Just got a stimulus check yesterday. Addressed to my deceased mother-in-law, c/o Mrs. Martian (who was executor of my MIL’s estate). MIL died in 2018, we filed a final tax return last year. The IRS knows she’s deceased, it says “DECD” right net to her name on the check. I can see this happening if someone has died since their most recent return, but issuing a check a full year after filing a return with the “Final return” box checked is just moronic.
Most advice I can find online is to not touch the money, eventually treasury will figure it out and ask for it back. I assume since the check is written c/o Mrs. Martian that she technically could endorse and deposit it into her own account (any joint account with her mother is long since closed).
I assume if I hang onto the check all I will need to do if they come calling for the money is to send it back?
FWIW Mrs. Martian and I do not qualify for the stimulus…
There’s one thing I would not do is cash that check. There’s obviously a record that exists.It might be years later but you’ll get caught. It’s sort of like not paying your taxes. It’s all going fine for a while and then one day in the mailbox… and your life is changed with substantial penalties and interest. Plus you’ll probably worry until that happens.
I got one for my deceased mother. I deposited it in my savings account using mobile deposit after I endorsed it, “ThelmaLou Fife, Executor of Mary Lou Fife.” This was on the advice of my tax preparer. I’ve been reading about the thousands of other people who have gotten these checks, and somewhere I saw a regulation (didn’t make a note of it) that said if the IRS/Treasury sends you money and it’s THEIR mistake, you can keep it. I don’t plan to spend it, and if someday someone wants it back, I’ll return it.
My mother passed away on March 2, and last week we received her stimulus check. My brother tells me someone received a check for his father, who’s been dead 15 years.
I told my brother we need to make sure my mother is registered to vote in November.
There is a box on the envelope that says, “If recipient is deceased check here and drop in mailbox.” The problem is the address on the check reads:
Marvin’s Mother-in-Law DECD
% Mrs. Martian
216 Imaginary Canal Street
Red Sand City, Mars
so I interpreted the “recipient” as being Mrs. Martian so I opened the envelope. In any case we’ll just stash the check somewhere until someone comes looking for it.
This may be true in the case of someone who died since their last tax return but it is clearly not the case here. They know she is deceased - it says so right on the check. The IRS was told she was deceased when her final return was filed last year.
Not saying that that means we get to keep the money, just that it is an even bigger clusterfuck than CNN is reporting.
That DECD is on the check at all bothers me. Sounds either like somebody put the death notifier on the wrong line of the database or else like they pulled data from a system that isn’t fully compatible with their own.