Do you have plans for your place when you pass away?

[Wagtail]

I too have been thinking of this; background thoughts, if you will. There's only me here and no family in the country (Sister & Aunt in Canada), just a few very good friends.

I plan to live here until I no longer can, sell up & move into the local retirement home. When I do cark-it, I pretty much plan on following 'MossRoad's' method (succinctly put, Mate) splitting equally between my friends + Sister.

As to the 'legacy' of my sprawling (6 acre) horse property, known far & wide as "WAGTAIL PARK"? Well, the good Lord advises to leave things a wee bit better than when you found them and that's what I'm working towards... I can only hope that the next custodian carries it on.

 

[Redneck in training]

This thread showed up just in time. I am 67 next month and wife is 61. We are both in good health so far so I am expecting we will be around for some time. but you never know. The complication is that we have four kids from previous marriages for each of us. Two live in Europe and two in the USA. The American kids will inherit the house, land and will have to pay out their siblings from Europe. Hopefully there will be some cash and life insurance when we kick the bucket for that purpose. Another issue is what to do if I and/or wife get terminally sick or mentally incapacitated. When father of my wife was dyeing nobody wanted to say it is hopeless let him go. Family will let you suffer to prolong your life for a month. When my wife's ex-mother in law was dyeing she hired a nurse to keep her comfortable, moved back to her house, called all grandchildren, her favorite ex-daughter in law (my wife) and told them to have a party while she is going to die. She died surrounded by the people she cared about. She got herself cremated without a funeral. That is what I want to do. If our land will be still in our family I want my ashes scattered where the dogs are buried. I better start talking to our accountant and our lawyer before it is too late.

 

[bucktaker]

I am 51 but have been thinking of starting estate planning, Am I understanding that a revocable living trust is the perfered document? Married with one child, 3 properties, investments, and stuff.

What is the typical cost to set up a revocable trust?

 

[Mysfyt]

I remember reading a story about a guy who had a pile of money and he didn't want to just give it to his kids when he passed. His banker set up a trust in which every year the kids would present their W2(or is it W4?), and the money they received from the trust was based on that. Lazy, don't work hard=less money. Work hard and make money=more money from the trust.

I think this was absolute genius!

 

[Jstpssng]

I remember reading a story about a guy who had a pile of money and he didn't want to just give it to his kids when he passed. His banker set up a trust in which every year the kids would present their W2(or is it W4?), and the money they received from the trust was based on that. Lazy, don't work hard=less money. Work hard and make money=more money from the trust.

I think this was absolute genius!

I've told my parents many times that it's their money to do what they want... They gave me a good childhood, helped me through college and it was up to me to make the best of it.

I've also told them that I hope there is a provision so that if there is any of the squabbling over the estate which I've seen in other families, it will all go to charity.

 

[Bird]

I'm 75 and my wife is 71. I'm also the oldest living member of my family; not a single living relative older than I. Of course we had to sell our place in the country and move back to town about 12 years ago, both for health and family reasons. So we bought this house in town nearly 10 years ago. So we've made some plans. We've already paid for our funerals, cremation, and niche in a cemetery columbarium. And last year, we went with one of the reverse mortgages you see advertised on TV all the time.

The reverse mortgages are advertised as giving old folks (62 or older) cash they may need, but there are some other advantages, too. Naturally, the amount owed on the mortgage continues to grow (at a rate of 5% in our case) and they send me a monthly statement. We still have to pay the insurance and taxes, but no other house payment. We can still sell the place anytime we want to, or we can live here until we both die without making any payments. And when we both die or leave, our daughters don't have to do anything with the property unless they want to. The mortgage company will sell it. If it sells for less than owed, our daughters have no responsibility for it. If it sells for more than owed, the excess goes to our estate (our daughters). If our daughters WANT to try to sell it themselves in hopes of getting more than the mortgage company might sell it for, they're free to go for it, but they do not HAVE to do anything.

Of course we do have a little life insurance and wills.

 

[mjarrels]

Donate all to the clinton foundation! They can spend 1% on folks who need it.

mark

 

[JRobyn]

Our WILL says that once me and wife are both gone that assets/real estate get divided between a handful of heirs in various percentages under the absolute discretion of the executor. Then we have a "Letter of Instructions" that describes how if an heir wants the entire property, they have to "buy" it from the estate at a reasonable appraised value. If heirs want sub-portions, they have to figure out how to divide it up, appraise the pieces and do the same thing all under the discretion of the executor.

We also HOPE to leave enough liquid assets that an heir wanting the property has at least enough for a down payment to finance and "buy" it and take their inheritance in real estate vs $$. Since our property is fairly large, we expect that no one heir (or a couple of heirs) will really want to take it on, so the executor is then just directed to sell it and divide the proceeds.

It's not perfect, but hopefully it will give the executor and heirs the ability and flexibility to keep it all, or in parts, if they really want it, or just be rid of it if not. Now, the heirs may have to wait for 10 years for it to sell to get anything!

- Jay

 

[newbury]

Both SWMBO and I have darned near died in the last 10 years. SWMBO suffered 2 strokes, the last one in 2009 which took her almost a year to recover from. She was in the ICU for about 2 weeks before she could even twitch a finger on the stroke side.

SWMBO is an Attorney and has been handling "family" deaths ever since we got married. She has been the "executer of the estate" for probably a dozen loved relatives, all who died of "old age", most were over 90, the last one was 99 plus.

So we have our wills in order etc. Only 1 of our 4 children give a flip about the about 350 acres and two houses in Mississippi. But almost all our land is dedicated to forestry and requires very little interaction.

One of the main things I would like to emphasize that should be done is to set down and talk to whomever you choose to be executers of the will frequently. There are so many tales of how executors basically grabbed everything. I've seen a lot of "bad blood" develop because someone didn't get what they thought they were promised.

 

[Walkin Horse]

Blood is thicker than water.

Until they read the will.