ralper

Lots and lots of stories.

One piece of advice to everyone is to have a comprehensive will in place and make the decisions as to who gets what while you're still alive. If these decisions are left to your heirs you are asking for trouble and family fights. Also, leave a comprehensive list of all of your assets. The daughter of one of my clients was amazed at what was in her estate. Had I not been the long time accountant, she might never have known about thousands of dollars worth of assets.

CitadelBlue

In summary .......I have 2 sisters. Dad had a will dated 1976 with me listed as the executor. Mom passed away in 1981. Dad paid for his funeral in 2001 with plans to be buried in his family plot. Dad converted all of his assets to cash and had it all in one bank. He was the owner and my sisters and I were listed as POD - Paid Upon Death. Dad was the owner of his house and the Deed was a Life Estate with my sisters and I listed. Dad's car 1998 Olds Dela 88, was really his only other asset. Dad passed away 23 May 2014. I went to the court house to file Dads will. Since his car was his only asset and valued at less that the cost of a funeral, it was classified as a small estate - no probate. I sold Dad's car on CraigList and divided the money 3 ways . Although I know the people at the bank, I took a copy of Dad's Death Certificate and my Letter of Admin from the court and they issued 3 checks from Dad's accounts in my sister's and my names. I did keep some money in Dad's checking account to pay the insurance, taxes, electric, lawn cutting and other upkeep and maintenance on the house before it was sold. We finally sold Dad's house and closed on it last month. We each received a 1/3 share of the sales. Pretty simple and no lawyer needed.

IMO .... the POD and Life Estate are the way to go.

Morris

Blue, glad that worked for you. But Life Estates can have problems. When your Dad signed the deed he gave up control of the property. If he subsequently decided he wanted to get a loan on the house, he would have to have all three kids allow it. Another issue would be if you or one of your sisters had financial problems. The house could have been targeted by creditors messing up your ability to sell it later and get your share, without a fight and lawyer fees.
No estate plan is good for everyone. But the worst you can do, is do nothing, and don't plan your estate.

ralper

Absolutely right.

Chazmo

Deb, hope it all works out for you. Sorry to hear about your folks. Just remember, you're in lots of good company. Best wishes.

MsPerky

Thanks...I'm making good progress. Fortunately, I've had things pretty well organized for quite awhile, so that has saved me a lot of time. I'm SO glad I sold the house in Apr. That was the big item that I needed to take care of. Went very smoothly.

Matt_in_VA

Darlene,

Sorry to sound like the "Grim Reaper", but what do you mean: I've told my husband repeatedly that should anything EVER happen to either of us the one who is left should immediately grab that will and go straight to the attorney's office.

Don't you mean when? Are you in denial? It is a sad truth that we are all going to die. It is just a matter of time.

MsPerky

^ This post is eight years old. I don't think her point was that they weren't going to die. It was that they weren't going to have anyone in the family fighting over the estate with them. I'm guessing she has not changed her mind.

No problems for me. Still going smoothly, except for the timing to finish liquidating the investment accounts. The market has been twitchy. I've started distributing to the beneficiaries. Will break it up into a couple or three distributions. I still expect everything to be done (except for the bit of carryover into 2016 for 2015 taxes, etc) by Nov. I've set up two non-interest-bearing accounts (one for each estate) to handle the carryover. Non-interest-bearing to avoid having to file taxes for 2016.

MsPerky

^ Things going along well. On target to wrap up in Nov. Estate tax returns (and Mother's personal tax return for months before her death) will be filed before the end of the year. Most of the money has been distributed. A couple of stocks still to be sold in my dad's portfolio due to market craziness. However, the total value of the two estates will be close to what I estimated in July.

valentine

I still feel the same way 8 years later, Matt. I've never been in denial about the inevitability that someday we'll all die one way or the other and yes, you do sound like the Grim Reaper. I make every attempt to live my life as well as possible with every day I've been given. I believe in preparedness for the future but do not dwell on the negatives. If I did I wouldn't be able to enjoy my days nor would my +1 be able to enjoy his. If he wanted to do so, he could be depressed and sad all the time. As a matter of fact, recently his cardiologist told him that he (the cardiologist) always looked forward to seeing Jim because despite his disabilities, he's always so hopeful and positive. Then he said (looking at me) and I think it is at least partially because of her. That made me feel like a million bucks. I choose to live in the now and not be sad that tomorrow may bring bad things.