When someone dies, he is deemed to have sold all his property just before his death. Of course, in reality, nothing has yet been sold and it will be up to the executor trying to bequeath or bequeath the assets of the estate according to the terms of the will. However, in many areas, there are assets that do not belong to the estate. But how can this be? How can the property belong to the deceased when he was alive, but not belong to his estate after the death? If the estate does not own these assets, who owns them?
Some assets are held jointly, with each owner having the right of survivorship. For example, a common bank account. Each of the two owners owns the entire bank account and, when one of them dies, the name of the deceased is removed from the account, leaving the survivor as sole owner. The estate is not the owner of this bank account, but the survivor is the owner. Another common example is the family home, which often belongs to a roommate couple. When one of the two owners dies, the name of the deceased is removed from the title, leaving the name of the survivor on his title. Once again, the house is not part of the estate.
There are also other common examples, such as insurance policies and retirement savings. Most insurance policies and retirement savings accounts have one or more named beneficiaries. As a result, the proceeds of the policy will go directly to the named beneficiaries, which means that the policy and the RRSP / RRIF are not part of the estate.
If you must apply for probate, only assets belonging to the estate will be included, which means you will not have to pay any probate fees for these other assets. So, why are insurance policies sometimes included in the probate application? If the policy owner has never designated a beneficiary or dies, the estate becomes the beneficiary, which means that the value of the contract must be included in the list of assets, on which the costs of Approval are calculated.
Some of you may think you can save a lot of time and money if you become a co-owner of your parents. House. You will save on probate fees and you may even be able to completely eliminate the need for probate. Well, you're right on both of those points, but you have to stick with it, especially to your parents, so you'd be well advised to talk to an accountant before you proceed. Title.
Sometimes real estate is owned by two or more people as common tenants, rather than joint tenancy. If one of the owners dies, that person's ownership share is part of the estate, can be sold or bequeathed, and will not be automatically transferred to the surviving owner (s). You rarely see this type of property for the family home, but you would often see it for investment properties.
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