Guess it's time to Empty my Safe Deposit Box

[Copper Catcher]

Debunking the DHS Memo About Safety Deposit Boxes: They Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Memo

Read more at http://americanlivewire.com/debunking-t ... bQyDiiO.99

[Copper Catcher]

What Happens To A Safe-Deposit Box On The Renter's Death?

In most states, boxes are sealed upon death and cannot be opened until an official representative can be present - a process that generally takes at least several weeks. Other states allow boxes to be opened without the presence of a representative only to find a will. Some states allow unrestricted access. A bank official or your lawyer can tell you the law in your state.

If you don't want your safe-deposit box to be sealed upon your death, consider using an entity such as a corporation to rent the box. Generally, safe-deposit boxes registered in a corporate name are not sealed upon the death of a principal.

http://www.survivorshipatoz.org/hiv/top ... s/?sid=233

[barrytrot]

What Happens To A Safe-Deposit Box On The Renter's Death?

In most states, boxes are sealed upon death and cannot be opened until an official representative can be present - a process that generally takes at least several weeks. Other states allow boxes to be opened without the presence of a representative only to find a will. Some states allow unrestricted access. A bank official or your lawyer can tell you the law in your state.

If you don't want your safe-deposit box to be sealed upon your death, consider using an entity such as a corporation to rent the box. Generally, safe-deposit boxes registered in a corporate name are not sealed upon the death of a principal.

http://www.survivorshipatoz.org/hiv/top ... s/?sid=233

So they are temporarily sealed, not permanently removed from play.

Not a huge deal. I'm sure there are dozens of other things that are "hoops to jump through" when someone dies and it is solely in their name.

Naturally putting an account in your wife and your wife's name would prevent this anyway unless you both died simultaneously.

[Lemon Thrower]

1. A key reason to not use SDBs is that the bank's liability is capped. read your agreement. for most banks, its 300X your rent. my rent is $35, so, that is just $10,000.

2. banks close/move branches all the time. what happens to your box? its a pain.

3. banks lose keys/have internal thefts all the time. remember their liability is capped. how would you prove what is in your box? where i bank, every time i go to the branch there a new people. banks don't pay that much and people move on. SDB is something that comes up once in a blue moon - no one is expert on it and stuff gets lost even with the best of intentions. occassionally people have bad intentions.

4. its possible there are fed rules against cash/metals in your SDB, but i don't recall see this in my rental agreement and it likely would be there if there were such rules. my rental agreement says no guns.

5. if there is an emergency, the bank will close and you will be the last person to be able to get to your SDB.

6. I am a JW subscriber and that was indeed in the newsletter. he was citing another newsletter. JW is a bit alarmist but is worth reading if you read it in the spirit Ray does and with a grain of salt. In all likelihood the report is true, but was the execution of a warrant based on suspicion of money laundering, tax fraud, or some other 'real' crime. in other words, the chance of DHS doing this randomly today is pretty low.

[No82s]

Personally I'm surprised anyone here would even own a SDB. If its in the bank it theirs. What was that Ponce always said?

[Sheikh_yer_Bu'Tay]

The last twelve years of Presidential politics and Congressional shenanigans in America have shown us that Presidents can now write EO's about anything and there is no organized Constitutional power via the Congress, or the Courts, to stop these EO's from being carried out.

Just because it's not in some EO, statue, law, Court ruling, bureaucratic policy, or regulation today does not mean it will be excluded from same tomorrow.

If they want to take your money bad enough, they will bend the rules enough to do so.

[rexmerdinus]

Maybe I'll get a SDB and keep it empty as a decoy.
Or maybe I'll get a diary and fill it with gibberish that looks like an encoded message, just to throw them off.

[agmoose]

I'd never have a SDB, and talked my Mom into closing hers two years ago. Her stuff is much safer now and she can access it whenever she wants.

[reddirtcoins]

Well, think what you want but the more locations I have the better. No where is safe so yes, I have sdb's, safes, dirt, other family members, etc, etc..... I'm not worried about my sdb's because it is only a small footprint. Just as I'm not worried about anyone family member as they are only a small footprint... Best case.. Spread it around, you'll sleep better.

[beauanderos]

Monday morning to do list....

accomplished

[TwoPenniesEarned]

SDB's are great for insurance paperwork. I insured some gold jewelry so that if we ever have a home invasion we won't feel in any way compelled to hide it from the bastards, and the paperwork is safe and sound in the SDB.

[68Camaro]

Had 3 SDBs at one time. Now only one, which I will keep. Bank purposely selected for management and location, which contains my backup insurance against something else truly awful but low probability happening elsewhere, like a giant sinkhole, or an airliner impacting where I don't want it to, etc.

[Lemon Thrower]

SDB's are great for insurance paperwork. I insured some gold jewelry so that if we ever have a home invasion we won't feel in any way compelled to hide it from the bastards, and the paperwork is safe and sound in the SDB.

i have a zip drive with back up copies of birth cert., titles, passwords etc. in the SDB.

good place for latest copy of bank statements, etc.

some sort of cyber attack is likely in the coming years where your bank's or broker's data just goes bye bye.

[natsb88]

Always strikes me as odd how so many people who don't trust banks to hold their cash in checking/savings accounts somehow trust them to hold their gold/silver in safety deposit boxes. In the event the bank goes under, they are both (at least temporarily) inaccessible, but where the FDIC insures paper accounts for $250k, SDBs are only covered by the bank's insurance and usually for a very limited amount (commonly $10k, maybe up to $100k in some cases). Not to mention the limited accessibility just based on banker's hours and holidays...that alone would drive me nuts. Plus bank employees and customers seeing you come and go. Maybe it's different in the city where you can blend in, or if you rent and have limited space and/or can't build or bolt down suitable storage, but personally I just don't see the appeal.

[68Camaro]

Always strikes me as odd how so many people who don't trust banks to hold their cash in checking/savings accounts somehow trust them to hold their gold/silver in safety deposit boxes. In the event the bank goes under, they are both (at least temporarily) inaccessible, but where the FDIC insures paper accounts for $250k, SDBs are only covered by the bank's insurance and usually for a very limited amount (commonly $10k, maybe up to $100k in some cases). Not to mention the limited accessibility just based on banker's hours and holidays...that alone would drive me nuts. Plus bank employees and customers seeing you come and go. Maybe it's different in the city where you can blend in, or if you rent and have limited space and/or can't build or bolt down suitable storage, but personally I just don't see the appeal.

Good points. I don't like it being a primary place for all the reasons you list, but on the other hand there are people that may have little choice, such as renters as you note above. Not everyone owns property - what are they to do?

For me, I've chosen an alternate location via SDB in case something really goes badly wrong elsewhere, unrelated to banking failure. I don't go in and out of it - it's there, done - I just audit it once a year. And it's a bank that is only closed 4 days a year, and open late most days, so access could hardly be better, given the relative security compared to alternatives. I like options. All eggs in one basket is bad.

[AGgressive Metal]

I heard this online as well but I live in Cincinnati and have seen no real evidence to support it yet. The CIA would not admit to operating domestically even if it was them, because that would be illegal. The story sounds made up. If it were real, it would have been the FBI or other domestic agency.

[Lemon Thrower]

what i heard was DHS, which operates domestically, but it still sounds implausible.

[Mossy]

i have a zip drive with back up copies of birth cert., titles, passwords etc. in the SDB.

Zips are old enough tech that yours may have died by now. Zips also require a special drive, that will not work on all computers any more. Plus drivers?

Passed time to pull it and copy to a CD. Maybe copy to two CDs, from different companies.

Or DVDs. Or both.

[68Camaro]

I'd bet money he's using modern slang and means a USB memory stick and not a literal zip drive.

[Mossy]

I'd bet money he's using modern slang and means a USB memory stick and not a literal zip drive.

He'd better. I spoke with a local computer shop about that. "If we are lucky, 10% recovery."

[AGgressive Metal]

Let's think of it this way: if you are paying $60 every six months for a box, after 10 years you could have bought your own $1,200 gun safe and bolted it to the floor, not to mention WAY more room and no access issues.

[Engineer]

Germany let the Fed store their gold...and it's taking them 7 years to get it back.