Help trying to leave finances to my family w/o drawing suspicion

[cind3rs]

hello all,

i am located in the U.S. and planning to ctb in a little less than a month via SN. i have everything ready for the SN, but i don't really want to leave a mess for my family (more than the body, anyway), so i'm trying to take care of things while i have the time. my plan is to give my mother and my sister a 50/50 split of the money in my savings account after i pass. it's not an insignificant amount, so i'm hoping it will at least help them get over my passing. the easiest way i've found to do this is to assign them both as beneficiaries to my savings account, thus turning it into a POD (payable-on-death) account. however at 21, i'm quite young to be assigning beneficiaries in the first place. i've googled around and can't find any online forms to assign beneficiaries with my bank, so the only option seems to be going there in-person to do it myself.

in theory, it doesn't seem too hard. but i'm worried that i'll draw suspicion from the banker. if i get questioned about why i'm trying to set something up like a POD at my age, i'm afraid i'll freeze up and won't be able to answer. does anyone have experience with this? what would be a good excuse to give to the banker if they ask me why i'm trying to assign beneficiaries to my account? i've already been hospitalized for trying to ctb before, so i'm trying to stay as low-key as possible. any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Das Nichts]

Do you really have to do this in person ? I filled out the papers and sent it via e-mail, no questions asked.

I don't think anybody will ask why you are setting this up. However if one does:
a.) tell them this is one of their concern (my way)
b.) a friend of yours died recently and left his family in a complicated financial situation and you
want to avoid that (oversharing, usually makes persons back-off immediately)
c.) tell them you are single and just want this sorted out

 

[Little_Suzy]

I'm not sure how you'll raise any suspicions when estate planning is commonplace and incorporates your bank account. Age is irrelevant, and "will planning" has been recommended as part of my mental health treatment.

Also, many young people do this when they get their first job with benefits such as life insurance. You can claim that this was advised by HR as part of the process of setting up your job benefits.

Inform the banker that you want your relatives to have rapid and easy access to your bank account. I'm sure bankers are asked this question every day and it doesn't arouse suspicions.

 

[Linda]

hello all,

i am located in the U.S. and planning to ctb in a little less than a month via SN. i have everything ready for the SN, but i don't really want to leave a mess for my family (more than the body, anyway), so i'm trying to take care of things while i have the time. my plan is to give my mother and my sister a 50/50 split of the money in my savings account after i pass. it's not an insignificant amount, so i'm hoping it will at least help them get over my passing. the easiest way i've found to do this is to assign them both as beneficiaries to my savings account, thus turning it into a POD (payable-on-death) account. however at 21, i'm quite young to be assigning beneficiaries in the first place. i've googled around and can't find any online forms to assign beneficiaries with my bank, so the only option seems to be going there in-person to do it myself.

in theory, it doesn't seem too hard. but i'm worried that i'll draw suspicion from the banker. if i get questioned about why i'm trying to set something up like a POD at my age, i'm afraid i'll freeze up and won't be able to answer. does anyone have experience with this? what would be a good excuse to give to the banker if they ask me why i'm trying to assign beneficiaries to my account? i've already been hospitalized for trying to ctb before, so i'm trying to stay as low-key as possible. any advice would be appreciated.

My feling is you should hire a lawyer and get a will drawn up properly. He probably won't ask why you want to make one, since any adult can make a will. (If he does ask, just say that "Nobody knows what's going to happen in the future, and it's best to be prepared" or something like that.) You can usually arrange to have multiple copies made (certified copies, or whatever - your lawyer will know what applies in your jurisiction), which is sometimes safer because if the only copy gets into the hands of someone who doesn't like the terms of the will, the will might get destroyed. Again, your lawyer will be able to give you sound advice about that. If your affairs are simple, a lawyer's fees won't be very high - and you can always ask beforehand for a rough estimate of what the fees will be.