Do I need a trust / will

[firenow]

I have my money in bank, lending club and vanguard all of which are joint accounts. Do I need to write a trust / will? Or will the money safely go to my wife incase of my death

- Sam

 

[Texas Proud]

Each state is different....

Do you have kids?

It is easy to draft a will that would work in your state (probably).... just do an internet one and leave everything to spouse...

 

[Nightcap]

I have my money in bank, lending club and vanguard all of which are joint accounts. Do I need to write a trust / will? Or will the money safely go to my wife incase of my death

- Sam

That's pretty close to my situation. I'm her beneficiary, she's mine, we're co-owners of everything, no kids, no dependents. No problem, right?

But what happens if, fortune forfend, we're both in a terrible car accident?

So we're putting together a list of heirs right now, and hope to sit down with a lawyer in a couple weeks.

 

[firenow]

yes I have two kids 7 and 3. I live in california. When you say internet one, you mean like an email or something else

 

[Nightcap]

yes I have two kids 7 and 3. I live in california. When you say internet one, you mean like an email or something else

There are online services that will draft a general purpose will. Cheap, but I can't recommend it. This is one of those times when you want a pro.

 

[Scuba]

Definitely recommend an estate planning attorney. Not that expensive and totally worth the cost since you have children.

 

[Jerry1]

yes I have two kids 7 and 3.

I am guilty of not having a will. I did not have a will while raising two kids. Thankfully nothing happened, however, the only sound advice is to have one and to have one drawn up with professional advice. Anything else is bad advice in my opinion.

Without a document, who gets the kids if you and DW both die at the same time? What money will be there for their guardian to use and what direction is there for that money? College fund?

On the plus side, if it's ever needed, you'll be gone so it won't be your problem. My guess is, that's not how you operate. There's probably sound ways to save money, but spend what you need to and get a will or trust.

 

[Jerry1]

There are online services that will draft a general purpose will. Cheap, but I can't recommend it. This is one of those times when you want a pro.

But using something like this (some form of standard will) will help you get your thoughts together and save you time at the attorney's office. Time there is certainly money.

 

[Coolius]

Be aware that attorney's fees for seeing a will through probate can be expensive.

If your estate is worth, for example, $1 Million, fees will be around $15K. Not to mention that probate processes can be slow, onerous and complex, especially if there are children from a previous marriage, or ex-spouses.

A living trust together with HealthCare and Financial POAs would cost in the region of $4-$8K, which is definitely less expensive than probate.

I am in California.

 

[firenow]

Assuming my wife and I don't die at the same time and that I have joint accounts for my bank and investing accounts, do I still need a will?

 

[Jerry1]

Assuming my wife and I don't die at the same time

Nope. But now you're just being silly.

If you've figured out how to have knowledge of when our how you're going to die, please let me in on it. I'm trying to figure out when to take SS and if I knew when my wife and I would die, well, that would make things so much easier.

 

[jzajzz]

I have my money in bank, lending club and vanguard all of which are joint accounts. Do I need to write a trust / will? Or will the money safely go to my wife incase of my death

- Sam

Do you have named beneficiaries for all your retirement accounts .. Also look into a Transfer on death for your bank account ..

 

[meierlde]

Assuming my wife and I don't die at the same time and that I have joint accounts for my bank and investing accounts, do I still need a will?

As pointed out above assume you survive your wife, where would your estate go, in particular it sounds like with no children, and assuming your parents are deceased it would go to aunts and uncles and any offspring they might have.
essentially the intestate law walks outwards on the family tree till someone is found.

 

[Whisper66]

Assuming my wife and I don't die at the same time and that I have joint accounts for my bank and investing accounts, do I still need a will?

The answer to that very specific question is I don't think so. Your wife should get those assets since she is named on the joint account. If all the rest of your property is community property, she should get all of that as well. If any of your belongings is considered separate property by California, then some if it will go to the kids.
Intestate Succession in California | Nolo.com

The more critical question is what happens if you and your wife are going out to a party and a drunk driver crashes into you and you both are killed. You have two young kids. A will would identify your wishes on what happens to them and how your money is used to support their future.

 

[GravitySucks]

Probably. When DW passed I just kept working from the joint accounts. We found a small insurance policy on the Comptroller's website and they split it between me and our daughters.

I finally had a will Healthcare Proxy and Financial POA all done by an Estate Atty. last year. It was only $535

 

[ShokWaveRider]

We are guilty of not having a "current" will. No Kids, No Dependents, No Separate Accounts, IRA'a all have Beneficiaries as each other, No worries. honestly ALL I care about is DW getting the stash when I Kark it, and Visa Versa. honestly when we are both dead we do not really care as by stash standards these < $5m is no fortune.

Maybe a one liner, "If we both die together, please sell everything and give it all to the folks that train Dogs for the Blind".

 

[misanman]

My FIL had a will but when he died my MIL never submitted it to probate as all their assets were titled appropriately and transferred over without any issue. I was under the assumption that if you had a will it had to be used but have been told that there's no need to use an existing will unless it is really needed. Not sure who would be eligible to decide if a will should be probated or not.

We recently needed a copy of the will on a completely unrelated issue and I had to explain to the court records secretary that the will was filed but never probated. From her comments it sounds like this is not uncommon.

 

[RunningBum]

Nope. But now you're just being silly.

If you've figured out how to have knowledge of when our how you're going to die, please let me in on it. I'm trying to figure out when to take SS and if I knew when my wife and I would die, well, that would make things so much easier.

+1. And I have a stronger word than silly.

 

[athena53]

My FIL had a will but when he died my MIL never submitted it to probate as all their assets were titled appropriately and transferred over without any issue. I was under the assumption that if you had a will it had to be used but have been told that there's no need to use an existing will unless it is really needed. Not sure who would be eligible to decide if a will should be probated or not.

We recently needed a copy of the will on a completely unrelated issue and I had to explain to the court records secretary that the will was filed but never probated. From her comments it sounds like this is not uncommon.

DH had a will but his actual assets were about zero. Nearly everything was in my name or a trust of which I was the sole trustee, with appropriate provisions for DH if he outlived me. Knowing he was terminally ill, we even transferred both cars to my name. He died last November and I saw no reason to go through probate. It took awhile, but Bank of America eventually gave me the $128 in his checking account!

But, in the OP's case, with kids- absolutely they need wills. My first husband and I did ours using software when DS was little. I knew I'd never get him to a lawyer so at least we had something straightforward that made provision for DS if we died at the same time. You do need to have it witnessed or notarized (this varies by state) by people who are NOT beneficiaries.

 

[Paracelsus]

I've got a living trust with a back up will in that my net worth was over the estate tax threshold for my state (not federal). I also wanted to leave money to specific charities and people, not leave everything to my brother (only living family member). Setting up the trust was a bit of a pain in the butt to get all accounts registered with it, but will be much easier for my executor after my death and may avoid probate. It's a financially smart thing to do to handle your estate (properties, possessions, and accounts). Cost of doing this was still relatively low compared to what it would cost in legal fees after my death without one.

 

[Cobra9777]

I recently calculated that 98% of our net worth is in assets that are either jointly owned with TOD to our 2 kids, or individually owned with spouse as primary beneficiary and kids as 50/50 contingent beneficiaries (and per stirpes). Even our real estate is jointly owned with TOD to the kids. If one of us dies, the survivor gets everything. If we both die at the same time, the kids get everything 50/50, and only the cars and household goods (the other 2%) would potentially go through probate. We also have a will, including living will and durable POA, that we did on legalzoom for less than $200 IIRC.

Our situation is very straightforward... adult children, no prior marriages, no complicated assets or scenarios, and assets that can all be titled with TOD/POD and beneficiaries, and unlikely to exceed estate tax threshold. We spoke with two "reputable" estate attorneys (the ones who are past the stage of offering free steak dinners) and they both spent the entire meeting talking about trusts even after I explained all of the above. So I concluded that, like most other things, DIY makes the most sense for us. YMMV.

 

[Souschef]

All our accounts are TOD or successor beneficiaries. We also have just gotten POAs and a pour over will.

 

[Bamaman]

If your business is relatively simple, Willmaker is a program that'll do a simple will, living will, etc. The book that comes with it is worth the money alone--on the subject.

Everyone needs a will.

And having someone on your checking/savings acccounts are not enough. You've also got to have beneficiaries on life insurance policies and 401K's--AND secondary beneficiaries in case you and your wife are in a car wreck.

After my father died, everything rolled over to my mother. When my mother died, we only had to go through probate because she had real estate.

My aunt died, and we'd already liquidated real estate. The only reason we had to probate her will was because she had a percentage ownership in a little real estate corporation that owned an office building. We like to have never got her partners in the building to shell out the $ out of their pockets to buy our "our" stock/ownership.

I just prefer to keep all my business simple--and the estate process very simple.

 

[brett]

We are in the process of renewing our wills. Incredibly, it was 10 years since we did the last one. Time flies by.

We work with a lawyer who specializes in estates. The cost is small considering that we know it is done correctly, it reflects our current wishes and trust, and that it will make our passing much easier on our executor.

 

[tmm99]

We don't have a will yet. I tried one online that walks you through (just to see) and I realized that it would be an easy process, except for one big road block - Choosing an executor. We do not have anybody we can trust to be our executor in case both of us go at the same time.