Last Will And Testomy
Hey All, I am wondering what i am supposed to do when assigning beneficiaries in my will. My wife and i have not sat down with a lawyer to figure this all out yet. I have an account that has a decent amount in it for retirement. If i were to die tomorrow , she my wife would get 100%. It then says when she passes that it will be split equally between my 3 kids. She has a 25yr old daughter from a previous marriage. I feel like her bio dad should have her in his will. And if he doesn't have anything to pass down, oh well. Sorry your dad didn't do better for you. I have not adopted her child but, was told that once the estate is in her name she can reassign where the money goes as in giving her daughter a full share. I am hoping that we live a long and happy retirement life together and use all the money or a large sum of it. Usually the man goes first. The last time i checked , men die at age 76yrs on average and women die on average 81yrs. So, does anyone have a will made where they had to decide who gets what ??? Thanks, Tim
We are trying to figure this
We are trying to figure this out as well. Not as complicated as yours, as I have no children of my own. What we did was assign each other as sole beneficiary of all assets, the set up a trust for SD as the contingent. We also purchased a 15 year term life insurance policy so if, god forbid, something happens to DH, there is money specifically for her for her school/college/wedding/whatever she needs/wants. Term life is pretty cheap and it just made sense for us. Perhaps your wife could do something similar for her daughter if she wants to leave her with something?
Put wills into the search bar
Put wills into the search bar for previous threads on this topic. Much discussion over the years on this. A good lawyer and financial advisor can help. A lot depends on your situation but there are ways to make sure your assets go where you want.
I actually just went through
I actually just went through major estate planning. You can keep your SD from receiving any left over funds after you pass away. The key is how your trust is set up and that you have to have a trust for it. You can also allocate how much you wife is to receive and how often. This would ensure there is potentially something left over for your children one day, or if she isn't the best with money, ensure that she doesn't run out of money before she passes away. The trust will also protect any assets if she is to go into a nursing home.
You need to talk to an estate planning attorney. Expect to pay 3-5K on it all, but it is SOOO worth it to have your home and assets fully protected.
You Are Right
I am not sure about the 3 to 5 grand. That sounds like a bit much. I have a friend that is an attorney. Hopefully he wouldn't mind writing something up. Ya, a trust seems like the way to go. Just such a contentious subject to breech. My wife gets upset the minute the subject comes up. So, i guess i just make an appointment with attorney and say "oh, by the way, this tuesday were meeting with attormney to discuss our will. After the VID of course
Thanks All, Be WELL
Don’t leave it until you get
Don’t leave it until you get to the lawyer’s. Sit your wife down and talk about it until both of you are on the same page.
When we did ours I tried to raise my concerns with DH about how we should word the will and divide who gets what and he kept on stonewalling me by saying we’ll work it out at the lawyer’s. So there we were in the meeting with all our assets listed out on a sheet. Mine, his and ours. Pretty evenly divided down the middle. And the lawyer was asking each of us to whom each item should go to. Most of his assets would go to me (which is how it should be since if he died tomorrow i’m still raising his toddler). But by a freak chance that I pass first I do NOT want the bulk of my assets to go to him. He has an extremely toxic estranged adult daughter and the last thing I’d want is for my own daughter to miss out on any of her inheritance because it was absorbed into her dad’s estate where it could be challenged by her half sister down the track. Aside from a sum to DH to make sure he had the house paid off, everything of mine went into trust for my DD’s upbringing.
So long story short it was extremely awkward to hash it all out like airing our dirty family laundry in front of someone practically like a stranger. DH had a go at me afterwards for putting him through it. But at the end of the day who wants to leave this sort of thing to chance. Maybe your wife will pass it on as you intended. Maybe she won’t. But if she said she was going to do as you would have wanted maybe she shouldn’t be too upset if you take steps to guarantee what you wanted would be carried out regardless.
If you want your assets to go
If you want your assets to go to your kids and still provide for your spouse a Trust may be the way to go. That is what we did in our Will. You can leave all assets to be held in trust for your kids until the demise of your spouse. You can stipulate that the income from that trust is to go for the support of your surviving spouse and leave the principal to your children upon her demise.. That keeps your spouse from cutting your kids out after you pass and you also provide for her.
Hey, so what if it pisses your wife off after the fact. You will be gone and your wishes for both supporting your wife and leaving your estate to your kids will be realized.
Get a lawyer. Make sure to get a good one.