Administrator of an Estate is the legal term referring to a person appointed by the Court to administer the estate of a person who died intestate (without leaving a will). This administrator will enjoy privileges similar to those of an executor, including the settling of debts, the payment of taxes and funeral expenses, and the distribution of the remaining assets.
Under the Wills Act 1959, the youngest age to write a Will is when he/she is 18 years old, whereas for Sabah, it is 21 years old. At the time of signing a Will, the testator as the maker of the Will, must have sound mind which means he/she must be fully aware of the document he/she is signing is a Will, understand the contents of his/her Will and is not intoxicated by drugs or any mental illness affecting his/her mental capacity. At the time of signing, he must not be under duress or undue influence. In addition, when the Will is signed by the testator, there must be at least two witnesses who are at least 18 years old, of sound mind and they are not visually impaired. The role of the witnesses is only to attest that the testator signed his/her Will.
Conversion to the Islamic faith: Section 2(2) of the Wills Act 1959 states that the Act does not apply to wills of persons professing the religion of Islam. When the testator (previously a non-Muslim) embraces the Islamic faith, the will made previously shall be void as it no longer comes under the ambit of the Wills Act 1959.[17] The testator, after conversion, can write a new will in accordance with the Islamic Laws whereby only one third of the total estate can be disposed of by way of a will, and the remaining two thirds by Sijil Faraid (a certificate of Muslim inheritance law). If the Muslim testator would like to dispose of more than one third of their total estate, the consent of all lawful beneficiaries must be obtained.
A will is a legal document created to provide instructions on how an individual’s property and custody of minor children, if any, should be handled after death. The individual expresses their wishes through the document and names a trustee or executor that they trust to fulfill their stated intentions. The will also indicates whether a trust should be created after death. Depending on the estate owner’s intentions, a trust can go into effect during their lifetime (living trust) or after their death (testamentary trust).
A grandfather may encourage his grandchildren to seek college or advanced degrees and thus transfer assets to an entity, such as a 529 plan, for the purpose of current or future education funding. That may be a much more tax-efficient move than having those assets transferred after death to fund college when the beneficiaries are of college age. The latter may trigger multiple tax events that can severely limit the amount of funding available to the kids.
After opening the probate case with the court, the personal representative inventories and collects the decedent's property. Next, he pays any debts and taxes, including estate tax in the United States, if the estate is taxable at the federal or state level. Finally, he distributes the remaining property to the beneficiaries, either as instructed in the will, or under the intestacy laws of the state.
If you've changed jobs over the years, it's quite likely that you have several different 401(k) retirement plans still open with past employers or maybe even several different IRA accounts. You may want to consider consolidating these accounts into one individual IRA. Consolidating of accounts allows for better investment choices, lower costs, a larger selection of investments, less paperwork, and easier management.
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