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I had a client who sent both his federal and state balance dues to the state (despite the fact that I had the payment instructions and payment vouchers clipped to separate envelopes. He "lost" them and hand wrote his own.) The state cashed both checks and sent him a refund, and the IRS of course sent him a bill. It was all my fault until he got his bank statement and realized what he did. I'm with Catherine. Why did the bank pay a check to the wrong payee? That's what happens when checks are machine read--only record the numbers I guess. Now if I tried to deposit a check made out to Catherine I'd probably be arrested.

The son's estate will be responsible for the paying of his debts. If there are no assets in the estate, then the creditors will not be paid. That is not to say that they will not try to coerce Mom into paying, but unless she was a co-signor on his debts, she has no obligation to pay them. The life insurance proceeds, naming her as beneficiary, are not part of his estate. Life insurance proceeds are only part of the estate if a beneficiary is not designated.

I dunno about you all, but my bookkeeping income has declined over the past five or six years. Closed businesses don't need bookkeepers. Retired business owners don't need bookkeepers. People are not opening businesses here. Well, if they are, they've heard that I'm mean and they don't want me, even if I charge less than others. And I do. And I am. Insert sound of cracking whip here.

And, I learned in school that we'd have clean solar energy and be on the metric system...

Nah; bookkeepers and accountants will be among the LAST jobs to go away.

My friend's son died suddenly and she called me to ask for help. The son has no assets, only debt. There was a life insurance policy with her as the beneficiary. She asked me if she will have to pay the debts. I told her that I'm not an attorney, but that it looks like his federal student loan will be canceled and the debt discharged. She does not know if her filed a 2013 tax return or if he owed anything. She does know that he did not have any filing requirement for 2014. There was no will and she is his only surviving relative. I have no idea if the IRS or debt collectors can come after the life insurance proceeds. He has lived at her address for at over two years and no letters have come from the IRS. I would be grateful for any free advice that I can pass on to her. She is in so much pain, that anything that I can do to help her will be appreciated. Thank you.

tHIS MIGHT HELP! http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/nebraska-probate-shortcuts-32147.html

My sympathies to your friend! I concur with rfassett: the estate has the obligation to pay debts, NOT the family/heirs. However, they *will* in all likelihood be pressured to do so.

I heard the same kind of mindless, senseless and ignorant ranting when I was in Middle School in 1968. Cars were supposed to be driving themselves, etc. by the year 2000 and cash was to be extinct by 2010. I give as much credence to those predictions as the outcome of the ones I heard in 1968. There will not be enough people with proper basic education to have such a society.

Ah, but where is the authority for the BANKS to give money to an entity NOT named on the check? If this is so, they have written themselves authority to steal at will. It needs to be repealed/overturned/stopped. If someone sends a check to the wrong agency, they'll just be stuck with late payment penalties and interest.

I don't doubt that our profit margins are higher than most. Our most used equipment is our big ole brains and we got em free from our mommas. And daddies.

However, bottom line, I do believe that most of us actually like what we are doing. That other world isn't all that great either, at times.

I should raise my rates... sometimes I think I'd make more money running a retail cash register, with less aggravation.

You just made me realize that I am a druggie.