Sister about to become a widow

[calimom]

It's great the daughter is doing so well, and may she continue to! The Social Security visit should be made by appointment, otherwise expect a wait. And the SS employee may show empathy or apply all the emotion of a DMV worker who is changing the title on a vehicle. It's not personal. I've gotten it all.

[frugaldrummer]

Another tax-related question.  If she were to sell the rental house without moving into it for 2 years, I think she would owe capital gains tax on half the gain (she'd get a stepped-up basis for the other half.) According to my reading, the capital gains tax is 0% for single filers with income below 39,000. I think she could easily keep her earned income below that for next year by working slightly fewer hours at her second job; am I correct in reading this to mean so long as her EARNED income is below $39k, it wouldn't matter how big the capital gains are? (Probably capital gains in the range of $100-150k).

[frugaldrummer]

Ran some various retirement scenarios for her today, I think she will be ok. Options ranging from retiring at 60, to retiring at 67, to drawing social security at 60 but continuing to earn $17,000 a year, etc -all come up with monthly income figures from $3500 to $4800, depending on whether and how much she subsidizes her earned income with money from the life insurance. Most of those scenarios still include a house payment of $1400 PITI but she has enough equity in her home that she could eventually downsize and become mortgage free if desired.

[frugaldrummer]

Sister is only 56 without a minor child at home so cannot draw SS until age 60 at earliest. And at that age it would be reduced to 71.5% of his check, and her earnings limited to something like $17,600 (forget the exact number) before she starts losing $1 for every $2 earned above that.

Luckily, he was almost 70 and hadn't drawn SS yet so his benefit is about $3,000. If she draws it at 60 she gets $2145. If she waits until she's 67 she gets $3,000.  Her own benefit will be small so there is no advantage to switching to her own benefit at a later date.

She's definitely going to sell the rental property, maybe next year because her low income next year would shelter the capital gains on the rental property I believe. She has definitely lost her handyman, although my not quite so handy brother lives in town and could help with some things. Keeping it long term as a rental is not a good idea and I didn't even include that in any of my scenarios. 

[frugaldrummer]

Well - sadly, things just got a lot crazier. The morning of the funeral, my sister found our mother dead. (She lived with me and had come up with me for the funeral(.

Of course we are all in shock. I am executor and am dealing with my mom's relatively uncomplicated affairs. But I do have a question for all of you:

Mom was 1 year in on a two year phone contract that also had a "free" tablet if you finished the contract. She's never really used it but I do have someone in the family who would want it. The phone was a cheap model but in good shape and just a year old (a couple family members might want it as a backup phone).

Does anybody know what happens in a case like this? Will Verizon just write it off, or try to come after the estate for the full cost of the tablet? If I just return the tablet and the phone is it done? I know people here advise not to pay any bills after a death but I'd like to find the easiest solution and if the charges aren't too much I do have uses for the phone and tablet. Anybody here have experience with this situation and know what to do?

Btw for the reference of others, this process has been made easier by the fact that my mom had a will and owned her burial plot next to my dad. She had put me on her checking and savings accounts so I have easy access to that money to pay her funeral costs. Her retirement accounts have all 4 kids as beneficiaries. There's no unpaid bills and the only other thing of monetary value is her paid off car which we all agree goes to my brother. She left a personal note to her children and grandchildren with her will.

These are good things for all of us to remember, when setting up our wills and affairs to make things easier for our heirs.

[Dicey]

Oh, I am so sorry for your losses. What a nightmare! Virtual hugs to all of your family. Sounds like your mother was one smart cookie.

[Catbert]

So sorry for your losses.

Regarding your mother's phone plan, Verizon is not going to take the phone and tablet back and call it even.  Both are probably worth almost nothing.  They may well demand that the estate pay for the remaining balance...or if it is automatically charged to a cc or bank account they'll just take the monthly fee.

I would definitely call and plead your case.  They may take just let you walk away.