The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: frugaldrummer on February 02, 2019, 07:12:40 AM
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Ok, so I'm long overdue for a will and some estate planning. I will definitely seek out a professional but would like to save money and time by having a reasonable idea of my options before hand.
My situation is not too complex. Divorced, 3 adult children (2 of whom currently live with me) elderly mother who lives with me, boyfriend with lung cancer.
Assets are retirement savings (401k and IRA), checking and savings accounts, and a house worth 600 k with 200 k left on mortgage.
The retirement funds all have my three children listed as equal beneficiaries. I would like any funds in my checking and business accounts to be similarly divided . I might specify a small amount to the boyfriend in the unlikely event that I die before him.
My big question is what to do about the house. I used to think that I would like to arrange it so that my mom and my oldest son could continue to live in it so long as my mom was able. (They are close and between them could afford the mortgage payments. ) Then once my mother was no longer able to live there it could be sold and divided.
However in the last year my mom has started to show some early signs of dementia (she's 87) and most likely if I was hit by a truck she would go to live with one of my siblings. If I decide to just have the house sold and divided, is there a way to slow that process to give everybody living there time to plan and process?
If all the accounts were divided and the house sold and equity divided, each child would receive about $300k - not enough to pay for a home in So Cal but enough to bring a mortgage payment on a home down to rent. I hope they will also eventually inherit something from their father but his second wife is only a few years older than my oldest child so they would likely have to wait until they are very old to inherit from him. (Likewise I have longevity in my family so they might now inherit from me until I'm 100 lol)
I suppose if my oldest son wanted to stay in the house he could buy his other siblings out - the others are not likely to want to live there, and he could augment his income renting out bedrooms to friends ( he's an extrovert).
None of the three are on track to make a great income - one will graduate soon with a degree that will ensure employment with benefits in the $50-60k range, one is underemployed due to Aspergers and I am hoping to steer him into a better career path, one suffers severe anxiety and is in recovery from an addiction (I may want to appoint my sister as trustee to his share to make sure he spends it wisely).
Any other thoughts? I don't carry life insurance any more as I felt there were enough assets for them to inherit.
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Since you expect to live a long time, any will you do now should probably only plan for the next 5-10 years, which would mean you died from something unexpected, like a car accident or sudden illness. If you are still alive then (most likely), you can redo it for the next 5-10 years. It isn't set in stone!
So what would you want to happen if you die in the next 5 years? Make your plans accordingly. If circumstances change, you can redo it. Wills are usually a loss leader for lawyers, they are not expensive. And remember there is power of attorney and power of health care to consider/do as well.