Who's in your will? All about wills.

Yes, I have a will and a few other legal documents but not because I have so many assets but rather because I want to make sure bases are covered. My kids don't really need any money. They're doing well, thankfully. But I have allocated a percentage of anything that is left when I die to them. The remainder goes to specific named charities.
 

Meanderer said:
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:laugh:
 
We have wills due to us both having been married before ,we had to pay $100 extra each to make it hard for hubs ex to come in and try to claim some of “our” assets if hubs dies before me
Which she can do if she has enough money to fight it.
The thing that cheeses me off is when she and my hubs were married they had very little, so it’s not as if any money she considered as ‘hers’ went into anything we have but that doesn’t alter the fact she can contest the will
we have been married almost 33 years, my ex is deceased
 

For those with simple estates, there are several do it yourself sites online. One is freewill.com. Just download the form, fill it out and that is it. Do not even need a notary, just need to sign in front of two witnesses. Then store it safely, and make sure executor knows where it is. I am using that site. I will keep a copy at home, in my lock box, and give a copy to the person I am naming as executor.
 
Macfan said:
Which is better, a will or a living trust? I'll continue to research but thought I'd ask here as well. Don...
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My understanding is that if you have end of life medical wishes, do a living trust. To make sure people know you wishes...including DNR, organ donation, etc.
 
I've had a will for several years now and updated it twice. I have to update it again due to the passing of my husband in December. But it's set up so that if an heir dies, his or her share automatically goes to my (or their) next in line. So now that my husband is gone, my son (not his biological child) gets his share and God forbid my son would predecease me, his share gets split evenly between his 5 children. I still want to revise my will again though. My son, his children, his wife, my honorary son (son's BFF who's so good to me), honorary granddaughter and my former DIL (also very good and like a daughter to me) stand to inherit money. Brokerages have their own beneficiary designations so distributing what's due heirs are through them. My bank accounts are payable on death (POD or TOD)...most to my son and one to his ex. There's a special will attachment that lets me name and update on my own, who gets certain of my personal belongings. My son, oldest grandson, y granddaughter, my DIL, former DIL, sister and 2 nieces are named there.
 
Kadee46 said:
We have wills due to us both having been married before ,we had to pay $100 extra each to make it hard for hubs ex to come in and try to claim some of “our” assets if hubs dies before me
Which she can do if she has enough money to fight it.
The thing that cheeses me off is when she and my hubs were married they had very little, so it’s not as if any money she considered as ‘hers’ went into anything we have but that doesn’t alter the fact she can contest the will
we have been married almost 33 years, my ex is deceased
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I find it strange that you had to pay extra for that. My attorney simply added a clause in my will that states anyone who contests the will get nothing.
 
I asked at the time, why we needed to pay an extra $100 each ( it cost us $600 ) they said if hubs ex wanted to contest it
it would be extra time and costs involved which they would take out of our estate
so our named beneficiary’s may end up with nothing
We had our wills done by a group of executor trustees

I’m Australian So our laws may be quite different to yours One eyed diva

OneEyedDiva said:
I find it strange that you had to pay extra for that. My attorney simply added a clause in my will that states anyone who contests the will get nothing.
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"....Which is better, a will or a living trust? I'll continue to research but thought I'd ask here as well. Don...".

Revocable trust (another name for living trust).

It's very simple why. Wife and I have revocable trusts. This has been registered with all our financial institutions. With the trust, assets revert to the other party immediately. There is no probate whatsoever. Probate costs money, takes time. In some instances, one could be stuck in probate for the better part of a year. Now, it is possible, as always, that someone can contest. But it is more difficult to contest a trust than a will.
The other main advantage is that we're set up, now, with the trust, should one of us become mentally incapacitated.
There is really no reason to have a will over a trust unless you cannot afford the legal fees to set it up.
 
If my husband out lives me than of course it whatever I have written in my Will will transfer to his Will. Once both of us have passed away all of our assets will go to our son.
 
I have a simple question.

Is it required or necessary to leave your Living Trust and Durable Power of Attorney to the same person?
When I say trust, I mean the beneficiary of my trust.

I'm not, and my estate planner is almost forcing me to. In fact, I've already signed papers saying that...but I'm just about ready to rip them up.
 
Why wouldn't anyone have a will? We met with an attorney when we moved to TX with my mother and my partner. I was in my mother's will. She passed away in November 2021 and I am the beneficiary.

My partner (husband) is in my will so if I die he is the beneficiary. If we both die, his sister (my sister-in-law) is the beneficiary. She is a CPA so she knows how to handle the estate. We have no kids, so this is the most logical way to do it.
 
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We have a will but don't really need one, our son is co-owner of our car (I don't drive), we recently paid off our home and put him on the title with us. There won't be a lot of money but whatever is left he will also get.
 
Babs said:
Mine is very simple. All my assets go to my daughter.
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If you own your own home, want to leave it to a specific individual, and avoid the hassle of probate, some states have a provision that allows you to add a "Transfer On Death" clause to the title on your home. When you die, the heir specified in your title just presents proof of death to the County and the home is theirs.
 
Ron has a will. I don’t. He needs to revise his. It was done before we were married. He has his business stuff, tens of thousands of dollars in equipment, business bank account etc, totally separate from his personal estate and he wants that distributed a certain way between his 2 kids. I sure don’t want any of it!

I don’t have much. My only daughter gets all my jewelry, which she can pass down to her only daughter. She knows those are my wishes. I need to itemize the valuable stuff I guess. I have lots of jewelry most of which is costume stuff. A dozen or so pieces have monetary value in the gold and diamonds they made from, and priceless sentimental value because of the stories surrounding each piece.
 
Knight said:
Both have wills. Changed boiler plate language from distribution of assets to surviving sons only. If one or more of our sons would precede us in death, the way it was written the heirs of our sons would have received whatever there portion would have been. Other than that stipulation pretty much the usual.
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The legal words are per stirpes. This is normally an option when setting up beneficiaries.
 
I only have one son and the majority goes to him, but I have certain things stipulated for my granddaughter and also even my new great granddaughter has some things as well in the updated will.
 

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