me up hub....you MEAN you forgot those gold bars?????

[AngelinaCat]

you crack me up hub....you MEAN you forgot those gold bars?????

*Tsk*, I have to take exception to what 'Hub said. We had been long discharged from our CH7 before his brother made 'Hub his executor, so all of that was a non-issue, because that situation didn't exist when we filed.

At the time, we DID have a box, which we listed in our paperwork. All we had in it were our birth certificates and some household insurance papers. When time came to renew the box, the bank's charges doubled what they had been. While it wasn't exorbitant, it might as well have been a million dollars to us, as we had no money to pay for it. So we let the box go, and took our papers home.

We wrote a letter to the trustee stating what had happened, and listed what the papers were. We never heard another thing about it.

[tobee43]

*Tsk*, I have to take exception to what 'Hub said. We had been long discharged from our CH7 before his brother made 'Hub his executor, so all of that was a non-issue, because that situation didn't exist when we filed.

At the time, we DID have a box, which we listed in our paperwork. All we had in it were our birth certificates and some household insurance papers. When time came to renew the box, the bank's charges doubled what they had been. While it wasn't exorbitant, it might as well have been a million dollars to us, as we had no money to pay for it. So we let the box go, and took our papers home.

We wrote a letter to the trustee stating what had happened, and listed what the papers were. We never heard another thing about it.

ahhhhhhh...so you did...no, we never listed it at all...actually if i recall correctly we emptied the box just in case AND, actually...and my old memory is beginning to kick in...what trigger my memory was we actually went to get our passports out of the box when we filed and kept them with us for the 341.... there was not even the lonely documents to claim at the time of filing. it's still completely empty today...unless you can hand me over one of those bars of gold that hub is apparently been hiding..LOL!!! my dh...also has a tendency to hide those sorts of things for me...wonder why??

[iv65536]

All mine had were various documents.

[tobee43]

All mine had were various documents.

but did you list it????

[Fallonedward]

We have a box and it stores all of our SS cards, for us and the kids, marriage license, birth cert's etc... so do I have to declare this, I never even gave it a 2nd thought

[AngelinaCat]

We were told to list 'everything', and being that I am the one that is very literal minded, that is what I started doing, until the attorney stopped us with, "you can list groups of things, such as 'assorted pots and pans, assorted cooking utensils"... things like that. Otherwise I would have listed every last thing right down to the paring knife with the broken tip. At which point, I would have been ready to use it on myself.....

If you have any doubts, I would ask your attorney.

Good luck!

[AngelinaCatHub]

We were told to list 'everything', and being that I am the one that is very literal minded, that is what I started doing, until the attorney stopped us with, "you can list groups of things, such as 'assorted pots and pans, assorted cooking utensils"... things like that. Otherwise I would have listed every last thing right down to the paring knife with the broken tip. At which point, I would have been ready to use it on myself.....

If you have any doubts, I would ask your attorney.

Good luck!

Well after two weeks of recovering from my double hernia operation, I swear that the doc allowed her to use that paring knife. (she would have loved it.) LOL.

[AngelinaCatHub]

Sorry about my loss of time but I stick by my belief that the OP does not own an interest in that box as a keyholder and does not need to list this. If the OP abused this and did hide his "gold bars" that is between him and the Federal Marshals.

The box is no issue unless rented by the OP. 'Hub

[tcreegan]

Hi flaguy,

Just a thought, do you have power of attorney for your Dad?

Not really BK material, sorry all...

Tom in Colo

[AngelinaCat]

Hi flaguy,

Just a thought, do you have power of attorney for your Dad?

Not really BK material, sorry all...

Tom in Colo

Don't be sorry; that is a good question. If the OP does not have a Durable Family Power of Attorney, he needs to get one ASAP, if he is going to be the one to administer his father's affairs, should Dad become sick, or otherwise incompacitated. On death, the DPA will become null and void, and the administrator of the Estate will take over.