Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
1 One retirement account
2. Vehicles- California requires each vehicle be valued at under $150K or it must be placed in a trust.
3. Bank accounts
4. Emergency fund cash in the safe
Whoever the sole survivor is- likely myself at 80, will sell our home. Otherwise the home would need to be placed in a trust.
Keeping all assets/funds in the form of being transferred via a beneficiary is much smoother. Trusts are a heck of alot of trouble!! Total rip!
.
Last edited by MinimalistMary; 06-17-2018 at 02:30 PM..
OP: Why do you assume everyone is leaving equal shares to their children? Not sure why you would put that in parenthesis and make it an assumption of everyone's estate plan.
OP: Why do you assume everyone is leaving equal shares to their children? Not sure why you would put that in parenthesis and make it an assumption of everyone's estate plan.
The general rule of thumb would be to leave the assets to the surviving spouse and at the second death equally to the children. Modify this with some gifts to other relatives, friends, charities etc.
A little bit of thought will say that the assets have to go into a trust for the surviving spouse so that you can control where the assets end up. The surviving spouse could add assets to the trust or do anything they wanted with their assets.
At the time you develop your estate plan all children could be self supporting etc. etc. But one could get sick, divorced, hurt in an accident etc. Thus you may want your trust to distribute income to meet their needs.
If you feel you have enough assets to support yourself you may want to start making gifts to the children now when it may benefit them the most.
the kids are well off, from their jobs, from their grandparents, from their dad (we divorced when the kids were under age 6), and from their in-laws.
so other than the cost of my burial,
everything is going to Israel: 1/4 to a publishing house in Israel, and 3/4 to a family in Israel. This supports the holy land, and Torah scholars.
OP: Why do you assume everyone is leaving equal shares to their children? Not sure why you would put that in parenthesis and make it an assumption of everyone's estate plan.
Equal distribution seems to be the default option for many and is a logical thought. I am just trying to see what other ideas there are out there.
But anyone is welcome to articulate the benefits of equal distribution.
Equal distribution seems to be the default option for many and is a logical thought. I am just trying to see what other ideas there are out there.
But anyone is welcome to articulate the benefits of equal distribution.
From talking to an estate planning attorney for the past few year the equal distribution is the most popular. Even when the children have different needs.
Depending on the amount of money another option is a trust that distributes 1/3 at age x, another 3rd at xx and the rest at xxx. The reason is that when some children inherit a lot of money they do not know how to manage it so they spend it all. Splitting up the inheritance lets then have a couple of chances of learning how to manage money.
Another option would be an income annuity for life.
After a 35 year marriage, I'm going to leave my house to my Ex wife unless she remarries. She's also in Real Estate and can sell it for the money.
That money will help her in her old age so our 2 sons won't have to. If she passes they'll get her money anyway so I figure that money is just taking a small detour for a few years.
I hope that all of you who are on second marriages and are planning on your spouse getting all of the money and when they die they will leave the money that is left to BOTH sets of children, not just their own biological children have really thought that out.
I personally know several cases where the children from the first marriage were completely cut out of their step-parents will, which was never the intention of their parent (who was unlucky enough to die first).
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
