5 Reasons Why a Will Might Be for You
Generally, I advise clients that trusts are more appropriate, especially if the client wants his or her heirs or beneficiaries to avoid probate. Preventing an estate from going through probate is beneficial if the estate is sizable, i.e., consists of a house, life insurance, a retirement plan or securities, one or more automobiles, and furnishings. However, there are circumstances when a will may be more appropriate: If there is no will, then the property might be distributed to, or in proportions, someone unintended by the decedent. For example, your spouse might only receive 1/3 of the estate’s personal and real property and the remaining 2/3 will go to a child or relative who kicked your dog. Equally egregious is that the property could be distributed to the state, which may have already benefited from receiving several years of income and sales taxes from you. If the estate is modest, for example $100,000 – $200,000, avoiding probate is even more reasonable and it may be possible to waive a probate hearing, so a trust under these circumstances is probably unwarranted. A grantor may not want to designate a trustee and may not want to be a trustee during his or her lifetime.* So, by using a will, a sizable estate will go through probate but each legatee will ultimately be responsible for the preservation and enrichment – or diminution – of his or her own gift. If the testator has minor children and doesn’t want the court to determine guardianship in the event of death or incapacity, then a will can nominate who should be the guardian. A grantor with no desire to continually update a trust document may use a pour-over will, a simple mechanism by which all of the estate is designated to a trust. Okay, so this one is a compromise betwixt the 2 but \”4 1/2 Reasons…\” just didn\’t flow. * A settlor, also referred to as a “grantor,” is the individual who creates the trust.
Lucky Stars Unlucky Heirs: Even the Unfamous Should Have a Valid Will
Approximately 70% of Americans who should leave some sort of testamentary document or trust behind when they die don’t. Why? Because we don’t like thinking about the day when we’re no longer going to be around, let alone talking about it, and heaven forbid planning for it. So we procrastinate until we end up dead with loved ones on the cusp of committing murder or worse – battling each other in probate court until attorneys’ fees have engulfed most of the estate. I offer a few suggestions: Don’t be like Sonny Bono who died without a will and left his widow to battle with a man claiming to be Chaz’s illegitimate half-brother. If you’re married or in a civil union, try not to repeat Barry White’s mistake. “The Maestro” died not only intestate, i.e., without a will, but also without having divorced his first wife with whom he’d been estranged for decades. So if you’re going to put off the inevitable, don’t put off making your divorce or break-up legally valid. The Barry White Wars: (1) between long-time lover and mother of last child and estranged wife of about 20 years and mother of four, and (2) between his 9 children. Not that I think that many would share in the aspirations of Anna Nicole Smith, those who are reading this should consider when drafting your current estate plan that you may have another child after the plan is effectuated. So try not to accidentally disinherit the second child by leaving everything to your “only child, INSERT NAME HERE.” Finally, if you can satisfy suggestions 1 – 3 successfully, remember not to “be like Mike,” Michael Jackson, that is. If you have a trust, actually put something in it. Most know how literally indebted to the world Michael Jackson was, but if he had placed a few actual, fully-paid-for possessions in trust, the creditors would have probably been unlikely to gain access to those assets. A trust with nothing in it is invalid. Although I don’t suggest creating a bequest like the late Torontonian, Charles Millar, leaving everything to the Toronto woman who gave birth the most times in the 10 years following his death, I do suggest having something valid in place to protect your family, if not from others, then from themselves.