Opinion ID: 1736103
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: property held prior to death

Text: After executing the will and trust agreement, Monroe married Helen. In anticipation of their marriage, they executed an agreement that provided each would retain their separate assets. They resided in one-half of a duplex in Omaha which Monroe owned as a tenant-in-common with Louie and Betty Fedman, who resided in the other half of the structure. There was a written agreement whereby the property was not to be sold until after Monroe and the Fedmans were deceased. At the time of his death, Monroe's original undivided one-half interest in the property was held by the trust. Both Louie Fedman and Helen survived Monroe and continued living in their respective portions of the duplex after his death. Helen moved from the residence at the end of January 2002, and Louie Fedman continued to reside in his portion of the duplex. During Monroe's lifetime, he had certain property titled in the name of the Monroe D. Rosenberg Trust. This included his interest in the duplex and cash and security accounts at several brokerage firms. Other property was held in joint accounts. This included a checking account at U.S. Bank, held in the names of Monroe, Helen, and Tipp, and Omaha Public Power District bonds and U.S. Treasury notes, held in the names of Monroe and Tipp. Additional accounts at First Federal Lincoln Bank and Nebraska State Bank were held in Monroe's name, with Tipp designated as the payable-on-death (POD) beneficiary, and accounts at Pentagon Federal Credit Union were held in Monroe's name, with Tipp designated as the beneficiary. Monroe also had a life insurance policy issued by MetLife in which Tipp was named as beneficiary. Several days prior to his death, Monroe asked Howard to bring him his checkbook because he wanted to write a $10,000 check to Helen. Howard obtained the checkbook and wrote the check payable to Helen, as Monroe had directed. Monroe then signed the check. The check was drawn on the First Federal Lincoln Bank account, on which Tipp was designated the POD beneficiary.