Life Milestones - Wills

[Kodos]

Years ago, someone on this board posted about how we're all getting older and should have wills in place. I agreed, and after a good bit of procrastination, I'll finally have signed documents in place later this week. At 51, I'm pretty late to the game, I know... Anyhow, milestone achieved, if I can avoid dying for a few more days. Of course, until that day, it'll be like driving a shiny new car. It'll feel like everyone is out to get me...

Someone else who has procrastinated on this too: You're up next.

[Glengoyne]

Hmm 55 this year. I'm behind you.
Gotta get that ball rolling.

[bryce]

I'm 45, and it's on my to do list. I've heard horror stories of Texas probate, though, so I get stuck between a will and an estate.

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by bryce

I'm 45, and it's on my to do list. I've heard horror stories of Texas probate, though, so I get stuck between a will and an estate.

I think you mean 'will' and 'trust'....both deal with your 'estate'.

But a lot of it comes down to what you have, and what your needs are for your family should you go away.

We had all ours set up about 8 years ago. We needed to set up a trust to protect our oldest from losing his services should he inherit a lot of money. At the time we couldn't trust any family members to take on trustee, so we set up a corporate trustee, and really hoped it wouldn't come to that. Now that our youngest boys are of age, we need to change that to have them as the trustees. We need to look at everything again anyway, so it's a good time to go over everything.

Congrats Kodos on getting it done.

On a similar note....

I asked the wife this year, if we could back off my life insurance level as it's costing us a couple hundred every month, but it's also quite high to get that premium. She said no.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

We needed to set up a trust to protect our oldest from losing his services should he inherit a lot of money. At the time we couldn't trust any family members to take on trustee, so we set up a corporate trustee, and really hoped it wouldn't come to that. Now that our youngest boys are of age, we need to change that to have them as the trustees. We need to look at everything again anyway, so it's a good time to go over everything.

We actually did a trust for our son too. He has autism but is a high-functioning kid. We wanted to make sure that he is well taken care of in case something happens to us. Luckily, my wife is a mama bear who fights tooth and nail to get him everything he needs to succeed. He is so lucky that she is there to advocate for him.

[Lathum]

We did one several years ago but have to change it. Currently my wifes sister and husband get our kids if something happens. I love them but they live in England. It is hard because they are hands down the best choice, but now that my kids are 8 and 11 I feel like that may not be whats best for them and instead live with a grandparent. My sister is the backup, and she has turned into a shit show. I would rather have my kids raised by wolves.

[spleen1015]

We redid ours a couple of years ago. I just turned 45.

I don't remember why we did it, but my daughter had just turned 16. We set it up so that some good friends of our would gain guardianship of her and she would continue to live in our house. Since she was in the 10th grade, we didn't want her life to be disrupted anymore than it would by the death of her parents.

Prior to that, my BIL would have been her guardian, but that just didn't fit anymore.

My stepson is 28, so we didn't have to worry about him.

[Coffee Warlord]

We have a meeting with our lawyer in January for that very thing.

[Izulde]

I haven't bothered with a will myself. Honestly don't really see much of a reason to. It's not like I have any wealth and my life insurances are split between two people.

[bryce]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

I think you mean 'will' and 'trust'....both deal with your 'estate'.

Ah yes, indeed I did...