Bank Deposit Boxes

I don't want beat a dead horse, but it is important that this is understood. there several type of powers, but all die with the granter. A power of Attorney will not let you enter a deposit box after the owner dies. the will or trust may grant you that authority however.

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A power of attorney may be special or limited to one specified act or type of act, or it may be general, and whatever it defines as its scope is what a court will enforce as being its scope. (It may also be limited as to time.) Under the common law, a power of attorney becomes ineffective if its granter dies or becomes "incapacitated," meaning unable to grant such a power, because of physical injury or mental illness, for example, unless the granter (or principal) specifies that the power of attorney will continue to be effective even if the granter becomes incapacitated (but any such power ends when the granter dies). This type of power of attorney is called a durable power of attorney. In some jurisdictions, a durable power of attorney can also be a "Health Care Power of Attorney" or living will, empowering the attorney-in-fact to make health-care decisions for the granter, up to and including terminating care and "pulling the plug" on machines keeping a critically and terminally ill patient alive. New York State has enacted a Health Care Proxy law that requires a separate document be prepared appointing one as your health care agent.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_of_attorney


As Far as the Tax Man,
For estates larger than the current federally exempted amount, any estate tax due is paid by the executor, or the person in possession of the decedent's property. That person is also responsible for filing a Form 706 return with the Internal Revenue Service. The return must contain detailed information as to the valuations of the estate assets and the exemptions claimed, to ensure that the correct amount of tax is paid.

They do not seal up the box for the tax man. If you don't have assets over the exempted amount ($1,000,000 + currently) you don't have to worry about federal estate taxes

Such terms as Power of attorney, Wills, Trusts, Estate taxes, inheritance taxes and on and on have absolutely no meaning if there are others listed on the safe deposit boxes. My son and his wife can go there when I'm gone and do what they want with whatever is there. Regardless of the amount, what is in there is theirs. If I'm gone I won't complain, the tax people don't know about it, my attorney doesn't know about it, no one except my relative know about my safe deposit boxes. So if you put a relatives name on the box with yours, don't worry about nothing. Of course there are some relatives you wouldn't trust with your house keys either so not all is fool proof.
And just a note. If you don't trust any relative, you could put my name on the boxe's records and I won't complain either.