U.S. Savings Bond questions, Inherited and not.
My 92-year old Mother was a very private person, I did not know she had Savings Bonds in our Joint names.
I have not been able to find canceled checks or registers describing them.
Neither can I find 1040 Federal or State tax forms.
Her banks have no record of Safe Deposit Boxes.
I think there might be Bonds sticking somewhere unknown.
How can I identify the institution where she bought the Bonds,
or find a list of her Bonds without having the Bonds?
How am I taxed on the Bond purchase price
and the generated interest?
She also has Bonds in her own name.
Will these be taxed differently?
I expect replies of "Hire an accountant", etc.
Don't waste your ink;
I've been down that road
with disappointing results.
I have coined the phrase;
"10% of Professionals graduated in the top 10% of their class,
the other 90% graduated in the bottom 90%"
I value "Been there - done that" replies greatly.
Thanks a LOT.
11 Comments
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I'd like to add my experience. Savings bonds!!!. Nothing like doing it old school style. Imho you have 2 different issues here: 1. Ownership of the bonds (whose assets they are) and 2. How bonds work.
I was executrix for an aunt who loved doing E bonds both as a way of saving $ & as gifts - you name the occasion (graduation, wedding, birthday) she gave them and did it as co-owner and a few as POD. When she died, some bonds where still being held by the persons she gave them to. Why they still held them was varied: some had not matured (usually 30 years), some being held for college & some because they didn't know wtf what to do with them. Bonds showed her & them as co-owners. You DO NOT need both owners signature to redeem bonds, you just need 1 of the persons listed on the bond to redeem. So none of the bonds were included in her estate, they were the property of the co-owner, as you need only 1 person to claim ownership of the asset to redeem them. The co-owner claimed ownership.They were NOT my aunt's asset, this according to the probate judge. BUT the bonds issued POD (not as co-owners) would be part of her estate but not subject to probate because they were POD (like a bank account POD). If bonds are POD, you need a certified death certificate to redeem or re-register them. How the bonds were done & how they are held likely will make a big difference as to whether it's an asset for her estate AND what the intention was for the bonds. Same thing if she is still alive and you are trying to figure out if the bonds are an asset for Medicaid. You should talk with an elder care attorney to see what the viewpoint is on bonds are for your area in dealing with Medicaid and probate later on is always a good thing.
Tax wise bonds, I don't think, exist until redeemed or re-registered??? So I bet they really aren't going to show up on Medicaid financial radar. I was dealing with old school style paper bonds (before the electronic ones they do now) so that might have changed.
You need to look at the bonds to see maturity date. Redeeming them before then (could be 10, 20, 30 years) could cost.
One last thing, banks aren't selling bonds anymore. So most banks will not redeem them at all & you have to go to the Treasury Dept on-line to do this. Good luck!
Here in PA, financial institutions turn in to the state any stagnant assets. It takes a while, but eventually they become the property of the state's treasury office and are cataloged on an on-line, searchable database. I found an old, forgotten account there one time. Your state might have something similar.
If the bonds were not too, too old, they were purchased with someone's social security number (either the purchaser or the named owner). I know there's a website where you can enter the serial number of the bond to get its value, I don't know if you can enter the SS # of the bond, too, but it might be worth checking.
If I am not mistaken, with the proper documentation, you can get a list of all outstanding bonds in your mother's SS number from the Federal Reserve. As for contents of deposit boxes, when unclaimed assets from all sources (such as deposits with utility companies, bank accounts, etc.) are sent to the states, the states retain lists by name, address and social security numbers. In most states, if not all, it is public information and is available on-line. It is even printed in papers, I think, once a year. Be sure to check all states where she might have put things.
Good luck.
Other times when a person dies and banks catch this notice, if there are any save deposit boxes or anything in a bank that belonged to her will to to the state. The State holds unclaimed deposit box contents. How to reach them, I am not sure.