Last fall, my wife’s great uncle Casey died. He always said that when he died, people should everywhere in his house for spending cash he had around for emergencies. He never really trusted the government or banks etc., and always kept a bit by.
When he died my in-laws and my wife’s uncle came down and started taking care of things in the house. They looked all over and found about $10k I think, stashed in books, boxes, etc. In the weeks that followed they cleaned out his house, and we put a lot of stuff in the garage.
A couple weeks ago now we went over in a group to clean out that garage. Aside from the stuff we’d put in there from the house there were many boxes, toolboxes, ladders, things he’d built etc.
About 3/4 of the way through the morning I looked over at Uncle Nelson and he had a glass jar in his hand. Inside was something about the size of a wallet, except it was white paper, like kleenex with duct tape around it. We found some long pliers and managed to get it out. He peeled back the paper and we saw cash and he closed it up and sent it to the truck. We didn’t want everyone in the group to know there was cash floating around.
I asked him where he got it and he picked up a hand0made bag. It was heavy fabric on the outside, with a rubber liner sewn inside. We looked in and saw about 10 more little packets and he just sent the whole bag to the truck.
A little while later I reach behind the toolbox and grabbed a plastic grocery bag. My father-in-law looked at me, I looked inside and just nodded to him. I didn’t know yet what was in there, but it looked likely. It was cylinders about the size of a twine roll, but wrapped in tinfoil. He came over and peeled some tinfoil back and we were looking Ben Franklin in the eye. Those went in the truck too.
About that time I had to head to a meeting, and when that was done I called my wife. They were home by that time, and she said “You will NOT believe what we’re doing right now”. When I got home there was cash all over the dining room table, and they were making stacks of hundred dollar bills, organized into stacks of $1000.
When all was said and done there was $37,000 on our dining room table.
People always ask “Who gets it?” Once the government takes their share the rest will be split amongst 20 or so family members, so no-one’s going to retire on it. It’s still exciting to have found it, and seen it all at once though.
It really sickens me that the government taxes people when they die. I think our founding fathers would be very displeased.
Kris’ life insurance wasn’t taxed. There may be a way to claim it tax-free. You might want to check it out.
Yes we found out that the stopped the inheritance taxes. So dying isn’t quite so expensive for the heirs now.