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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.
Actually, what you need to worry about is how the property is titled. The deed just states who the owners are and not necessarily how to deal with the house after a death. I think this might also depend on if you're in a community property state or not.
For the most part, yes, that is true because the escrow company would probably have it titled that way, however, there are unscrupulous people out there and spouses should know that how you title a property is very important.
Case in point, when hubby and I bought our house, we weren't married. I was handling all the paperwork. I could have easily screwed him w/o him being aware that I asked them to make sure the house was titled as "tenancy in common" which means if I die, I can will my part of the property to someone other than my spouse. Just saying, I'm sure there are people that do this stuff.
No children and no living parents. We had a revocable living trust and wills drawn up a year ago when we inherited money from both sides of our family.
My unmarried and unchilded elderly aunt left her estate to 11 nieces and nephews. While it was not a trust and was taxable, it was a godsend and allowed us to pay off our house and move into retirement on solid ground. Everything from my husband’s side is gravy.
We intend to do the same and pass on our estate to siblings and/or their kids when we pass as we know the family generation that comes behind us will have challenges we never experienced.
My siblings already know this is coming as I needed their Social Security numbers to declare them as beneficiaries of my 401k.
And through this process we learned that my brother, who had been twice divorced but was living with his SO for the last 20 years.....and who we all consider her a member of our family.....the secret came out that he finally married her. He is 15 years her senior. It would be crazy to leave her out of any family inheritance.
No will, three adult children. Upon my death, all assets will automatically transfer to the three children, per stirpes. If I've missed anything (doubtful), the adult child who is an attorney will take care of it.
No will, three adult children. Upon my death, all assets will automatically transfer to the three children, per stirpes. If I've missed anything (doubtful), the adult child who is an attorney will take care of it.
So you have a child that's an attorney, but don't have a will?
POD accounts shared between 2 adult children
Upon my or my husbands death, we'll put the real property into the name of our son so it's jointly owned. If we both die together, God forbid, well no clear plan for that.
Bodies donated to science- https://www.sciencecare.com/location...dy-to-science/
Vehicles, if I recall, are on file with DMV-TOD
10K to each grandchild (in cash)
POD accounts shared between 2 adult children
Upon my or my husbands death, we'll put the real property into the name of our son so it's jointly owned. If we both die together, God forbid, well no clear plan for that.
We first started talking about getting all our paperwork together when we bought our first house 25 years ago.
My husband has not had any premature deaths in his family but I have had a couple. And it was clear to me that we needed to have something in writing should that happen to us. At first we took to the online forms and nolo.com. Then when our efforts to have children did not come to fruition, we put all that on hold.
It was a snowstorm drive through the west.....from Utah to Los Angeles that pushed us to do our advanced directives. I don’t know what it was about that drive, but conditions were poor and we were accumulating assets that if we were gone would have caused grief for family resolving those issues after our death. Nothing happened on that trip....but I was glad we had made those declarations....and had them witnessed.
The final push for a family living trust came after my mother and his mother died. Trusts make the process so much easier. And our wealth was accumulating through inheritance and time. Seeing how generous my elderly unmarried child free aunt was with me, my siblings and cousins was inspiring. I wanted to do the same for my family.
We have already added assets to the trust. Including changing banks and homes...but the boilerplate is there and the executor (one of my sisters) is in place.
Why are people so hesitant to get a will/trust? I'm guessing most people without a will don't have a medical directive, or power of attorney either?
You guys/girls know we're all going to die at some time, right? Not cleaning up your mess before you go isn't going to stop it.
If you don't need it, why get one?
As a past trustee/executor of a trust which wasn't overly difficult, it was a royal pain. He did everything right before his death too and the attorney would pretend it was simple. It was so much trouble and took months. You could easily pay to make more trouble for yourself via Trusts.
It's expected to hire an attorney after loved ones death despite having a trust. Often or usually, it's the exact attorney who created the trust. Many people don't realize this. To send out notices in a timely fashion, etc. What a sham. I didn't hire the attorney who did the trust but learned it myself.
Trusts are a pain. Not easy like POD accounts which the beneficiary only shows up with a copy of your death certificate and Calif ID to obtain their inheritance.
When real property is involved, to add your adult child onto the deed during your life is best imho. This works for a somewhat modest homestead. Before your death, ensure your real property is modest. Downsize and place those sale funds into an account to easily be obtained later. Take an hour or so to read the few State laws which might benefit to transfer real property easier... avoiding probate. Maybe add the other adult kids onto the other POD accounts making it a balanced inheritance.
Avoid trusts and wills as much as possible. So much trouble. You also risk the Attorney setting the trust up incorrectly which could be a nightmare just beginning after the nightmare of your loved one's death.
It's the same. Either my husband or i will add our sons name onto the deed. Problem carises if we both die simultaneously or within a very short time frame of one another. So there is holes but a Trust has it's own risks which I'd like to avoid.
Our home is on land bought for 50K 3 yrs ago so in Calif, that might be a benefit but I haven't done the research yet on that State law. There is a 300 sq foot home shown on county records but our new home will be closer to 850 ft once completed next month.
If they come down to appraise it for more than 150K (and a CPA called a referee does the appraisal, sort of a joke) then if it was appraised for more than 150K then that would be more trouble too. Easiest is to add our son onto the deed while we are, or one is still, alive. There are two laws here regarding the value of real property, it is to 50K & another law to 150K. Need to spend the time soon to understand it.
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