estate/will lawyer

Wolf mom · #21 01/13/15, 05:14 PM

Thanks Oldhat, for the clarification. Sounds like your state's "upon death" is similar to what is more commonly known as a Life Estate.

You can get a living will and power of attorney (medical and general) free from Area Agency on Aging and most legal aid offices. In AZ you can download a package of all three from the Atty General's office. I'd try there first in your state as it is state specific and does not take an atty to fill out the paperwork.

Nevada · #22 01/13/15, 05:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oldhat

There will still be well over 7 figures in these annuities that my mother will never touch, she does not even take out enough to spend the 4% rate she gets on it each year.

Sounds like she's owed some money and it's arranged as a structured settlement.

Oldhat · #23 01/13/15, 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wolf mom

Thanks Oldhat, for the clarification. Sounds like your state's "upon death" is similar to what is more commonly known as a Life Estate.

No problem, it's actually not called "deed upon death" anymore, but those that done this before 2009 (my family did) are grandfathered into the provision and it is still referred to as a "deed upon death" if you were grandfathered in, but it is called a "transfer upon death" or something similar now for any new properties.

I know we were notified in 2009 that it was changing in the State but not to worry as we were grandfathered in and it was in a county that still recognized the "deed upon death". There are limited states that done this "deed upon death" deal around 10-15 years ago, and in some states some counties do not recognize this (yes it can be decided on down to the county level to either accept grandfathering the "deed upon death" provision or not) so if any of you out there had a "deed upon death" type provision make sure it's still active all the way down to your county and that you were grandfathered in....again some counties in the state grandfathered and some didn't and you had to change to the "new" name/rules.

Oldhat · #24 01/13/15, 06:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nevada

Sounds like she's owed some money and it's arranged as a structured settlement.

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There are "death benefits" within certain annuities and other "riders" that can be added.

sidepasser · #25 01/15/15, 12:47 PM

My son and I both derived payments from an annuity that was my DH's when he died. It was not contained in a trust, but was within the product itself. The annuity was set up through Safeco, Ins. and paid out over a 10 year period of time until the proceeds were exhausted. That was not due to money owed, or a settlement of any sort. My DH bought the annuity and assigned my son and I as beneficiaries upon his death.

You can pretty much put any type of asset in the trust. My horse is named in my trust and will be sent to a retirement facility with enough money allotted through the trustee to care for her until her death. Any proceeds left in the account will then be divided between my 3 children. None would want the horse and I won't have her being sold at auction. So I provided for her in her own trust through a trustee.

You can head off trouble by naming a non-family member as trustee. Saves a lot of hard feelings among the family members. Oh and most of the time, the attorney who draws up the estate/will will not want to be named as trustee, but will suggest a CPA firm, Bank, Investment Firm, or another Attorney firm. Eliminates "conflict of interest" being tossed around in court.

If you have a good wills/estate attorney, you can set up your estate to go the way you desire, and bypass probate totally.

One thing I did learn during all of this: exam your documents annually and make any changes to assets or beneficiaries. Things change, you could win the lotto or Great Aunt Hattie dies and leaves you a fortune. Our attorney said the worst thing that he deals with is out of date wills that are probated, that don't cover the assets that a person acquires because they never update their wills or do any estate planning.

Nevada · #26 01/15/15, 02:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sidepasser

My son and I both derived payments from an annuity that was my DH's when he died. It was not contained in a trust, but was within the product itself. The annuity was set up through Safeco, Ins. and paid out over a 10 year period of time until the proceeds were exhausted. That was not due to money owed, or a settlement of any sort. My DH bought the annuity and assigned my son and I as beneficiaries upon his death.

How is an annuity like that different from loaning money to an insurance company?

Most people are attracted to life annuities because of low cost. They get an annuity to supplement their pension & social security (which are also annuities) to provide a certain standard of living. The reason it's attractive is that the annuity cost is based on the assumption that you will live the standard life expectancy (78-79 years old). If you live to be older than that you still continue to receive payments. The annuity provider can afford to do that because some people die younger than life expectancy, so their funds are available for older members.

Jenn · #27 01/15/15, 10:46 PM

Beware joint ownership of things. Some trusting parents have gotten abused financially (and legally) by kids who then did NOT let parents keep the asset until death, or getting sued involved mom's money or home in their lawsuit payout. Some kids who divorce have to share some of mom's home value with the ex-. I knew a landlord who carefully put some of his properties in his sister's name to hide the assets (whom from I do not know). She ran up a big bill with the hospital and the hospital took 'his' house away from his sister.