Dead people are getting coronavirus stimulus checks. Do families have to send the money back? Maybe

[DURHAM D]

https://this.kiji.is/632514402568143969?c=592622757532812385

PHILADELPHIA — Mary Johnson died in 2018. Last week, her heirs received a stimulus check in the mail for $1,200 payable to “Mary L. Johnson Decd.”

“We had a good laugh about it,” said her son, Tim Martin Johnson of Philadelphia. “She’s been gone two years. We laughed about how the check actually said ‘Deceased’ on it.”
After the laughter died down, Johnson — who was the executor of his mother’s estate — was faced with a quandary.

But the act was written so quickly that no one bothered to ensure that money wouldn’t be sent to the dead, said Nina Olson, a former IRS official and current executive director of the Center for Taxpayer Rights

Whether someone received a check was dependent on whether they — or their estate — had filed a tax return in 2019 or 2018.

[samnsara]

1. 3 passed family members recieved checks...

..and yes it DID say Decd on the joint check both my late parents received... and my late aunts check was auto deposited into my live uncles checking acct along with his. Im Power of Attny for my uncle as hes in long term care right now so now we have to untangle this mess? With my parents, we just sent the entire check back to whomever sent it to us after we crossed out trumps name and wrote 'donald duck'

[DURHAM D]

5. lol Love the "donald duck" part. nt

[DURHAM D]

10. Just curious ...

did your parents or aunt file a 2018 tax return?

[doc03]

2. What's up with that the last time I checked I am still alive

and I haven't seen any damn check. Everyone else I talk to received theirs weeks ago.

[DURHAM D]

6. Same here. nt

[doc03]

8. Well I just checked with the IRS again they say I will get a direct deposit the 13th. I get

my SS on the second Tuesday the 13th this month so they apparently will include it with my SS.

[rzemanfl]

3. Typical of what happens when Repukes run the show.

Seems to me the check is an asset of the estate.

[spinbaby]

4. I got a check for my late mother

With instructions on the front to check the box and drop into the mail if the recipient is deceased. Then the post office returned it to me because they had apparently not been clued in.

[DURHAM D]

7. Interesting failure on the part of the government. nt

[livetohike]

9. Same. It came back two days after I mailed it. I don't know what to do next. I closed

the estate account in April. The check is to my Mom DECD %my name. Not to “the estate of”.

[virgogal]

11. I would just toss it.

[livetohike]

13. Good idea. Thanks! n/t

[pwb]

12. Sell it to a Trump supporter for 10 times the amount?

they would have trumps name on a government check to put on their wall.?

[livetohike]

14. I like that idea. I should put it on E-Bay. N/t