What Your Probate Lawyer Can Do to Help the Search for Assets
There are things your probate lawyer can do for you to uncover assets. There are laws to protect against the wrong person accessing the money. Your probate attorney can contact the places where the money is at and provide the power of attorney documentation. Here are some of the things they can help with finding the unclaimed money.
There are times when complications come up. When those moments happen, your lawyer can help you gain access. Other times, steps need to happen for your assets to release. That may very well take an attorney who specializes in this area. Your probate lawyer can handle that for you.
They have access to the information of where to look as well. Sites that offer this help often lack many of the places that your probate attorney knows about. The attorney can help you locate the most secretive places that your loved one had their assets at. Which gives you more money in your pocket while waiting for probate to end.
How Power of Attorney and Your Probate Attorney Work
The unclaimed money locations are available for everyone to find. To get the money, though, you need to follow a specific procedure and provide the right documentation. If you’re asking yourself how your probate attorney can help, you aren’t alone. They can then give the person who is the power of attorney the assets.
While you can search for yourself, your probate attorney knows all the pitfalls that sometimes come up. Oftentimes, your lawyer is already on retainer, which allows you to access their services for this as well. Let your probate lawyer help you access the money you need while your money is in probate.
How Do Unclaimed Assets Happen in the First Place?
Most of these assets come from bank accounts and other things that the deceased forgot about. Oftentimes, a small amount of money can end up left in a balance of an account. That balance then gains in size through investments that they simply weren’t aware of. The same thing can be true for you as well. You may very well have assets somewhere, growing over time.
Other times, it can come from insurance policies that exist from your deceased loved one. If they forgot about the policy with a company, the value of these policies can be large. When it remains unclaimed over time, those assets get declared as unclaimed. The location of the assets tries to contact the beneficiaries or next of kin, but mailing addresses can cause issues with their efforts.
If you have the right to those assets, you can provide proof of that, and receive those things. These can help you pay bills during the probate time period. It’s immediately yours, and you won’t need to go through probate to receive the assets.
Where Can You Look for These Assets?
There are sites online that link to those unclaimed assets. The state treasury has a list of them as well. If you want a deep search, though, you really do need a lawyer who specializes in finding these. Your probate attorney can handle that for you.
The U.S. Treasury holds savings bonds that go unclaimed as well. Like the other locations, unclaimed assets have a specific time period for people to claim. They also reach out to the address on file. If there is no response, it becomes unclaimed. With proper documentation for the beneficiary or the original owner of the bonds, you can access them.
Failed banks and credit unions must hold assets for a certain period of time. After that, they go to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s site. You can search this location as well. This along with several locations all hold assets when the original owner fails to show.
In fact, most financial institutions have clauses in their membership agreements that cover this exact thing. Even pensions have a specific protocol for distribution to the recipients or beneficiaries. The same thing applies to 401(k) plans. It’s fairly simple to check and see if former employers had a pension on file for the deceased as well.
In some cases, life insurance policies might not be things you are aware of in the will. A loved one might not have a will at all. That’s one of the conditions that a probate lawyer can help with. If you are wondering if there is a life insurance policy set to pay you when your loved one died, you can search for those as well.
Federal Tax Refunds are often overlooked as well. When you have power of attorney, you can put their social security into the IRS website to search for unclaimed refunds. Depending on the time of year that your loved one died, this can be easily forgotten. It’s worth asking your probate attorney about it if you are unsure about your position in that search.
Should You Use a Finder Site?
If you’re wondering about using a finder site, you’re not alone. Many people use them. The big thing is to avoid those sites that charge to find it. There are sites that take a portion of the finding too. Both of those are fraudulent. Don’t do it. You never need to pay money to search.
If you have a probate attorney handling the estate of your deceased loved one, use their help. It’s detailed and offers a great way to find the money you need while going through the probate process. It can be the difference between having money to pay for your loved one’s funeral expenses and needing to have them cremated.
Your probate attorney can help you in finding unclaimed money during probate. They have information about the process when things get messy legally. The places to find unclaimed money are well-known by them, too. They have extensive experience in this field. When you require them to handle accessing the money you’re entitled to, you might as well ask for their help in this process as well.