I had to go through this for my Mom an ex-pat in Israel. The account I was using was a joint-schwab account we had shared for 2 decades.
I mentioned to Schwab that she had passed and they froze the account until I could prove the estate was less than $14 Million. Needless to say this was a disaster as I was in a foreign country writing checks left and right.
The issue was that it was foreign addressed account of a US domiciled bank. The IRS places the liability of the taxes on the bank if the estate is over $12 Million. Schwab would recognise a letter from the IRS stating that or any US probate court. My Mom's estate with no US assets has no US based probate court access. The IRS rule was enacted after our joint-account was opened and blew up our estate plan.
Needless to say in 30 years I only had one problem with Schwab (which I had praised as the best bank ever until that moment). I have been unwinding all of my families Schwab accounts.
I mentioned to Schwab that she had passed and they froze the account until I could prove the estate was less than $14 Million. Needless to say this was a disaster as I was in a foreign country writing checks left and right.
The issue was that it was foreign addressed account of a US domiciled bank. The IRS places the liability of the taxes on the bank if the estate is over $12 Million. Schwab would recognise a letter from the IRS stating that or any US probate court. My Mom's estate with no US assets has no US based probate court access. The IRS rule was enacted after our joint-account was opened and blew up our estate plan.
Needless to say in 30 years I only had one problem with Schwab (which I had praised as the best bank ever until that moment). I have been unwinding all of my families Schwab accounts.