DaileyB

Just talked to my relatives in Wuhan. They told me the bank will need proof that my son is the son of my deceased wife. I will bring birth certificate. Can't imagine why this is so.

tauphi

I presume the instrument is in the name of your wife and your relatives are performing the transaction on behalf of your son. In that case they must demonstrate proof that your son is actually entitled to operate on that instrument, which would normally be his birth certificate. I'm surprised that this is all they need normally you'd need some more proof that your son is the sole heir of the asset in question. IOW you'd need the proof that you and any other children of your wife is consenting for this to occur.

skywardhunter

What about something like TransferWise or Skrill if available. Lower fees than regular SWIFT. I make several SWIFT payments a month from South Africa to various countries, primarily India, it's pretty straightforward. Generally there's some regulatory reporting but with my bank it's all online or via app can I can capture and authorize a payment in under 2 minutes now.

Re the liquor store: I've come across something like that in India, not exactly legal but exchange rates can be pretty competitive

DaileyB

" I'm surprised that this is all they need normally you'd need some more proof that your son is the sole heir of the asset in question. IOW you'd need the proof that you and any other children of your wife is consenting for this to occur."

Only other heir is 13-year-old daughter. She has substantial money coming to her when she is 18.

jiejie

#58 @bocastephen is right. China has really cracked down on locals sending significant cash out of the country. Definitely get it all out as soon as you can, in one fell swoop, even with wire/other transaction fees. Things are only going to get tougher in the foreseeable future.

889

There's mention of "substantial money" coming down the road to one child, so I'll remind folks of little-known IRS Form 3520, to be filed if a U.S. person receives gifts or bequests from abroad totalling U.S.$100,000 or more in a single year.

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f3520.pdf

DaileyB

Thanks for the good news (: Another gd form government requires. However, in this case the amount is under $100,000

DaileyB

Thanks for the tip. My relatives in Wuhan are not that financially sophisticated, but I will try. 10 years ago I suggested that they change the dollars into yuan, expecting the yuan to appreciate but they didn't.

tauphi

AFAICS bocastephen is referring to converting CNY to USD which has been significantly tightened in the last few years and will only get tougher.

At this point I'm not aware of any restrictions on wiring out money from USD TT accounts per se.

The OP's money are in USD and presumably are TT so can be wired out at any time as long as ownership can be established.

tauphi

The age of the heir is not relevant as she would also be legally entitled to her share. I'm just surprised that the bank did not request for proof that she (or her legal representative) is consenting to this transfer as this could open the bank up to future liability claims.

In my experience accessing bank accounts/funds for deceased persons is a major pain in China as they want you to track down all potential claimants and prove that they all consent. Just one missing person could hold up the process for years.

trueblu

Yep, friends of ours asked their bank what they should do if one of them dies (and i..e the other inherits the cash in the account)...their _official_ answer was to share PINs with each other, and clear out the account before informing the bank of the death!

tb

DaileyB

The money all originated from transactions involving my deceased wife more than 10 years ago. The money has been in the name of a relative for safe keeping as best I can tell.

DaileyB

Now one of my child's 40 year-old cousins emailed me saying they want to see my son's admission to college so that whoever is looking at this can determine that my son is incurring expenses. (In his case, $17,000 per year for college)

jiejie

If it's the bank wanting to see proof that your son is incurring expenses, that's !@#$% BS and just tossing another obstacle to prevent the money from leaving. Or is it the cousin wanting to see this (can't tell from your phrasing, but none of his business either.) You shouldn't have to prove anything except that the son is the legitimate owner of the money now.

I'm coming around to the opinion that the best way to deal with this is for you and your son and a Wuhan relative with signature authority, go in person to the bank as soon as you've arrived, deal with a bank manager, and oversee the sending of the wire transfer, refusing to budge until it's done. Or get the money out either in a cashier's check (pain in the @ss) or USD cash (painful only if you lose it). Bringing it back to USA isn't an issue as long as you declare it, just keep all the paperwork as to its provenance.

889

These days when making larger international wire transfers, you usually are asked to specify the purpose, especially when transfers to or from the States are involved. Like CRS, all part of the anti-money laundering movement that's very quietly engulfed the banking system. If the bank thinks it needs some supporting documents to justify the purpose -- like invoices for a commercial purchase -- and you think the bank is being too fussy, you need to find another less fussy bank to do the transfer.

In any event, the bank has the money, and unless you're a person with some real standing in the community, bullying isn't going to get you very far, and I would not recommend it. If you can give the bank whatever needless document it wants, give it. This is China. (Like requiring reservations for every night of your stay when you get your visa.) Do it it the Chinese way and don't make a needless fuss. Otherwise, transfer the funds to a more amenable bank in China which can do the wire transfer. (Note that getting a USD cashier's check may involve the same questions about purpose as a wire transfer.)