Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Colorado
My dad passed away in march 2010 and left me his mineral rights which he recieves checks from a gas company each month. I haven't had the money to transfer them over to my name yet, now the IRS who says my dad owes them money so they garnished his checks. My Question is if i transfer them over to my name can the IRS continue to garnish the checks and can they garnish a dead mans checks? I have power of attny. for my dad so i have been just signing them as power of attorney and cashing them since I actually inherited them.
1 Answer from Attorneys
I am sorry for your loss.
You cannot just transfer these checks to yourself. Your power of attorney is not effective once the person who granted you the power dies. On passing, the mineral rights and all other assets are part of your father�s estate and the only way they can legally pass to anyone is through a will, trust, joint tenancy, POD, or if he had none of those, it must pass intestate. So assuming there is a will that gave you these rights, the estate must go through probate and in this process the creditors (like the IRS) can make claims for amounts due.
Contact a probate attorney as soon as possible. Also do some research and these are some good discussions http://www.cobar.org/index.cfm/ID/20884. http://www.cobar.org/index.cfm/ID/20909.
DISCLAIMER�This answer is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice regarding your question. This answer does not establish an attorney-client relationship.
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