How did you select your heirs and set up your will?

It's something I should do. I have some ideas. It's a big enough deal, I don't want to mess it up. I don't have any potential heirs that need anything. They are all rich, close to rich, or have parents that are. I don't have any desire to leave anything to charity or a cause. I don't want hard feelings amongst heirs or jealously. I do interact with some more than others.

Any thoughts?

Keith

Start spending!

If you have a Trust, you're over thinking it! In my Trust I declare giving so much intangible property to my step daughters and grandkids. Also within the same Trust I say who I’m giving tangible property to such as a ring to a granddaughter, a shotgun to a grandson, traps to another grandson, etc!

You can adopt me.

WE did a percentage based on how the people impacted / helped our lives. You said you don't want to give to a charity? Your money to do what you want but ST JUDES is in my will. If siblings don't rethink how they treat people ST JUDES will get a bigger portion of our estate.....

If YOU want to dictate where YOUR assets go, get a will. Seen family and friends ruined over splitting assets.

My wife and I have wills that state in the event of the death of one of us, the survivor inherits everything.

It will then be up to that person to create a new will that determines how our/their estate is disposed of.

We agree that all our assets should be divided three ways between our three daughters. It will be up to them to figure out if one of them would like to buy the other two out in regards to either of our jointly owned properties or if they would just want to sell them and divide the proceeds.

There are some special considerations on small stuff written in but the final will of the survivor will likely be a three-way split.

Instead of burdening your relatives with all your junk leave it to a mosque in Detroit.
Either that or liquidate and blow it on strippers and liquor.

buy some tazers,last one standing gets it all.

Everything we have goes to my son...whether he wants it or not, lol
The house will be in a TOD, (transfer on death), same with bank accounts thus avoiding probate...

This. If you do it right there will be just enough money left to plant your carcass when you die!

This is our plan too. Son will get everything and all things have TOD, Beneficiary, and Will spelling it all out. Ranch will be given to son/granddaughter to never be sold with stripes of ownership going forward.

At least get something the writing about going to the wife and vice versa a upon death it just makes things easier the rest let them fight over it.

Then there's the elephant in the room.....all the simple planning goes out the window if there is a long term nursing home care....unless you have a ton of money, the nursing home WILL go after any assets,... will, TOD, simple trust, etc....
The only way out, I think, is a non revocable trust, it's expensive to set up and once in, it's in, you are no longer in control, a trustee is....and if you need a nursing home and hoping for medicaid to pay for it, there is a 5 year look back, any assets moved will be available....

Planning only goes so far, unfortunately.

Funny that this just comes up. Our will is 10 plus years old so we had an appointment to go over everything. TOD it all goes to our daughter but what else is involved as far as title transfers for the car and truck plus the boat and side x side. They have titles also plus a few other things that are worth some money. Were both 77 and just want to cover all the bases.

There's a quote about making your grandkids rich or something. I'm just trying to roll everything into my wife and kids. I guess if I didn't want them to have it all to help them out as much as possible I'd leave it all to one good person that meant something to me to try to make a meaningful impact in their lives. Blood relation or not. You have to make sure to shave your assets in time. There is good stories of neighboring dairy farmers getting whole farms and tractors passed on b/c no one was left but their friend their neighbor.

See a lawyer. Get legal advice. I have also been giving stuff to kids and grandkids now while I am healthy. Too many families torn apart by bickering over what is just stuff.

This is exactly what we did. Farm goes to one son. House and acreage it sits on goes to daughter and other son. All vehicles/equipment/boats have titles that are TOD. The rest they can split or sell. Have giving each of my kids a rifle/shotgun/pistol/22, the rest of the firearms goes to my youngest son to manage for the grandkids.

I did see a lawyer, he wanted to put everything into a non revocable trust, for the low, low price of 15,000...then buy a 5 year term life, of 500,000 each to cover the cost if needing a nursing home during the 5 year look back....not that he was wrong, and that might be great on a more complicated estate, but I couldn't see giving up that much control, for what little we have.....if only we had a crystal ball...lol

If you plan on everyone being happy forget it As i age it appears to me some fight and argue not because they really want something they don't want anyone else to have it either

No one wants that much responsibility. Plus you are past the age of house trainable.
Next stop,,, granny’s gone wild.

Look into a will vs a trust before you do anything.

My neighbor had put me as the executor of his will and when he died in January I went and talked to my Dad's old lawyer. Because his checking/savings account had his step son's name on them they are not part of the estate. That meant there was no money to do a probate and he recommended I not get involved. There are two properties, one willed to his step kids and the other to a friend of his. According to the lawyer if you wait 6 months after the death and than file the original will, a copy of the death certificate and an affidavit of successorship to the court the property title will transfer. As far as bills go his ex-sister-in-law had a power of attorney for medical and financial issues. He had fallen several times which is why she had the power of attorney. She took care of his finances, but that ended the day he died and all the funds became his step son's. So I asked the lawyer what happens to any unpaid bills and he said that the person/entity that was owed money could petition the court to become the executor of the estate and go through probate and try and recoup what was owed that way. He said that rarely happens because usually the reason estates don't go through probate is because there is no money to do so. I learned a bit and stepped away. Will be looking to see how this turns out in July,

When contemplating heirs, I initially thought I should direct the bulk to those with the most need. Then I got to thinking, those with the biggest need got there by making stupid decisions.
Most of my estate is going to those who have exhibited good decision making skills.

That portion of scripture now makes a little more sense; "to those who have, more will be given,......".

Wise.

These were exactly my thoughts when I set up my Trust’s beneficiaries, tangible & intangible assets!!

My two kids split it with the exception of whomever gets the dogs gets $25,000 apiece. I didnt want to leave anything to the grandkids because they are too young yet to know if they are going to be a lost cause

My mom had an old maid first cousin who named me as executor of her estate. I knew where the key to a box that contained her will. She had a nice seven digit estate and lots of cousins. When she wrote her will, she left half to her mothers side and half to her fathers side. At the time of the writing,mher first cousins were alive, and named in the will. She selectively included the term “per sterpes” after some of their names, but not all. After her death, the attorney showed me the distribution formula. If a cousin had children who were problems, my cousin did not include “per sterpes” after the parent’s name. By doing this, the problem kids got nothing. They all assumed they were going to receive their parents portion, but they were unpleasantly surprised to get zero.

Per Sterpes is a Latin phrase meaning to stand in someone’s stirrups. This permits inheritance to flow down to the next generation.

My wife’s mom did the same thing to exclude a drug addicted nephew, however the nephews mom died just a week after his grandmother. This allowed the daughter to inherit her own portion. The nephew, an only child, got his mom’s share. Fortunately the nephews inheritance was placed in a trust to preserve him home and living needs. If the mom had passed before the grandmother, the “per sterpes” clause would have left him nothing and his mother’s portion would have been divided between two aunts and an uncle.

Another issue to consider is when both partners in a marriage have kids by a previous marriage. A QTiP Trust assures each family retains their own property upon the first death.

I don't think that material wealth is what this passage was referencing.

Are we forgetting the parable I mathew Mark and Luke when jesus says, and I'm paraphrasing, "sell all your possessions and give it to the destitute"?

Agreed, however the passage describes three different characters and their handling of financial assets that were entrusted to them. So it sort of fits.

Be very very careful if you designate a power of attorney. Mymom and stepfather had a good will. My brother had power of attorney. When my mom passed my brother put my stepfather in an assisted living place, which he has dementia. He then sold my parents home to his daughter for 10 percent of the true value. And said he had been charging $26.50 an hour to help with my stepfather to the toon of $200,000. He (my brother) said there's nothing left of the estate
I would have an attorney make an iron clad will. That's what my wife and I did. It cost us $2500

We also need a general or limited power of attorney document and a healthcare power of attorney.

Tell your executor where your will is stored. I don’t suggest keeping a will in a bank lockbox.

Health care proxies and DNR's can be found for free on various sites, they're common forms that you can add your desires to. They usually require 2 witnesses. Your doctors and Hospital admitters can also make them up before a surgery or rehab stay....