Who Can I Hire To Calculate the Value of An Estate?
"Generally, it would be an accountant. Specifically in the case of very ""private"" (or unorganized, which is even worse) person - forensic accountant. Since there's no will - it will probably require a lawyer as well to gain access to all the accounts the accountant discovers. I would start with a good estate attorney, who in turn will hire a forensic accountant to trace the accounts."
The best analysis I know of Kiyosaki and his advice somes from a genuine property expert who gives plenty of good advice.  If you are really interested then check out [John T Reed on Robert T Kiyosaki](http://www.johntreed.com/Kiyosaki.html). Thank you very much for this thoughtful response.  In my opinion the judges care more about the why behind your valuation rather than a how.  Anyone can use a formula, but it takes so much more to understand why to use the formula.    Personally, the 'why' is going to be the toughest part for me understand and wrap my head around.  Once again thank you for the advice and the tip. "Be careful when you say ""insurance"" -- these things are service plans. They provide you with specific services and discounts in exchange for a pre-determined fee. So you pay $299/year and get a will, telephone advice and similar services. Insurance, like liability insurance, guarantees compensation for specific losses.  You can sometimes pay attorneys a retainer and get some discounts on services. This is only cost effective if you have enough work. These plans might make sense, depending on what you need." Assuming the stock was worth more at the time she gave it to you than when she bought it, the cost basis would be the amount that she bought it for. You would then pay tax on the increase in value from that time.  Generally it's better to inherit assets than receive them as gifts, since the cost basis of inherited assets is raised to the value at the time of the death of the one leaving the inheritance. You will probably need to find some record of the original amount paid so you can determine the right cost basis. "First, when a debt collector says, ""It's to your advantage to give me money now"", I'd take that with a grain of salt. My ex-wife declared bankruptcy and when debt collectors couldn't find her, they somehow tracked me down and told me that I should tell her that it would be to her advantage to pay off this debt before the bankruptcy went through. That was total nonsense of course. The whole point of bankruptcy is to not have to pay the debt. Why would you pay it just before it was wiped off the books? (Now that I think of it, I'm surprised that they didn't tell me that I should pay her debts.) As others have noted, this would be controlled by state law. But in general, when someone dies any debts are payed from the assets of the estate, and then whatever is left goes to the heirs. If nothing is left or the debts exceed the assets, then the heirs get nothing, but they don't have to pay somebody else's debts. I don't see how you could ""put the house under your name"". If he left the house to you in his will, then after any debts are settled in accordance with state law, the house would transfer to you. But you can't just decide to put the house in your name outside of the legal inheritance process. If you could, then people could undermine a will at any time by just deciding to take an asset left to someone else and ""put it in their name"". Or as in this case, people could undermine the rights of creditors by transferring all assets to themselves before debts were paid. Even if there's some provision in your state for changing the name on a deed prior to probate to facilitate getting mortgages and taxes paid or whatever, I would be quite surprised if this allowed you to shelter assets from legitimate creditors. It would be a gaping loophole in inheritance law. Frankly, if your father's debts are more than the value of his assets, including the value of the house, I suspect you will not be able to keep the house. It will be sold to pay off the creditors. I would certainly talk to a lawyer about this as there might be some provision in the law that you can take advantage of. I'll gladly yield on this point to anyone with specific knowledge of New Jersey inheritance law." "Securities and ETFs are also subjected to Estate Tax.  Some ways: Draft a ""Transfer on Death"" instruction to the broker, that triggers a transfer to an account in the beneficiary's name, in most cases avoiding probate. If the broker does not support it, find another broker.  Give your brokerage and bank password/token to your beneficiary. Have him transfer out holdings within hours of death.  Create a Trust, that survives even after death of an individual.  P.S. ETF is treated as Stock (a company that owns other companies), regardless of the nature of the holdings.  P.S.2 Above suggestions are only applicable to nonresident alien of the US." I used LawDepot to do this. It worked well for my simple case, though you are limited in the number of people you can name, for example, to inherit a share of your estate. And as Frazell Thomas pointed out, you do need to have your signature witnessed. I would certainly use LawDepot again for a simple will, though I suspect my next will is going to be complicated enough that I'll actually have to use an attorney. Note that a significant life change such as getting married may invalidate any current will. This is certainly the case in my jurisdiction, but this may not necessarily be true for you. Note that if you die without a will, your estate will be divided up in a deterministic manner. My wife died recently and as her immediate next of kin and with no children, I was therefore entirely esponsible for her estate. Had we had children, the children would have received $40,000 each, the rest coming to me. This will depend greatly on your jurisdiction, and I'm not sure what happens if the estate is insufficient. I bring this up simply because both my wife and I were happy with the other handling the estate, and a will would not have made dealing with her death significantly easier. If you're creating an S-Corp for consulting services that you personally are going to provide, what would it give her to have 50% of the corporation when you're dead? Not to mention that you can just add it to your will that the corporation stock will go to her, and it will be much better (IMHO, talk to a professional) since she'll be getting stepped-up basis. Why aren't you talking to a professional before making decisions? It doesn't sound like a good way to conduct business. "Most states have a ""cap"" on the amount a ""heir finder"" can charge for retrieving the property.  It is generally around 10%.  Even if the state does not have a particular statute you can usually negotiate the rate with the company.  Thirty-percent is extortion, if they won't do it for less, someone else will." "**What you need to know about [estate planning](http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/money101/lesson21/), including why you may need a will and assigning a power of attorney.**  **1. No matter your net worth, it's important to have a basic estate plan in place.**  Such a plan ensures that your family and financial goals are met after you die.  **2. An estate plan has several elements.**  They include: a will; assignment of power of attorney; and a living will or health-care proxy (medical power of attorney). For some people, a trust may also make sense. When putting together a plan, you must be mindful of both [federal and state laws](http://corlisslawgroup.com/) governing estates.  **3. Taking inventory of your assets is a good place to start.**  Your assets include your investments, retirement savings, insurance policies, and real estate or business interests. Ask yourself three questions: Whom do you want to inherit your assets? Whom do you want handling your financial affairs if you're ever incapacitated? Whom do you want making medical decisions for you if you become unable to make them for yourself?  **4. Everybody needs a will.**  A will tells the world exactly where you want your assets distributed when you die. It's also the best place to name guardians for your children. Dying without a will -- also known as dying ""intestate"" -- can be costly to your heirs and leaves you no say over who gets your assets. Even if you have a trust, you still need a will to take care of any holdings outside of that trust when you die.  **5. Trusts aren't just for the wealthy.**  Trusts are legal mechanisms that let you put conditions on how and when your assets will be distributed upon your death. They also allow you to reduce your estate and gift taxes and to distribute assets to your heirs without the cost, delay and publicity of probate court, which administers wills. Some also offer greater protection of your assets from creditors and lawsuits.  **6. Discussing your estate plans with your heirs may prevent disputes or confusion.**  Inheritance can be a loaded issue. By being clear about your intentions, you help dispel potential conflicts after you're gone.  **7. The federal estate tax exemption -- the amount you may leave to heirs free of federal tax -- is now set permanently at $5 million indexed for inflation.**  In 2013, estates under $5.25 million are exempt from the tax. Amounts above that are taxed up to a top rate of 40%.  **8. You may leave an unlimited amount of money to your spouse tax-free, but this isn't always the best tactic.**  By leaving all your assets to your spouse, you don't use your estate tax exemption and instead increase your surviving spouse's taxable estate. That means your children are likely to pay more in estate taxes if your spouse leaves them the money when he or she dies. Plus, it defers the tough decisions about the distribution of your assets until your spouse's death.  **9. There are two easy ways to give gifts tax-free and reduce your estate.**  You may give up to $14,000 a year to an individual (or $28,000 if you're married and giving the gift with your spouse). You may also pay an unlimited amount of medical and education bills for someone if you pay the expenses directly to the institutions where they were incurred.  **10. There are ways to give charitable gifts that keep on giving.**  If you donate to a charitable gift fund or community foundation, your investment grows tax-free and you can select the charities to which contributions are given both before and after you die." "how is this new value determined? According to Publication 551: Inherited Property The basis of property inherited from a decedent is generally one of   the following. The FMV of the property at the date of the individual's death. The FMV on the alternate valuation date if the personal representative for the estate chooses to use alternate valuation. For   information on the alternate valuation date, see the Instructions for   Form 706. The value under the special-use valuation method for real property used in farming or a closely held business if chosen for estate tax   purposes. This method is discussed later. FMV is Fair Market Value - which is the price that a willing buyer would pay for the property with reasonable knowledge of all the facts of the property.  The rest generally apply to farmland or other special-purpose land where the amount of income it generates is not properly reflected in the market value. One or more real estate professionals will run ""comps"" that show you recent sales in the same area for similar houses to get a rough estimate of fair market value.   Does it go off of the tax appraised value? Tax assessment may or may not be accurate depending on tax laws (e.g. limits to tax increases) and consistency with the actual market. Should you, prior to your death, get an independent appraiser to appraise the value of the property and include that assessment of the properties value with the will or something? That should not be necessary - another appraisal will likely be done as part of the estate process after death. One reason you might do one is if you are distributing different assets to different heirs, and you want to make sure that the estate is divided equitably." A more recent article on inheritance taxes than the one cited by @JohnBensin says that Maryland does not charge inheritance tax on inheritances received from parents (and other close relatives as well). Thus, there is no inheritance tax due to Maryland on your inheritance, and of course, estate tax (both Federal and State) is imposed on the estate and payable by the estate, and thus should have been taken into account by the executor before determining the amount to be divided among the children.  If the executor screwed up on this point, some of the inheritance may have to be returned to the estate so that the estate can pay the taxes due, or be paid directly to the Federal Government and/or the State of Maryland on behalf of the estate. Some part of the inheritance might be taxable income to you if it came in the form of an Inherited IRA on which Federal (and possibly State) taxes have to paid on the (taxable part of) any distribution from the IRA including the Required Minimum Distribution that must be made from the IRA each year. (There is also a 50% penalty for not taking at least the RMD each year). Note that the value of the IRA is not taxable income in the year of inheritance, just the money taken as a distribution. Some people liquidate the IRA within 5 years, as used to be required for non-spouse inheritors under earlier tax law, and thus end up paying a lot more income tax than they would have to pay if they went the RMD route. If your uncle took the help of a lawyer in winding up your father's estate, you are probably OK in that all the rules were likely followed, but if it was a do-it-yourself job (or you don't trust your uncle not to screw it up anyway!), then, as John Bensin has already told you, you  should certainly consult  a tax professional in Maryland to make sure you don't run afoul of tax authorities. Former software developer at an insurance company here (not State Farm though). All of the above answers are accurate and address how the business analysts come up with factors on which to rate your quote. I wanted to chime in on the software side here; specifically, what goes into actually crunching those numbers to produce an end result. In my experience, business analysts provide the site developers with a spreadsheet of base rates and factors, which get imported into a database. When you calculate a quote, the site starts by taking your data, and finding the appropriate base rate to start with (usually based on vehicle type, quote type (personal/commercial/etc.) and garaging zip code for the US). The appropriate factors are then also pulled, and are typically either multiplicative or additive relative to the base rate. The most 'creative' operation I've seen other than add/multiply was a linear interpolation to get some kind of gradient value, usually based on the amount of coverage you selected. At this point, you could have upwards of twenty rating factors affecting your base rate: marriage status, MVR reports, SR-22; basically, anything you might've filled into your application. In the case of MVR reports specifically, we'd usually verify your input against an MVR providing service to check that you didn't omit any violations, but we wouldn't penalize for lying about it...we didn't get that creative :) Then we'd apply any fees and discounts before spitting out the final number. With all that said, these algorithms that companies apply to calculate quotes are confidential as far as I'm aware, insofar as they don't publish those steps anywhere for the public to access. The type of algorithm used could even vary based on the state you live in, or really just when the site code is arbitrarily updated to use a new rating system. Underwriters and agents might have access to company-specific rating tables, so they might have more insight at the company level.  In short, if there's an equation out there being used to calculate your rate, it's probably a huge string of multiplications with some base rate additions and linear interpolations peppered in, based on factors (and base rates) that aren't readily publicized. Your best bet is to not go through the site at all and talk to a State Farm agent about agency-specific practices if you're really curious about the numbers. An hour of lawyer's time plus an estimate, provided you know what you're going to ask and for what purpose, is going to be pretty cheap. I would start there, and he/she could probably refer you to an experienced accountant as well, which you'll also want to have on retainer more than likely. "TLDR:  There are no to few monetary downsides. The process of settling an estate is called probate.  Creditors can make claims against the estate, and assets should stand to pay any debts.  If more debts are owed then assets, the beneficiaries are not held liable.  Final expenses are usually the first amount paid out in full.  So if the estate only contains enough assets to pay final expenses, then the creditors receive nothing.  Usually creditors are paid pro-rated if there is not enough to cover debts. For the record, the probate process is greatly simplified if one has a will.  Get a will if you don't have one. Life insurance is a bit different though.  It passes directly to the beneficiaries and depending on the state could be untouchable by creditors. The same thing could also happen with retirements accounts.   With 401K accounts, you could take some of it out, and pay tax on that.  You could also roll it into your own account. Property receives a really good benefit.  While it does pass through probate the cost basis of real estate is reestablished at the time of death.  So if grandpa bought a house for 30K in the 40's, and it is now worth 120K.  You inherit a 120K piece of property and when you sell you use 120K as your cost basis not 30K.   Any estate taxes are typically paid by the state, not technically the heirs.  If there is a 5% estate tax and they are to inherit 100K, they will only receive 95K.  They will not receive 100K then be expected to be paid 5K.  ""Electrically"" the same, but a large difference in responsibility. The biggest downside is if you have a will fight on your hands.  If someone disputes the validity of the will that can incur a lot of legal fees.  For small estates, it may not be worth the fight.   The next is if any assets do go through probate.  The process is lengthy and depending on the executor, they could reduce the size of the estate for charging for their time."