Advice for my naturalized wife if she moves back to Philippines when I pass away.

[dvensel1 9]

Hello my friends

I have a need for advice and hopefully hear from some experienced folks who have gone through this is will in the future.

My wife became a US citizen on 10/10/25.  This is not a problem but I asked her what she would plan to do if she decided to move back to the Philippines when I die.   I have no problem with it of course because I'd be gone.  BUT - i worry that if she indeed moves back, will she be able to continue to access my retirement checks (which she will receive when I die) and that are direct deposit into a local USA bank.     I have many questions because I don't want any snafus after I'm gone.    SO:

1)  What's the best way for her to handle this?  Leave the money going into the same bank it always goes into or try to set up an account with a Philippine bank and have the deposits changed to be sent to that new one?   I'm not sure at this point that a Philippine bank could or would  receive those 2 checks every month or if there's a way to find out.

2)  My wife thought leaving the money alone as it is would be the best option.  Then she could continue transferring the money every month as needed to a bank account in Phil.  In the past I've actually had some remittance companies cut me off because they thought I was a terrorist (Western Union did this to me twice!!) and thought I was moving terrorist money around (yes - that's what they told me!)  Anyway, she can't afford to lose access to her money in the USA.

I am beside myself worrying about this.  I'm 73 and in pretty good shape but you never know.  I want to be sure she will have access to those 2 checks until,her passing as is her right to do, and without some silly bank rule or screw-up suddenly denying her her rightful funds.

3)  She would likely pull most of the money out of 2 accounts (and close them) and place it in the one account left to make things simpler for her.  My 2 retirements would go into that one account.

My question now:   Does this sound problematic to anyone?   Do you have a better way of doing it?   She is a US citizen now and could fly back to NY if needed to fix something but it would cost a lot obviously.  We want to look into banks in Phil. where she could open an account there but we're not sure both my social security check and my New York State retirement check could be sent to a foreign bank like that.  I think social security can be though.

 

Okay - so I'm sure I've confused several people.  But if I know one thing about the folks on this site, they're always helpful and have been for me for 11 years.  You all got us through this and I trust you all.  Best site on the internet in my opinion!!

Thanks for your input and as always, I'm all ears and open to advice of any sort.

Using my email would be best to respond but I'll check back here on a regular basis. 

 

Doug [last name & e-mail removed from this VERY public forum]

Edited yesterday at 02:42 AM by TBoneTX
personal info removed

[OldUser 10,943]

I cannot offer you advice, but can I just express my respect for being so thoughtful and loving to your wife?

[TBoneTX 48,439]

Yes, commendations on thinking ahead and caring so deeply.

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Thread is moved from Off Topic to the Philippines regional forum, for possible country-specific advice.

[milimelo 4,894]

Not PI related, but affects everyone overseas who has a bank account  - FATCA reporting on yearly basis - I believe accounts with more than $50k in them. In a lot of cases, they won't easily open a local bank account for a USC given all the reporting requirements. There's also FBAR reporting. 

https://www.irs.gov/businesses/corporations/summary-of-fatca-reporting-for-us-taxpayers

[dvensel1 9]

11 hours ago, TBoneTX said:

Yes, commendations on thinking ahead and caring so deeply.

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Thread is moved from Off Topic to the Philippines regional forum, for possible country-specific advice.

Where is it?  I see it was moved but failed to find its new placement.    Help?

 

[dvensel1 9]

11 hours ago, TBoneTX said:

Yes, commendations on thinking ahead and caring so deeply.

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Thread is moved from Off Topic to the Philippines regional forum, for possible country-specific advice.

Been a while since I was on here and I'm having a hard time trying to find my post that was moved.  Can anyone help me here?

 

[J.M. 336]

3 hours ago, dvensel1 said:

Been a while since I was on here and I'm having a hard time trying to find my post that was moved.  Can anyone help me here?

 

Look at the top menu bar on the main screen, choose FORUMS, then scroll down to General Discussion Area, then Regional Discussion, and finally Philippines.

[W199 524]

I assume she gotten her dual citizenship?

 

Keep in mind the PDIC (The FDIC equivalent in the Philippines) is only $20K (up from  $10K last March), so I wouldn't keep much money in a single bank there.

 

The remittence companies like XOOM work great but their exchange rate is not the best, and like you said the big issue is compliance issues which can be a nightmare if you transfer too often or a large amount. I don't use them anymore. International wire transfers are too expensive and take too long.

 

Instead what I do, is I opened an HSBC, USA bank account in NY/NJ.  They in turn opened me a HSBC Philippines bank account, all for free.  They did this all while I was in the USA. 

 

They provide a private banker in both USA and the Philippines that I can easily contact if I have any issues.

 

With their app, I can literally instantly transfer USD back and forth from the HSBC USA branch to HSBC Phiiippines, again all for free, and with the market exchange rate. Then I can do a local (pesonet) transfer from HSBC Philippines to more local banks in the Philippines (since HSBC is only in Manila). 

 

Any issues, I just contact my banker ... Once my secure ID battery died or debit card expired, and they just fedex me a new one.

 

Now, this all takes a little skill using all the apps and so forth .,, but you can aways call them for help.

 

You do need a minimum balance in the HSBC account to get all this for free, but all I did was to transfer some mutual funds to the HSBC brokerage and that balance covers the minimum.

 

I think there are other international banks, such as citibank they might offer similar transfer services.  But I think only HSBC will open up the remote bank accounts remotely for you.   Note, as a non-resident you are restricted from depositing PHP into the local bank account from external sources. But once she is living in the Philippines she can convert it to a resident account.  It will be very easy to move money back and forth, and when you run into issues, which you always will, their support will help.