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Everyone's situation is going to be different, but just pointing out some add'l considerations.
If you are married with a house and your spouse is on the deed then the house would go to the surviving spouse w/o the need for a will or to go thru probate.
But, what if you are both killed in an accident? Oops - who has to deal with that?
And if you have kids that are minors? In CA minors can't own real property so can't name them as beneficiaries in a will - plus that would still have to go thru probate. Sure, you could name someone else in a will to get the property, but then you are back again in probate.
Got big bank or savings/brokerage accounts and kids that are minor, or heck even 18; you really want to rely on POD/TOD to give large amounts of money to minors or 18 year old 'adults'?
A trust allows for dealing with contingencies and the ability to say how/when money is distributed.
And putting multiple family members on the deed to a house or other real property?? Wow - that's just asking for trouble; you leave yourself legally/financially liable when alive and creating liability issues for those alive after you're gone. I wouldn't do it.
That is false ...... there can be reasons for trusts ...everything we own at this point passes via tods and pods . However while New York is finally at the federal level ,they weren’t always that high ....
So we needed a disclaimer trust , otherwise when we did it ,if we went over the limit by 5% there was not just estate tax on the overage ...you lost the entire exclusion and paid from dollar one ..
While we are okay under the current federal level here in New York we hopefully will still grow over time and need our disclaimer trusts again , which are great ...they are completely transparent unless we throw a switch 9 months after the death of one of us.
We probated my ex wife’s mother’s house when she got it ...it was not expensive to do here and really not a problem ....it took about 90 days.
If I here is a chance one in may need nursing home care , you should check with an estate attorney in your state to see the ramifications of sticking a home in a revocable trust .
In most states it becomes a countable asset for qualifying for Medicaid and has to be sold and the money spent down on care .....that is just the opposite of leaving it in personal name
It sounds like one issue for you may be selecting the right successor trustee for when you pass. With no family or friends young enough to be trustees, you should talk to your local bank, which probably has a trust department for people just like your sister. They tend to charge in the neighborhood of 1%.
Thanks - yes, I believe that's an option. Though most of my banking is online through USAA I've kept a very minimal account with a "brick and mortar" bank locally. I'd originally kept the account for things like medallion signature guarantees but they were worthless for that - hopefully their trust dept. will prove better!
If Ithere is a chance one in may need nursing home care , you should check with an estate attorney in your state to see the ramifications of sticking a home in a revocable trust .
In most states it becomes a countable asset for qualifying for Medicaid and has to be sold and the money spent down on care .....that is just the opposite of leaving it in personal name
I agree on the revocable trust-n0t an issue for me because if I go into LTC I won't need the house anymore anyway.
I do remember a post on another Board we're both on by someone whose parents had put their house into an irrevocable trust, Now they wanted to sell the house and use the proceeds to move into an Independent Living place. They found out what "irrevocable" meant.
A will is all I have because that's all I need. One adult offspring who has one child. The will is set up with the usual predecease clauses to cover any eventuality. Offspring's name is on all my deposit accounts as beneficiary so that will be automatic. The value of the house is only a small fraction of my state's Estate Tax Exclusion. I'll be surprised if any of my deposit accounts survive me, to be honest! LOL
To have a trust or any of the other mechanics would be overkill in my case. As far as medical directives, that's just not something I want to do. Part of the reason is that my son really REALLY does not want to talk about scenarios like that (he flat-out refuses) and honestly I don't know if he could either handle or want to handle making any of those decisions, emotionally. And there is nobody else that I know well enough to trust with/want to put that burden onto them either, so I might as well leave it up to the medical professionals at the time.
I'm sure it's a great idea to have medical directives, health proxies, etc in place but not everyone has someone willing to take on that responsibility. To be honest, I would not want to be in that position myself. Luckily I was never asked to be, because I doubt that I could have forced myself to agree.
Durable power of attorney
Medical Directives
Something that indicates to whom (brother for example) the kids go if both of you die.
Funeral plans
Our funerals are bought and paid for as well as our cemetery plots.
Trusts are set and wills are written and signed
Find an elder law specialist who also does wills and trusts. They can walk you through the entire process
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