No Will

fortyseven2n · Mar 13, 2006

With all of this talk about wills leads me to ask a question.

We are in North Carolina.

Unfortunately , my Mother in Law has terminal cancer.

Neither she nor my Father in Law have wills and it does not look like that is likely to change but that is a long story.

Anyway, my Wife has one sibling.

The question is what will happen with their stuff when she dies ?

My Wife called a law office and they told her that the estate would be split between her , her Dad and Brother.I did a little poking around on the internet and that's more or less what I found.

None of us are wanting anything, we just want to make sure that my Father in Law gets it but none of us get into any kind of trouble with taxes or anything like that.

We will sit down with a lawyer after she is gone but I just wanted to know if anyone has been through this and could let me know what we might expect to go through.

This is a rough time for the family right now and we don't want any more surprises.

Any thoughts ?

3RRL · Mar 13, 2006

I'm no attorney but I think her stuff passes on to your FIL. After he passes, it is passed on to your wife and her brother. Most property held in "joint tenants" passes to the surviving spouse without any taxation involved. If the property is not held that way, an inheritance tax may be involved.

ronjhall · Mar 13, 2006

As your wife has already found out. With no will. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif A percentage will go to FIL. Balance will be divided between siblings. Wife and I put together wills a few years ago. After her mother died. We found out how well inheritance distributions can go it parents make arrangements before death. When Her Aunt died there was no will. There are still open issues 10 years later. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

slowrev · Mar 13, 2006

Depends on the state. Here the surviving spouse gets 50% and the other 50% is divided up among the children. A will is best to have everything go to the surviving spouse so no bad children can kick the spouse off the farm or anything like that. Tehn when the surviving spiouse dies all is divided up among the children.

Just my opinion though. I have seen some nasty estate fights.

Ben

Jagmandave · Mar 13, 2006

If at all possible, they should try to get even a simple will done before she passes, it will make things easier on all involved later. Good luck......

fortyseven2n · Mar 13, 2006

Thanks for the replies !

We can keep our fingers crossed that everything will pass to my FIL without a problem but I am afraid that is a slim chance.

If it goes to all three of them , then they want to give it back to him but at the same time make sure that there won't be any kind of tax implications so no one gets stuck with a big tax bill or something like that.

My Wife talked to her Dad about getting wills made up but it looks unlikely that it will happen.No one wants to push my MIL about a will because she is so sick and they don't want to bring her down even further.

The rest of us have wills to ensure things are taken care of after we are dead.

Dealing with the loss of a loved one is hard enough without the extra stress of not having a will.

Thanks Again !
Fortyseven2n

Bird · Mar 13, 2006

Chris, I know this can be a bad time, but everyone will be better off if you can get your mother-in-law to do a will right now. I know these cheap computer program wills are not as good as going to a lawyer, but I did my dad's will with one and the court had no problem with it. I had a younger sister who died 3 years ago last October. She had no will until the last day when she asked me and my brother to make one for her. We did, some of the hospital employees were quite willing to sign as witnesses, and she signed her will only a couple of hours before her death. That made it much easier for my niece and nephew to handle her estate.

I mentioned in the other thread having been the executor of an uncle's estate. He had a will that had been done by an attorney. However, my aunt had died a few years earlier, and had no will. I'm sure it's different in different states, but in Texas (at that time, at least, and I think still), being a community property state meant that everything they owned was owned jointly, therefore, half of everything was my uncle's. Then the other half was to be split between him and their only (adopted) daughter. So the daughter was entitled to one-fourth of everything, which meant he couldn't sell or trade a motor vehicle or home without her agreement. Had there been any serious disagreement between them, I suppose everything would have had to be sold. As it was, they owned the home where they lived in Texas, but also still owned a home in Oklahoma, so my uncle signed over the house in Oklahoma to my niece, and she signed over everything else to him by mutual agreement. I can only imagine the nightmare that would have resulted had there been a family feud of any kind.

MarkV · Mar 14, 2006

I think you also need to ask your accountant about the ramifications of the inheritance being received and then giving it back to your FIL. There are going to be capital gains on both sides as far as the tax man is concerned. Just hate to see their holdings diminished by extra taxes because of no will.

Sorry about your MIL, cancer is a hard thing to watch.

MarkV

fortyseven2n · Mar 14, 2006

Bird,
You are right but I am not a blood relative so I can really only stand on the outside and look in.My Wife has talked to her Dad about it and it is in his hands right now. He is completely devastated about my MIL and I don't think that he can talk to my MIL about her dying or making a will so its probably not going to happen.

Mark,
You hit the nail on the head about capital gains or other tax problems of just giving back the money.We will have to sit down with an accountant after she is gone and get it all worked out so Uncle Sam doesn't get too much.One way or another, we will make sure my FIL is taken care of.

It has been hard for the last 6 months to watch my MIL go downhill and watch my Wife and FIL grieve the whole time because there is really no hope in her surviving and won't get any easier as time goes on.

Thanks again for all of the replies.

You guys are great.

Fortyseven2n

dmccarty · Mar 14, 2006

FortySeven2n,

DONT wait to see the CPA. See them ASAP. Waiting until afterwards may be too late. If they won't deal with a will how about giving tax free gifts or property.

You are in a tough spot but maybe the CPA or lawyer can help you minimize the tax loss.

Later,
Dan