# So what do you think happens if a US/Mexican citizen dies in his/her sleep ?



## MangoTango (Feb 8, 2020)

What if you have no family left.
You have assets in the us and Mexico - most of which have beneficiaries set up.
You have no US will - but do have a Mexican will.

So - how does the IRS / SSA handle the situation ?

There is no one left to answer whatever mailings they send out.
What happens with that current year's tax filings etc.

This has to NOT be an uncommon event for retired expats in Mexico...


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

In the US, your executor is supposed to handle everything, including notifying the SSA, sending them a death certificate, sending death certificates to all the companies holding assets that have beneficiaries to trigger disbursement, and filing your taxes for you (there's a box "I am filing this for <name> who has passed away".

Taxes must be filed for the year the person passes away, and, if the estate doesn't get wrapped up by the end of that year, for any future years where the estate still has undistributed assets that create taxable income. (So for example, if someone owned stocks in a regular (cash) brokerage account that paid dividends, and they died in mid december, the executor would likely have to file taxes for that year and the next - or hire someone to do the taxes and pay them out of the estate's funds). Until the assets are disbursed according to the beneficiary designations and the will, they can continue to generate income and that income is taxed as if earned by the deceased - i.e. it's on his/her taxes that have to be filed by the executor.

So for someone in Mexico, with a Mexican will and executor, it might be a good idea to set them up with a contact of someone who does US taxes professionally, whether that be someone in the US or here. 

Probably all the above is subject to the usual exception-case rules which let people with minimal income and tax liability avoid filing, but I'm not sure of that, those avoid-filing rules might not apply to estates the way they apply to individuals. Or they might, you'd need a professional opinion on whether or not filing is required, so it comes down to the same advice - have someone lined up who can do US taxes professionally.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

since I am not a US citizen the IRS withold 30 percent of my money so it would be in our heirs interest to file taxes to get the regund. hans got bringing up the subject I had not thought about that one..


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## mattoleriver (Oct 21, 2011)

How to Die in Mexico
NAYYY


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