Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Connecticut
My parents do not have a will. They are 79 and 85 years old. They do not own any property, and they do not have any savings. They do have a checking account with my name added to the account. I handle the monthly bills now. They had claimed credit card bankruptcy in July 2008. They do have 2 small insurance policies. One for $10,000 and one for $30,000. My sister and I are the contingency ( not sure if that is spelled correctly),
beneficiaries. My parents are each others primary beneficiaries on the policies. Do you need a will drawn up with this information about the insurance policies, or what is written on the policies enough??? Should my surviving parent change the beneficiary on the policy when the time comes? I do not know about any of the legal aspects of this except from friends that have been in situations with their parents. It seems EVERYTHING has to be in legal form because of probate. Even though my parents have no assets, I still want to be prepared just in case.
Thank You for your cooperation.
2 Answers from Attorneys
I do not think your parents need wills. Insurance policy benefits pass outside of probate. This means that the beneficiary takes the proceeds by providing a death certificate. If your parents have secondary beneficiaries on their policies, then it appears the proceeds of either policy will pass to you or your sister after both of your parents pass.
Since the only other asset is the checking account, and your name is on it, then there will be no need to probate anything.
Atty Subbloie's answer is correct, but you may run into a practical, not necessarily legal, problem. My experience has been that some (not all) insurance companies won't pay on a policy unless there is a ruling from the probate court that no (state of Connecticut) estate taxes are due. There won't be any taxes due in your case (the assets are too small), but you will still be required to file the tax form (CT 706 NT) and to pay the probate court fee (very small) before the court will issue the certificate of no tax.
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