stoub

My father recently passed away and all his assets are in a financial account that is Transfer on Death (TOD). I'm wondering how to pay his estate expenses, since if the TOD goes through, the estate wouldn't have the money to pay estate expenses, since the money would be transferred to the beneficiaries.

The brokerage firm and financial adviser are recommending to disclaim a portion of the assets, which would then go to the estate. After all estate expenses are paid, the remainder would go to the beneficiaries. I like this approach since it makes sense to me to pay estate expenses from the estate, but disclaiming seems complex and I'm not sure if it's possible to have the remainder of the estate assets to the beneficiaries after they've already disclaimed them. The estate attorney doesn't like disclaiming but I'm not sure what he's recommending in terms of the mechanics of which financial accounts should pay estate expenses.

I recently left my job to work for a different company. I signed an agreement with that new company to work as an independent contractor. They are reimbursing me for all my business expenses. This is my first time through paying (estimated) tax as an independent contractor.

I've been wading through IRS forms and instructions and a whole lot of jargon and have learned a lot about sole proprietorships, paying self-employment tax, etc. but don't yet have a good understanding of what portions of what forms (e.g., 1040, Schedule A, Schedule C) I need to fill out to explain the money I'm receiving that reimburses my business expenses and what deductions I'm able to claim for these reimbursed business expenses (again, which portions of which forms).

Thanks in advance!