|
|
|
 |
|
Click
to read
my funny law firm murder mysteries
Equitable Apportionment If there is a probate estate the claims against the decedent and the expenses of transferring the decedent's property and estate taxes are payable out of it. Assets that pass without reference to a will or the statute of intestate distribution (which says who gets what if there is no will) are usually not subject to claims on the expenses of administration. These are assets such as life insurance proceeds paid to a named beneficiary or assets in a living trust. However, these assets may generate expenses. One example is estate tax. For instance IRA proceeds may be payable not to the probate estate, but to named beneficiaries such as children. The proceeds may generate estate tax and the probate estate is liable for the estate tax. Yet the probate estate did not get the IRA proceeds and the probate estate may have been willed to different people and be completely consumed by the estate tax on the IRA proceeds. The doctrine of equitable apportionment allows the estate to recover the portion of tax generated by the IRA proceeds from the beneficiaries. Under this doctrine the expenses and taxes generated by a decedent's property are apportioned over all the assets that generated them regardless of whether or not the assets are in the probate estate. This doctrine applies only to the post-death expenses and taxes generated by the property owned by the decedent. It does not apply to sums owed by the decedent at the time of death. Generally only the probate estate is liable for them.
|
|
|
Donald M.
Thompson * 55 W. Monroe #3950; Chicago, IL 60603 - Illinois
Probate Law Firm |
