Don’t have a will, yet? Then you’re an idiot.

[imcarthur]

As fate would have it, I am the clean up detail for my family. I am in the midst of my 3rd round of being an executor. It is never a pleasant job, but someone has to clean up the debris of someone’s life.

This time, it is for my brother who waged a 10 year battle against prostate cancer - with a side of HIV. He died at 57 last November.

I asked him about a will. Nada. I got him all of the paperwork & offered to help. (You might remember that I posted here for a blank will form last fall). In a day or two . . . he said. Every time I brought it up, I got the same answer. Later.

Well, later became never. So now I am coming up to 5 months – including two visits to the lawyer & two court submissions – and I think it is finally done. All of this time, his accounts have been frozen, so I have been paying the leftover bills. The bank wouldn’t let me do an inventory of his safe deposit box. Frozen. I did clean out & give up his squalid apartment but even that I probably shouldn’t have done. And this was a dirt simple estate because I am the sole heir. He never married or fathered, both parents are dead & I am the sole sibling. Simple. Or it should have been . . .

So take 5 minutes of your precious time, get a sheet of paper & a pen & write a damn will. Sign it. Date it. You are done. It’s that simple & it is legal - as long as it is written in your own hand & signed. Or visit your attorney & dot all of the I’s properly.

The people you leave behind - who will clean up your mess - will thank you.

Ian

[Hugh R]

My Dad had a will, the lawyers took about a year and got as much money as the three kids. My Mom had a trust, we settled the estate over drinks at the dinner table; no lawyers. I have a trust.

[Christien]

Ian, sorry to hear of your loss. Good advice, though.

Hugh, that sounds crazy. My wife and I had our will drawn up a couple of years ago. Took about 45 min. in the lawyers office, a week or 2 later we came back in to sign the formalized documents, total bill was a couple hundred dollars. Done and done.

[Hugh R]

Not create the will, but to probate it. Dad lived in Boston, had an old house in Victoria, BC and died in HI while owning a condo there. many states specify the % of the estate that the lawyers can get. Public notices, Public disclosure of the estate, open comment periods by anybody, it can be a mess.

[sammyg2]

I'm named as the executor for my parents when that time comes, they have a sizeable estate and all the paperwork is organized to a "T".

I don't have a will yet but I plan to live forever!

Seriously, point well taken.

[imcarthur]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

but I plan to live forever!

I think we all suffer from this delusion.

Ian

[McLovin]

I don't think anyone ever dies regretting they didn't have a will!

[imcarthur]

Originally Posted by McLovin

I don't think anyone ever dies regretting they didn't have a will!

Yet they might spin in their grave when the lawyer buys a Porsche with his fees for the required docs & court submissions etc etc as per Hugh's probate experience. And you can't blame the lawyers. They have to follow the applicable estate & probate laws & the whim of the courts.

Ian

[McLovin]

If they're spinning in their grave, they've got more pressing (pun intended) issues than the lack of a will to worry about.

[cashflyer]

I don't have anything but debt, and those who will be left are the ones who incurred it - so, f*** 'em.

[Joeaksa]

Ian,

Sorry to hear of your troubles. I went one very important step further than your request.

Years ago set up a private trust, and part of that trust is a will and living will. It takes care of all that you mentioned above and when I pass there will be nothing done in court what so ever. The secondary trustee (guy I grew up with, have known him all my life) will simply take over as trustee and its done.

Have had several friends pass in the last 5 years. Most did not have a trust/will and one did. The one that had a trust/will it was painless and saved my friends wife almost $400,000 in estate taxes and so on.

For $1000 that it cost to set up the trust (anything that's worth over $1000 or so in my world is now owned by the trust) its very cheap insurance. As well it works well with the vehicles as the trust is located in an area that makes life very easy. No smog, easy registration and so on. I should have done this 30 years ago.

Joe A

[cantdrv55]

Totally agree with the OP. We have a trust set up plus an addendum - special needs trust for my little boy.

[legion]

I was executor for my dad's estate. He had a will, but owed many, many people money. He had lived above his means for years and had scammed friends, family, and business associates out of money to maintain his lifestyle. It's a wonder he was never sued. When he died, he mentioned a few debts in his will, but I knew there were more (but not to who or how much). I had to file public notice, and wait. I sent letters to all of the known creditors that they had to file a claim. No one did.

It ended up taking me a year and 5 trips to Nashville to settle his estate. It was not pleasant.

[Bill Douglas]

I've got as will has I hate to think the money would go to my sister.

[Joeaksa]

Bill,

Worse than just a family member, loads of city, state and govt jerks feel that they need part of any estate. Taxes, legal stuff and so suck the funds dry. With a will and trust you can guarantee who and where it goes to.

My living will even states that if a cute nurse comes in with a short skirt and a margarita, and I do not move or get a woodie, that I am brain dead and to pull the plug. Seriously... if I do not move for that I do not want/need to be alive!

[island911]

Wills are a great device for lawyers to argue over.

Yeah, I'm rather cynical on the whole thing. Once someone (who feels entitled) gets a lawyer, the named will beneficiaries get to choose between having a life, or fighting for what the deceased intended.

If you want certain people to have something, give it to them when you're alive. ...or a trust.

IMO, a will is just one tiny step toward establishing who gets what.

[RWebb]

TOD - Transfer on Death

talk to your mutual fund co. or broker re this - both Vanguard & Fidelity do it & I'm sure others do too

when you get old, get rid of all non-liquid assets; sell the house and move to an apt.; if you are real old you won't be able to drive so sell the car(s) or sign them over to whomever you want them to go to

if not so old, you can do that and also set up an agreement let you drive them forever

[imcarthur]

Chris & Joe - thanks. It wasn't easy watching him disintegrate over the last year. He was incredibly self-indulgent & totally wasted his life obsessed with his obsessions.

It is good to hear that many have put a 'succession' plan in place. Like my title says: You're an idiot if you don't. The amount of greed that people - and officialdom - have over the pickings of the dead is always startling. A concise will or trust can keep it to a minimum.

Ian

[Joeaksa]

Ian,

I have another very old long time friend. He is 74 or so right now and the end is near. Was just taken to the hospital for heart work last week and not doing very well. We have been pushing him for years to "get things settled up" for when its needed and he always refused.

Last week scared him and he finally went to a friend of ours and got the paperwork started for his Will. Finally...

Joe

[Dueller]

Now from the lawyer's perspective. At the outset let me say I do not specialize in estate planning. I will handle straightforward simmple estate planning but if its complicated or there is a whole lot of money (say, in excess of $2 million), I refer clients to a true trust and estates specialist.

Having a will is a no brainer...ditto for advanced medical directives/end of life instructions.

The first thing I do is to determine person's wishes. Then I make every effort to figure out a way the will does not have to be probated. E.g., Husband and wife, I cross title all property, both real and personal so when one dies the other takes title by operation of law with POD accounts/survivorship tranfers rather than transferring title by probating the will.

If the will is properly drafted and IF a person has been straightforward and IF the decedent has taken care of their business before hand, then it is relatively simple and inexpensive to probate. When matters have been left unattended in life it often creates a myriad of problems the lawyer has to straighten out.

One final caveat...a will procurred online without the review by an attorney is better than nothing but often despite best efforts something is done and the testator (person making will) doesn't really think about the legal consequences. Case in point on a case I'm handling now. Man dies leaving only one young adult son as sole heir. Makes some specific bequests with regard to various parcels of real property to son but doesn't list all of it because he forgot about some land he owned jointly wwith other people. Names his former sister in law as executrix and also names her as residuary beneficiary.

Now everybody knows what he was trying to do...leave his entire estate to son and if the son died before him to leave it to his sister in law. But that isn't what his will said. So....son gets the specific bequest but everything else (the "rest and residue" of his estate) goes to SIL because that's what the will he got online says. Parol (oral) evidence is inadmissable. Fortunately SIL is perfectly willing for the son to get everything but because the decedent didn't understand the implications of what he put in his will it creates additional work for me to make it happen. So...had he spent $250 with a lawyer on the front end the estate is going to incure more than that to acccomplish what he wanted to do in the first place. And if SIL had not been willing, it could be a real mess.

Final note...people often are hesitant to go thru writing a will as its facing their own mortality. I usually get them to finalize it by making them understand that it is a gift to their family to not have to argue or be torn up emotionally trying to guess what their wishes were during a final illness and what they really wanted after their death.