Pennsylvania Trusts and Estates Blog

Mutual Funds that have a "load," that is a charge associated with investing in the fund, are generally sold in three classes: A, B and C. They differ in the commission the broker is paid by the buyer for the sale, when it is paid, and the size and duration of annual fees taken by the fund company.

Class A funds are front-loaded. There is an up-front commission that is a percentage of the amount of the purchase. Annual fees, such as management fees and 12b-1 fees, are charged for fund maintenance, sales and distribution. No commission is charged on redemption, although there may be redemption fees charged.

The front-load percent may start out around 5.75 percent but the percentage decreases in steps as the size of the purchase goes up, dropping to zero percent typically at one million dollars. Legally the front-load can go as high as 8.5%.

Other ways to decrease the percentage of front-load fees are by owning other mutual funds offered by the same fund family, committing to regularly purchasing mutual fund shares, and having family members who hold funds in the same fund family.

The 12b-1 fees get their name from the SEC rule that governs them. Investors are not charged these fees directly, but fund managers are allowed to take these fees out of a mutual fund's assets to cover the annual costs of marketing and distribution. Since the fund assets are used to pay these costs, the value of a fund share is reduced and performance is adversely affected.

The current limit on 12b-1 fees is 0.75% per year, but there is no limit on how long a fund can pay these charges if it continues to make significant new sales to investors. As a result, shareholders may pay asset-based charges through the fund for as long as they own the fund.

Class B funds are back-end loaded. They charge higher expenses than Class A shares, usually for a period of four to eight years. Class B shares normally impose a contingent deferred sales charge (CDSC), which is the back-end load. You pay the CDSC if you sell your shares within a certain number of years, normally before the end of six years. Some Class B shares convert to Class A shares after a certain number of years. Class A shares typically have lower management and 12b-1 fees than Class B shares, so it's significant that the back-end commission goes away years down the road and the fees drop.

Class B funds have fallen under scrutiny lately. Purchase of large amounts of Class B funds lose the benefit of the breakpoints inherent in Class A funds, not to mention the higher annual fees generated over the first six to eight years. Large purchases of Class B funds tend to benefit the broker at the expense of the buyer so some broker/dealers cap purchases at $50,000. Several fund families have announced that they are planning to drop their B shares altogether.

Class C funds are like Class B funds except that the back-end load is lower than found in Class B shares (typically around one percent) and is eliminated in a much shorter time, typically a year. However, their management and 12b-1 fees are higher than those of Class A shares. C shares tend to be used by investors who think they may need access to funds within three to four years.

No load mutual funds charge no commission at purchase or at redemption, but are allowed to charge fees within limits. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) rules limit no-load funds to 12b-1 fees of no more than 0.25 percent and total fees of no more than 0.50 percent in order to call themselves no-load funds. By comparison, Class A funds typically charge 1.25 percent per year in fees and Class B and Class C funds typically charge two percent per year in fees.

FINRA also has a "fund analyzer" to let the user compute fund performance net of fees and loads for up to 20 years.

No load funds can be purchased directly without advice, or with advice for an annual fee. This fee is in addition to the fund expenses. So why would managed portfolios hold funds with higher fees and loads? Because the advisors selling the funds get more commission for doing so.

You cannot deduct a commission you pay to a broker to buy investment property, so the loads you pay are not tax-deductible. However, you can use the commission to figure gain or loss from the sale. A front-end load adds to the cost basis of the shares. A back-end load reduces the sale proceeds. 12b-1 fees are not deductible either, but they reduce the return of the investment, and in that way indirectly reduce taxable income.

On the other hand, investment manager and planner fees may be deductible (subject to the 2% floor for miscellaneous itemized deductions) to the extent they relate to taxable income. If the management fee is based on a percentage of assets, it is deductible. Since IRA management fees reduce the value of the IRA, they indirectly reduce the amount of income reportable by the beneficiary. If your IRA custodian permits, you can pay the management fee yourself (instead of having it deducted from the IRA), and then take it as an itemized deduction subject to the 2% floor.

Savings Bonds are registered securities. They cannot be sold to anyone other than the U.S. Treasury and its agent banks. They are not marketable. Some of the consequences that follow from this status is that they can't be used a collateral for a loan and they can't be given to anyone without re-registering them. Savings bonds are also non-callable, that is, the U.S. Treasury can't force you to redeem the bonds before they stop paying interest at final maturity. Savings bonds are a completely "no-load" investment. There are never any fees for buying, selling or holding savings bonds.

You can buy actual paper bonds (referred to as "definitive bonds") at banks, or you can buy book entry bonds at TreasuryDirect (referred to as "electronic bonds"). Bonds always earn interest from the first day of the month in which they are issued. There is a maximum purchase limit: $30,000 per series, per type, per social security number, per year.

Each bond must have a registered owner. The bond can include one other name, either a co-owner or a beneficiary. When a bond has a co-owner, the Treasury and the IRS assume that the first named owner is the principal owner, who is the person who will pay the income tax on the interest that the bond has earned. Of course, documentation such as a contract between the parties can show otherwise.

Co-owned or joint paper bonds can be cashed in by either the principal owner or the co-owner. The removal of a co-owner requires both signatures. Co-owned electronic bonds can only be cashed in by the principal owner, and the principal owner can change or remove a co-owner without the co-owner's knowledge or permission.

When a bond is cashed, it is generally accepted that the individual cashing the savings bond is the individual responsible for the interest reporting on that year's income tax return for the interest accrued by the bonds. A 1099-INT is issued by the financial institution for those bonds to that individual who presented the bonds for payment. It may be that this is incorrect income tax reporting. In which case the individual receiving the1099 must report the interest but make an adjustment on his or her 1040 by subtracting the amount reportable by another taxpayer as a nominee distribution, then give the actual owner a Form 1099-INT and file Form 1096 with the IRS.

Some reissue transactions are taxable events and require that the interest earned on the bonds be reported as income for the year in which the reissue occurs.

Consent is not required for the owner to change a beneficiary (except in cases of some older Series E Bonds). Beneficiaries cannot cash in bonds until the owner's death.

If a bond has a co-owner or beneficiary and the co-owner or beneficiary survive the principal owner, then on the principal owner's death, the surviving joint owner or the beneficiary becomes the owner. The bonds may be reissued in the name of the owner or beneficiary. The principal owner's will does not govern who is the recipient of a bond with a second name.

This is an important point. If you have taken care to craft a will with percentage or specific distributions to beneficiaries, putting beneficiaries or co-owners on bonds (or any asset, for that matter) can wreck your carefully laid plan.

Many customer service representatives and other financial institution employees may urge you to add co-owners or beneficiaries, not only to your savings bonds, but to bank accounts, securities and other investments. Often they will tell you that adding a name will avoid probate. That is true, as far as it goes; but if you have an estate plan in place, it is usually best not to add co-owners and beneficiaries because it will defeat a carefully thought out estate plan. Before adding a co-owner or beneficiary check with your estate planning attorney.

The U.S. Treasury has a website that provides information about all kinds of savings bonds: click here. There you can find a calculator which will give you redemption value, current interest rate, next accrual date, final maturity date and so on. You can enter your list of bonds and it will stay there. You can look at the values on later dates.

For further information I also recommend Tom Adams' book, Savings Bond Advisor, Alert Media 2007.

One of my favorite charities, Lancaster Yeshiva Center, is competing in the Pepsi Refresh Project - they need votes!

Please vote for their idea to renovate an uninhabitable city home while training vocational students:

click here to vote

Question: What do you get when you cross the Godfather with a lawyer?
Answer: An offer you can't understand.

The nature of our legal system, which is often referred to as a "common law" system, is that it depends heavily on precedent. That means that the outcome in a current case is determined by reference to the outcome in prior cases. Words, phrases, and terms are given meanings that are developed in lines of cases. Thus, so called "legalese," while usually used as a denigrating label, is in fact the technical language of the law.

Do you understand the meaning of these phrases: "Biophilic Design", "microsphere/hydrogel combination system", and "pool boiling curves"? If you don't you are not alone. They come from the technical language of architecture, pharmacy, and nuclear engineering, respectively. These specialized professions employ technical language. As does the legal profession.

There is a movement for Plain Language in legal writing that is very important. Its goal is to eliminate unnecessarily complex language in law, government and business. The improvement of writing clarity should be supported. However, it cannot be expected that a lay person will be able to read and converse freely about the technical aspects of any profession. A physics paper submitted for publication to an academic journal is not readily accessible to the lay reader.

In the law, some writing should be directed at the reader's lay level. A good example is warning labels. It is imperative that a warning label to be affixed to a dangerous machine be clear and easily understood. What is not so clear is that legal documents intended to govern complex relationships and transactions need be or can be written with the same reader in mind. For attorneys the use of traditional legal writing is more efficient because it is most commonly used; therefore, most commonly understood.

Some accuse lawyers of being obscure writers on purposes. Perhaps some lawyers are like that, but many accusations against lawyers for writing "legalese" are unfounded.

If you read a surgeon's textbook giving precise instructions on how to perform a cholecystectomy and you did not understand it, would you think it was a bad textbook? Or would you think that you had a bad surgeon? No, of course not.

Similarly, if your lawyer drafts a will or trust for you and you do not understand all of the provisions, does that mean it's a bad document, or that your lawyer is being an obscurantist? No, of course not.

"Boilerplate" provisions in a contract, will, or other legal documents are sections of routine, standard language. The term comes from an old method of printing. In the late 1800's and early 1900's, "boilerplate" or ready to print material was supplied to newspapers. Advertisements or syndicated columns were supplied to newspapers in ready-to-use form as heavy iron, prefabricated printing plates that were not (and, indeed, could not) be modified before printing. These never-changed plates came to be known in the late 19th century as "boilerplates" from their resemblance to the plates used to construct boilers.

The term "boilerplate" was later adopted by lawyers to describe those parts of a legal document that are considered "standard language," although any good lawyer will tell you to always read the "boilerplate" in any document you plan to sign. Today, "boilerplate" is commonly stored in computer memory to be retrieved and copied when needed.

In a will or trust, sections of boilerplate are often maligned as "legalese." In fact, the choice of boilerplate is crucial. Let me give you a few examples.

Wills should contain a tax clause. A tax clause is a provision that says where the executor should get the money to pay federal and state death taxes. A common boilerplate provision could provide that all taxes are to be paid from the residue of the probate estate. Maybe your will says that.

Boilerplate is often used in a will or trust to provide definitions. For example, the will may refer to children, grandchildren, descendants or issue. Who is included? Is a stepchild included in the class? Is an adopted child included in the class? Are children born of unmarried parents included? If there is a definition in the boilerplate, it may exclude stepchildren as beneficiaries. Is this intended? Perhaps. Then again, perhaps not. This is a case where the definition in the boilerplate goes to the heart of the matter--who is a beneficiary and who gets a share of the estate.

If you name an individual or a bank or trust company as a trustee, can the beneficiaries ever remove that trustee? Thirty years later when the trustee's fees are high, investment performance is poor, and there is inadequate customer service, can the trust be moved? It depends on what it says in the boilerplate.

All boilerplate is not equal. The choice of the boilerplate that is appropriate to the circumstances and is in accordance with the intentions of the parties is very important. There is no standard, across-the-board language for anything. It is all written by someone, the words have meaning, and they are binding.

Pop singer Britney Spears married her childhood sweetheart, Jason Alexander, at the Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas Saturday morning January 3, 2004 at 5:30 AM. She was escorted down the aisle by a hotel bellman. The bride wore jeans and a baseball hat. 55 hours later, on Monday morning at about 10:00 AM, Britney's attorney filed a petition for annulment of the marriage. A few hours later it was granted. Britney married Kevin Federline nine months later on September 2004.

The petition for annulment said Britney "lacked understanding of her actions to the extent that she was incapable of agreeing to the marriage." Reasons given included: "Before entering into the marriage the plaintiff and defendant did not know each other's likes and dislikes, each other's desires to have or not have children, and each other's desires as to state of residency. . .Upon learning of each other's desires, they are so incompatible that there was a want of understanding of each other's actions in entering into this marriage."

An annulment is a ruling by the court that puts aside a marriage as though it never existed. Technically, an annulment refers only to making a voidable marriage null; if the marriage is void from the start, such as in the case of bigamy, then it is automatically null, although a legal declaration of nullity is required to establish this.

In Pennsylvania, invalid marriages include situations such as when either party had an existing spouse at the time of the marriage, when the parties are blood relatives within a certain degree, or when either party could not consent because of a mental defect or other related reason. These marriages are void without an annulment and their status can be established by a legal declaration of nullity.

Other marriages may be declared void by Pennsylvania courts and an annulment granted if 1) the spouses are less than 16 years of age and lack the consent of a parent or the court to marry, 2) where either party was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, 3) when either party was at the time of the marriage incurably impotent or 4) either party entered into the marriage as a result of fraud, duress, coercion, or force.

The rationale for granting an annulment is that marriage is a contract, and if either individual was unable to enter into the contract, the court may determine that no contract of marriage ever existed. After an annulment, the spouses have no right to inherit, one from the other, and no right to be supported.

Children born to or adopted within a marriage that is later annulled are legitimate children. They have the right to financial support from both parents and to get property at the death of either parent regardless of whether the parents' marriage was valid.

Many people mistakenly believe that annulments are common for short marriages, and that it is a proceeding that is easier and less expensive than divorce. Actually, an annulment is more complicated than divorce because it must be established that the marriage was entered into improperly; the parties can't just consent to an annulment. An annulment is sought in order to nullify the marriage and return the parties to their prior single status, as if they never married. Establishing the grounds for an annulment is difficult. Many Pennsylvania lawyers advise clients to file for divorce and avoid the difficulties.

There is a tax result, also, to be considered. If your marriage is annulled by court decree, and you are thus treated as if no marriage ever existed, then for federal income tax purposes you are considered unmarried even if you filed joint returns for earlier years. According to an IRS ruling, if an annulment is retroactive, you were never married and have no right to file joint returns. You must file amended returns claiming either single or head of household status for all tax years affected by the annulment that are not closed by the statute of limitations for filing a tax return. The statute of limitations generally does not expire until 3 years after your original return was filed.

An annulment granted through a church or other religious entity is not the same as a legal annulment. The courts consider marriage as a contract, not as a church sacrament. Only a legal annulment or divorce gives the parties the legal right to remarry according to the law in the United States. Religious annulment gives the parties the right to remarry through their religious organization.

While other denominations have annulments, one usually hears of them in the context of the Catholic Church where marriage is believed to be indissoluble. However, a person who is divorced may petition the Church to review the marriage and investigate whether a full, free-willed consent was exchanged at the time of the wedding. The Church uses the same rationale as the civil law. The annulment process is not a method to dissolve a marriage but rather to determine whether a marriage was valid. In the Jewish religion, marriages can be annulled but very rarely is it done.

A religious marriage or annulment has no effect on the civil status of the marriage. Similarly, a civil annulment has no effect in religious law.

Spencer Fiduciary Services offers trust and estate expertise to law firms and banks

LANCASTER, PA - May 27 - BUSINESS WIRE - At a time when law firms are scaling back operations or completely dissolving, Pennsylvania-based trust and estates attorney Patti S. Spencer has taken the bold step of starting a new corporate entity.

Spencer Fiduciary Services (SFS, www.spencerfiduciaryservices.com) is a private consulting company dedicated to providing trust and estate services to law firms and financial institutions. Founding attorney Patti Spencer, head of Lancaster-based Spencer Law Firm (www.spencerlawfirm.com), saw a need in the market for outsourced trust administration and estate settlement services.

"Handling trust and estate matters for clients is a natural expansion opportunity for many law firms, but it requires specialized expertise that may not be available within a firm," says Spencer. 

SFS is designed to help Pennsylvania law firms and banks administer estates and trusts; value assets; and prepare and file inheritance, federal estate, or fiduciary income tax returns. SFS also helps clients comply with the Uniform Prudent Investor Act (UPIA), the Uniform Principal and Income Act (UPAIA), and the Uniform Trust Act (UTA).

"We work behind the scenes or directly with a firm's clients to provide a wide range of estate and trust services," says SFS Director M. Yvonne Crouse. "The client always remains the attorney of record."

Law firms and banks that partner with SFS can maintain their client relationship while gaining in-depth tax knowledge, state of the art technology, and experienced staff.  Every client of Spencer Fiduciary Services receives a password-protected Internet portal for unlimited access to all account documentation.

When trust and estate disputes lead to fiduciary litigation or arbitration, Ms. Spencer is also available to serve as an expert witness in matters relating to fee disagreements, attorney malpractice, breach of fiduciary duty, failure to pay taxes, estate violations, or fiduciary investment management.

About Patti S. Spencer, Esq.

Patti S. Spencer is a nationally recognized trusts and estates attorney, author and educator. She is a peer-nominated Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel. Her publications include "Pennsylvania Estate Planning, Wills and Trusts Library" (Data Trace, 2007), and "Your Estate Matters" (AuthorHouse, 2005). Her blogs include www.pennsylvaniafiduciarylitigation.com and www.pennsylvaniatrustsandestates.com.

Contact:

Margaret Grisdela

Legal Expert Connections, Inc.

Thank you to Grant Griffiths for his suggestion for this post.

We appreciate your visits to Pennsylvania Trusts and Estates.  While many of you are stopping by to read the new post we have published, you may be missing out on what else we have to offer.

1. Don't forget about the search box

If you look in the lower left column of the blog page you will see our search box. You can use this to find posts we have done in the past. If there is a particular topic you are looking for, type in your search request. 

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As our readership continues to grow, so does the number of  subscribers to our RSS feed and/or email feed. You can find our subscription options on the left side of the blog page also. 

I  encourage our readers to use RSS if they want. If you click on this link, you will get a video explaining RSS in plain english which is posted on the commoncraft site.

3. "Taxing Matters" columns

I write a weekly column called "Taxing Matters" which is published every Monday morning in the Business Section of the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal.   If you missed it in the newspaper you can see the column on the Publications page of the Spencer Law Firm website.

If you have an idea for a column, please pass it on to patti@spencerlawfirm.com.

4. If you have a topic you would like me to post on, please tell me

I want our readers to tell me if there is a topic or a particular question they may have which they would like me to post on. I spend a lot of time considering what to post on and I do have a file folder on my desktop full of ideas. However, what makes a blog so great is when its readers and the blogger develop a community whereby the readers get involved in what is being talked about. You can leave a comment on any blog post asking me to expand on it or to write a post on a different topic. You are also always encouraged to drop me an email at patti@spencerlawfirm.com and let me know what you would like to see on Pennsylvania Fiduciary Litigation.

5. Please ask if you would like to guest post

I love it when I get someone who wants to guest post on Pennsylvania Trusts and Estates Blog. Not only does it give me a break from doing the writing, it gives our readers a different take and voice on the subject of fiduciary litigation. Please drop me an email at patti@spencerlawfirm.com if you would like to guest post on Pennsylvania Trusts and Estates Blog.

6. Connecting with me, Patti Spencer

You can always reach me by e-mail at patti@spencerlawfirm.com.  If you would like to follow me in the other social media tools I use, you can find me on Linked In at:

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You can find me on Twitter at:   http://www.twitter.com/pattispencer.

I am active on Twitter and enjoy the interaction and conversations I have with those I follow and who follow me. I also post on twitter when we put up a new post here. Twitter is a great way for you to interact and learn from those you follow and who follow you. 

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If you ever feel someone would benefit from reading what we offer and if they are not subscribed to the blog, please feel free to give them a copy. I hereby give you permission to redistribute the text of any post from Pennsylvania Trusts and Estates Blog as you want. I only ask that you give us proper credit and a link back to Pennsylvania Trust and Estates Blog.

When I graduated from law school, I had little insight into the business of running a law practice. Don't get me wrong; I had great knowledge about the law. But I did not know how to actually build a client roster, create and deliver services, administer an office, and get paid a fair fee for work performed.

Susan Cartier Leibel has provided a way for today's sole practitioners to learn all of these things, and more. She has founded Solo Practice University™. SPU is a web-based legal learning and networking community for lawyers and law students. I am very flattered to be included among this distinguished faculty of progressive lawyers, marketing professionals, technology consultants, and other legal business giants. 

I will be teaching, talking and blogging about wills, trusts, estates, and taxes. The much ballyhooed inter-generational wealth transfer from the baby boomers is upon us and this practice area will be going strong. I will help you to use the SPU community to pull together the knowledge of tax, property law, future interests, contracts, litigation, and legal writing you need in today's complex trust and estate practice environment.

I will be teaching a course on Trusts and Estates Practice as well as being available for online office hours where you can get your technical questions answered and find answers to how to run your law business and give your clients top notch service.

Lawyers who take on trust and estate matters without the necessary skills and tax experience may find themselves facing unexpected fiduciary liability. As a frequent expert witness on trust and estate matters, I will work to help you avoid common mistakes that can undermine your legal career.

Working along with SPU, I will teach you how to use the Internet more effectively to access the necessary information, forms, advice, and research you need for your trust and estates work. You will find that access to information is no longer prohibitively expensive for the solo practitioner.

Technology has made it possible for solo practitioners like you to be just as prepared, just as smart, and even more nimble than their big law competitors. Add to this the advantage of the SPU community to share tactics, solutions, and ideas. As a solo practitioner, you now have the unparalleled opportunity to expand your network, learn new skills, find the best technology, and build your practice.

Can't wait to get started!

 A safe deposit box is a metal box, usually housed in a private area in a bank. There are two locks on each box. When you rent a safe deposit box, you receive one or two keys to one of the locks The bank keeps the key to the second. The keys to both locks are required for the box to be opened. Safe deposit boxes are available in a variety of sizes. The rental is payable annually, and is usually around $40 - $70. Larger boxes, of course, have higher rent.

A safe deposit box is a convenient place to store important items that would be difficult or impossible to replace. The safe deposit box, also, offers privacy and security. Although many people keep valuables close by in a closet, safe or file cabinet at home or in the office (or under the mattress), these places are not as resistant to fire, water or theft as a safe deposit box. In addition, some insurance companies charge lower insurance premiums on valuables kept in a bank's safe deposit box instead of at home.

Who Has Access?

Who could or should have access to a safe deposit box - especially in an emergency? You can jointly rent your safe deposit box with a spouse, child or other person. Any joint owner can have unrestricted access to the box. (Merely giving someone else a key will not be enough to grant access. He or she, also, must sign the bank's rental contract as a joint-renter.) An alternative is to appoint a "deputy" or "agent" who will have access to your safe deposit box. A deputy/agent is appointed in the presence of the box renters and a bank employee, which gives the bank greater assurance about the validity of the authorization. Many banks will not permit access to someone who has only a power of attorney. It is always best to have the person you wish to have access sign the card at the bank as a deputy/agent.

What should you keep in your safe deposit box?

In general, consider putting anything that would be difficult or impossible to replace in your safe deposit box. Here are some examples:

Your Will

Power of Attorney (but please keep at least one original in a safe place outside of the box. An agent can't use a power of attorney if it is locked in a box to which he has no access.)

Originals of your insurance policies

Birth, marriage and death certificates

Military records

Citizenship Papers

Court Decrees

Social Security Card

Deeds, vehicle titles, mortgages, leases and other contracts

Stock certificates, bonds and certificates of deposit (CDs)

Jewelry, medals, stamps, coins, collections

Negatives for irreplaceable photos

Videos or pictures of your home's contents for insurance purposes (in case of theft or damage).

Copy of your passport (don't put anything in the box that you may need to get while the bank is closed)

Can you deduct the rent?

If you itemize deductions, you may be able to get some tax benefit from the rent for your box. The rent is deductible as a miscellaneous itemized deduction. However, miscellaneous itemized deductions have to exceed 2% of adjusted gross income before they have a tax benefit.

Can law enforcement authorities open your safe deposit box?

If the authorities convince the appropriate court that there is "reasonable cause" to suspect you're hiding something illegal in your safe deposit box (for example, guns, drugs, explosives, stolen cash), they can obtain a court order, force the box open and seize the contents.

What about the IRS? The IRS, following proper procedures, can "freeze" your assets by placing a hold on your bank accounts and safe deposit box until the tax dispute is settled. Any person who brings a civil suit against you can also get a court order to freeze your assets if the petitioner/plaintiff can prove to the judge that there is a legitimate dispute over a debt and a risk of moving or hiding the money or box contents.

Can safe deposit box contents escheat to the state?

Escheat is the process whereby states and federal agencies acquire custody of unclaimed property and abandoned assets. Under Pennsylvania law, property that is "dormant" for a period of time, usually five years, must be reported to the Commonwealth as unclaimed property and given to the Commonwealth for safekeeping. (Most os us don't consider no activity in five years as abandoned - but there you have it.) The escheat law applies to all kinds of property including abandoned bank accounts, forgotten stocks, checks that have not been cashed, certificates of deposit, life insurance policies, safe deposit boxes, etc.

How does a safe deposit box escheat? If you don't pay your rental fee and attempts to notify and locate you prove unsuccessful, your safe deposit box will be reported as abandoned, and the contents will be turned over to the Commonwealth's unclaimed property office. Often this happens because the renter dies and the heirs have no knowledge of the box or its contents. (It's always a good idea to have the decedent's mail forwarded to the executor.) For more information about Pennsylvania's unclaimed property law see www.patreasury.org/aboutUP.htm. If you think you may have abandoned a safe deposit box in the past, or you are the heir of someone who may have done so, there are free databases with information from most states. Check out Unclaimed.org and MissingMoney.com.

Make sure this doesn't happen to you. Call your bank to confirm that your rent has been paid and they have your correct address. It's a good idea to have the fee automatically deducted from an account. It's a good idea to visit your box at least once a year. Make sure your family or other beneficiaries know where you have a box.

Check out this article  by Al Benelli about so-called financial advisors and "free meal" seminars:

Click here

Excerpt:

"For years I have been warning consumers about the dangers of attending "free-meal" financial seminars. Local, state and federal regulators across the insurance and securities industries have conducted hundreds of investigations into these "selling events." ABC's Nightline even did a feature story on how free-meal workshops are often used as a springboard for financial abuse. 

Some states, like Massachusetts, have actively prosecuted promoters who use false or misleading information to sell inappropriate products and services.

Other states, including Pennsylvania, have done relatively little due to a lack of clear statutes defining such things as minimum education and licensing standards.

In fact, in Pennsylvania, anyone can call themselves a financial advisor without the requirement of any license at all. The legislature in Harrisburg debates whether or not to license interior designers, while leaving the financial services industry alone. Sadly, such is the power of the insurance lobby in Pennsylvania."

Since I grew up in Franklin County (Mont Alto, if you must know) this news about a possible murder mystery with a trusts and estates twist caught my eye.

"A hand-written 2001 codicil to Don Berkebile's last will and testament, coupled with a note to a Public Opinion reporter two years later, indicates the elderly retired Smithsonian curator was concerned that he might die from something other than natural causes."

For more click here.

Jane Herron has published these three excerpts about the workings of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) - a subject that should be near and dear to everyone's hearts in view of the current financial crisis:

Click here:        Part 1        Part 2      Part 3

The material is taken from the FDIC's website.  Click here for the complete publication.