Wills and Inheritances

[marty998]

The cheeky clickbait headline would be "Are your affairs in order?"

Inspired in part by this thread:

http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/antimustachian-wall-of-shame-and-comedy/inheritance-drama-you-got-any-stories-wanted/

as well as a TV program last night in Australia that discussed the topic of inheritances and beneficiaries who have been slighted, I wanted to start a thread on Wills and Estates.

Questions

Do you have a will?
Do you expect to spend the kids inheritance and leave nothing, or give to charity?
Will you treat them fairly (not necessarily evenly...)?
Do the laws of your state country allow provision for challenging your will?
If so, have you planned to overcome them via trusts, or distributing funds whilst still drawing breath?
How much have you "invested" in drawing up your wills with the relevant lawyers and solicitors?

I am 30, no dependents, have significant assets, probably should get myself down to a legal eagle to sort things out. Having something at least in place is better than nothing and leaving it in the hands of the Courts and the government.

[RetiredAt63]

Do you have a will?  Yes. Also powers of attorney for medical care and property

Do you expect to spend the kids inheritance and leave nothing, or give to charity? Most to kid, some to charity (including my universities), no plans to spend to $0 but will not scrimp to provide a larger estate

Will you treat them fairly (not necessarily evenly...)? Only have one so NA

Do the laws of your state country allow provision for challenging your will? No idea, will must be probated, but that is why a lawyer draws up a will, so it is solid,

If so, have you planned to overcome them via trusts, or distributing funds whilst still drawing breath?  Should not be challenged

How much have you "invested" in drawing up your wills with the relevant lawyers and solicitors?  $400Can (2 for 1 at my lawyer's, normally pays for a couple's will and powers of attorney for medical care and property, so it is paying for DD's)

[Gimesalot]

Do you have a will?  No
Do you expect to spend the kids inheritance and leave nothing, or give to charity?  No kids
Will you treat them fairly (not necessarily evenly...)? No kids
Do the laws of your state country allow provision for challenging your will? No idea

If so, have you planned to overcome them via trusts, or distributing funds whilst still drawing breath?  In Louisiana, my parents and/or brother will have a right of inheritance and could challenge my husband's inheritance.  To avoid this, I have set my husband up as the beneficiary on all my accounts.  My parents are partial beneficiaries of my life insurance policy.  From my understanding, beneficiaries cannot be challenged.

How much have you "invested" in drawing up your wills with the relevant lawyers and solicitors?  $0

[Pigeon]

We have a basic will. Our primary motivation at the time they were drawn up was to name guardians for the kids.

Whatever is left over gets split equally between the two kids. I hope there is money left but it isn't a priority.

Wills can be changed at any time in my state.

At some point in the future we will probably investigate trusts.

We have a basic legal services plan through our union which includes a will at no charge drawn up by an attorney. I think you can do a new one every two years.

[poppan]

Do you have a will?
We have wills and a living trust.

Do you expect to spend the kids inheritance and leave nothing, or give to charity?
I hope to have something left for the kids.

Will you treat them fairly (not necessarily evenly...)?
I will treat them evenly, which, barring very special circumstances, is in my opinion the only fair option that won't cause ill feelings after we are gone.

Do the laws of your state country allow provision for challenging your will?
I think so.

If so, have you planned to overcome them via trusts, or distributing funds whilst still drawing breath?
We do have a trust, but it's not to overcome someone who might challenge it. With our kids as the beneficiaries I don't expect a challenge.

How much have you "invested" in drawing up your wills with the relevant lawyers and solicitors?
USD$3000. We could have done it with a kit but I didnt feel confident we'd get it right; too much at stake for us to DIY.

[iris lily]

We are working on a will now and  will have most of it in a living trust.
Our attorney's fee is about $2,000 and then there are filng fees on top of that.

[LadyFI]

Do you have a will? Yes

Do you expect to spend the kids inheritance and leave nothing, or give to charity?
No, right now as our daughter is a minor everything would pass to her via a trust. We plan to update when she is older to include leaving money to charity.

Will you treat them fairly (not necessarily evenly...)? n/a, we have an only child

Do the laws of your state country allow provision for challenging your will? Yes

If so, have you planned to overcome them via trusts, or distributing funds whilst still drawing breath?
We have a trust. Not due to a potential challenge to the will, but to avoid probate. Probate in our State is outrageously expensive and S-L-O-W.

How much have you "invested" in drawing up your wills with the relevant lawyers and solicitors?
$3500 with a well-regarded estate planning attorney. This included filing/recording fees.

[FLBiker]

Context: Me - 39, DW - 36, DD - 1; house; ~$500K investments

Do you have a will? No. (It's imminent, though.) Everything is either held jointly or POD to the spouse, with my brother as contingent beneficiary, whom we've talked to about adopting our DD.  I know, we need to get it on paper.

Do you expect to spend the kids inheritance and leave nothing, or give to charity? If we die at normal ages, I expect we'll leave the kid something and also give something to charity.

Will you treat them fairly (not necessarily evenly...)? Just have one.

Do the laws of your state country allow provision for challenging your will? Probably, not worried about it, family is cool.

If so, have you planned to overcome them via trusts, or distributing funds whilst still drawing breath?  Again, I'm not worried about stuff being challenged, but I like the idea of a trust and also of distributing money while still alive.

How much have you "invested" in drawing up your wills with the relevant lawyers and solicitors? So far, nothing.  I'm getting on it, though.  I've got a 30 minute consult w/ a lawyer provided by our EAP, so I'll probably start there.

[Dancin'Dog]

Good topic & replies.

We will be working on this soon.

I have been helping my father with his estate planning recently, with was long overdue.  The estate attorney we found is excellent and only charging $1400 total for preparing will, trusts, living will, financial & medical POAs, etc.  He is in Davidson, NC if you are interested.

[TravelJunkyQC]

Context: I'm a legally single woman of 29 years old - no dependants. Networth of 133k with a condo shared with investing partner (currently live in BF's condo).

Do you have a will? Legally binding Power of Attorney and Living Will, unofficial will for if I pass away.

Do you expect to spend the kids inheritance and leave nothing, or give to charity?
No kids at this time, so everything I have goes to my sister and/or her soon-to-be-born child. Investing partner gets my share of condo. BF gets car.

Will you treat them fairly (not necessarily evenly...)? When the time comes, absolutely. If the time doesn't come, nieces and nephews will be treated fairly (and money reserved for higher education or doled out at age 25).

Do the laws of your state country allow provision for challenging your will? Don't know. But I know my family - they won't.

If so, have you planned to overcome them via trusts, or distributing funds whilst still drawing breath?
N/A

How much have you "invested" in drawing up your wills with the relevant lawyers and solicitors?
Living Will and Power of Attorney was drawn up by my parents' lawyer, don't know how much it costs. My unofficial will was drawn up 1.5 years ago a few months after I suddenly lost my best friend and saw how difficult it was for her family to figure things out. I trust my family to follow my unofficial will to the letter - having everything in one place was just a way to simplify the process for them. Will have an official will if/when I have a dependant (and/or if my BF and I purchase a home together).

[gaja]

We have comprehensive inheritance laws in my country. If we want to give one child more than the other, we have to do this while we are alive.
-the spouse inherits at least $50 000, or everything if there is less than that in the estate. If the remaining parent is biological parent to the kids, he or she can decline to settle the estate until he or she remarries or dies.
-The kids inherit 2/3 of the estate, limited upwards to $130 000 each. It is not possible to exclude a child from receiving inheritance (as long as there is any).

When I'm dead, I'm dead. Even if I try to controll stuff, it won't make me less dead. I've asked my sister to take care of the kids, and tried to leave some funds available for her to pay for the job. If we die when the kids are adults, we will have to trust we have raised them well enough to share everything equally.

[Shinplaster]

Do you have a will?  Yes.  Also powers of attorney for medical care and property

Do you expect to spend the kids inheritance and leave nothing, or give to charity? We hope something will be left, and our son knows which charities we would like him to donate to in our name.  We may change our minds as time progresses, so only wrote in a specific charity if all our beneficiaries predecease us. (son and grandson, and any future grandchildren).

Will you treat them fairly (not necessarily evenly...)?  Only have one child, so he gets it all.  If he predeceases us, his children will inherit equally.

Do the laws of your state country allow provision for challenging your will?  Don't know, but assume so.

If so, have you planned to overcome them via trusts, or distributing funds whilst still drawing breath?  Luckily, there is no one in our family that would think of challenging our wills at the moment.  Should that change, we will take steps to ensure any challenge fails.  We have an excellent lawyer - I don't think any will he draws up will be challenged successfully anyway.

How much have you invested drawing up your wills with the relevant lawyers and solicitors?   We just redid our wills last week, so $500CAN.  When we did the powers of attorney, it was about the same for both the mister and myself.

[RetiredAt63]

Hi TravelJunkyQC

Just a bit of info (used to live in Quebec, did my first will there).  If you have a will drawn up by a notary (avocat), not a lawyer, it is filed and is binding.  No probate.  This is because Quebec's civil law is based on the old French civil law (updated, obviously) instead of English civil law.

If your parents are alive and you have no will, your parents get 1/2, your sibling(s) get the other half.  Is this your situation and what you want?  BF of course gets nothing, because Quebec does not have common-law marriage.

What do you mean by an unofficial will?  A hand-written will is binding if it is done properly (see the first web site).  Less binding than a notarial will, more binding than an English-style will.

Useful sites:
http://www.lecourshebert.com/en/inheritance-law-canadian-province-quebec/
http://montrealgazette.com/business/local-business/personal-finance/without-a-will-the-civil-code-decides-the-estates-of-quebecers

Context: I'm a legally single woman of 29 years old - no dependants. Networth of 133k with a condo shared with investing partner (currently live in BF's condo).

Do you have a will? Legally binding Power of Attorney and Living Will, unofficial will for if I pass away.

Do you expect to spend the kids inheritance and leave nothing, or give to charity?
No kids at this time, so everything I have goes to my sister and/or her soon-to-be-born child. Investing partner gets my share of condo. BF gets car.

Will you treat them fairly (not necessarily evenly...)? When the time comes, absolutely. If the time doesn't come, nieces and nephews will be treated fairly (and money reserved for higher education or doled out at age 25).

Do the laws of your state country allow provision for challenging your will? Don't know. But I know my family - they won't.

If so, have you planned to overcome them via trusts, or distributing funds whilst still drawing breath?
N/A

How much have you "invested" in drawing up your wills with the relevant lawyers and solicitors?
Living Will and Power of Attorney was drawn up by my parents' lawyer, don't know how much it costs. My unofficial will was drawn up 1.5 years ago a few months after I suddenly lost my best friend and saw how difficult it was for her family to figure things out. I trust my family to follow my unofficial will to the letter - having everything in one place was just a way to simplify the process for them. Will have an official will if/when I have a dependant (and/or if my BF and I purchase a home together).

[TravelJunkyQC]

Hi TravelJunkyQC

Just a bit of info (used to live in Quebec, did my first will there).  If you have a will drawn up by a notary (avocat), not a lawyer, it is filed and is binding.  No probate.  This is because Quebec's civil law is based on the old French civil law (updated, obviously) instead of English civil law.

If your parents are alive and you have no will, your parents get 1/2, your sibling(s) get the other half.  Is this your situation and what you want?  BF of course gets nothing, because Quebec does not have common-law marriage.

What do you mean by an unofficial will?  A hand-written will is binding if it is done properly (see the first web site).  Less binding than a notarial will, more binding than an English-style will.

Useful sites:
http://www.lecourshebert.com/en/inheritance-law-canadian-province-quebec/
http://montrealgazette.com/business/local-business/personal-finance/without-a-will-the-civil-code-decides-the-estates-of-quebecers

Context: I'm a legally single woman of 29 years old - no dependants. Networth of 133k with a condo shared with investing partner (currently live in BF's condo).

Do you have a will? Legally binding Power of Attorney and Living Will, unofficial will for if I pass away.

Do you expect to spend the kids inheritance and leave nothing, or give to charity?
No kids at this time, so everything I have goes to my sister and/or her soon-to-be-born child. Investing partner gets my share of condo. BF gets car.

Will you treat them fairly (not necessarily evenly...)? When the time comes, absolutely. If the time doesn't come, nieces and nephews will be treated fairly (and money reserved for higher education or doled out at age 25).

Do the laws of your state country allow provision for challenging your will? Don't know. But I know my family - they won't.

If so, have you planned to overcome them via trusts, or distributing funds whilst still drawing breath?
N/A

How much have you "invested" in drawing up your wills with the relevant lawyers and solicitors?
Living Will and Power of Attorney was drawn up by my parents' lawyer, don't know how much it costs. My unofficial will was drawn up 1.5 years ago a few months after I suddenly lost my best friend and saw how difficult it was for her family to figure things out. I trust my family to follow my unofficial will to the letter - having everything in one place was just a way to simplify the process for them. Will have an official will if/when I have a dependant (and/or if my BF and I purchase a home together).

Hey there, thanks for the links! Actually, the "will" I have is just a word document along with an excel spreadsheet with my account information and passwords - my parents have this information. I already knew that without a notarized will, my assets would be divided 50/50 between my parents and my sister. However, since my parents don't need the money, and my sister could use it for her growing business, I asked them to instead give anything to her. My condo going to my investing partner and my car to my BF is for simplicity's sake (I live in QC, my family lives in the States).

I'll have a notarized will once I have dependants, but until then, just a list of my wishes suffices since I trust my family to respect them. This word document also states that, if possible, I'd like to be buried in public park land with an unmarked grave (which I know to be impossible), so... you know... clearly it's nothing too official!

[marty998]

Interesting responses, thanks everyone.

Those of you with one child - do you look down to the next generation and consider grandchildren? (Not really pertinent if your child is still in nappies though). Nieces/Nephews, your brothers and sisters or other family members who may give you care in old age?

More I look into it the more people in my life I would like to help out. Was thinking naming just my brother (my parents have enough to look after themselves) but would also like to leave something for my cousins.