I do a lot of estate planning work. Trusts of all sorts, wills, probate, etc. It never ceases to amaze me how ignorant the employees are at big banks when it comes to the legal aspects of the relationship between a trustee and the bank (or brokerage).
In this instant case, I am co-trustee of a brokerage account at Wells Fargo. The other co-trustee has died, leaving me as sole trustee. WF has now frozen the account since the SSN of the deceased trustee was associated with the account. WF seems to think that there can be no tax liability for a SSN after the death of the SSN holder, which of course is not true.
WF is frustrating the whole purpose behind establishing a revocable trust. The purpose is to avoid any interruption in ownership of the asset upon death.
As I've said and written before, anyone with less than $100 million that does business with a money center bank is an idiot.
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
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