my father, a Taiwan citizen, died in the US. his beneficiaries, US citizens, how to retrieve assets

[janliao]

I hope you all can help me.
My father, a Taiwanese citizen, passed away in December of 2011. My mother, a Taiwanese Citizen, passed away in 2008. Both died in the US.
My parents were married in Canada. My siblings and I were born in Canada. Their marriage and our births were not registered in Taiwan. I know my father has assets in Taiwan, mainly bank accounts, and a stock account. He told me before he died where his bank books and stamp were, and that was what I needed to retrieve his assets upon his death. We live in the US, and are not sure what to do next.

Do I go to the local consulate to authenticate marriage certificates, birth certificates? I am unsure of the process of retrieving assets in Taiwan after death. Can anyone give any words of advice?

[Kobayashi]

You should probably be talking to a lawyer and not getting legal advice from a forum that caters primarily to English teachers.

[Feiren]

I hope you all can help me.
My father, a Taiwanese citizen, passed away in December of 2011. My mother, a Taiwanese Citizen, passed away in 2008. Both died in the US.
My parents were married in Canada. My siblings and I were born in Canada. Their marriage and our births were not registered in Taiwan. I know my father has assets in Taiwan, mainly bank accounts, and a stock account. He told me before he died where his bank books and stamp were, and that was what I needed to retrieve his assets upon his death. We live in the US, and are not sure what to do next.

Do I go to the local consulate to authenticate marriage certificates, birth certificates? I am unsure of the process of retrieving assets in Taiwan after death. Can anyone give any words of advice?

You should contact the appropriate Taiwanese rep office in the US or Canada. Very generally, things are much simpler in Taiwan--there's no probate etc. Assets pass by law automatically at death. So you need to prove to the Taiwanese government that you are their child and that they have passed away and then you need to identify assets and present this proof to banks, insuranc companies, and the land office as appropriate in Taiwan.

You could hire a lawyer, but unless there are very substantial assets and you are very busy, you wll probably save money by doing this yourself, which is entirely possible in Taiwan. You will need a lot of patience though to deal with all the Taiwanese government agencies if you don't speak Chinese.

[EigerMarcus]

1. You should identify the banks and securities firms and contact them each directly as requirements vary. Some banks will require certified, notarized, and/or legalized copies of documents. Some do not.

2. The assets in Taiwan should be subject to estate tax. You should though confirm this first based on your father's particular circumstances. And you should confirm soon as the filing must be made within six months of passing away. The deadline is, however, extendable. You should be able to contact someone at the tax office though by phone to confirm that the assets require a filing. This should be the form that needs to be filed to extend: http://www.etax.nat.gov.tw/wSite/ct?xIt ... Node=10790

3. You can do everything on your own but you will need to determine what is needed in the way of documentation for when you get here. You may not always get a consistent answer beforehand so err on the side of caution and over prepare.

4. If you know all of the assets that your father held in Taiwan AND have all the bank books/chops then appointing someone (family member, attorney, or accountant) here to handle matters might not be unreasonable unless you are planning to make a trip to Taiwan in any event.