david born 1950
Dryer sheet wannabe
I am 73, have an estate worth about one million (savings and inheritance, no real estate or car). I have a fear that will not subside. I have NO family (that I can communicate with), NO friends (childhood peers did not like queers), NO sense of trust for anyone. (I developed in life with an introverted personality, making myself my best friend.) I do not know what to do concerning my dilemma with my Will.
I wrote my Will myself, and attached it to a PA self-proving affidavit, which was notarized and signed by two witnesses (at a bank). I showed the combination at a legal clinic and was told that the Will is entirely valid.
Yet, I might die intestate. I stated that I wanted to leave everything to Doctors without Borders (Medecins sans Frontieres). But ... while I am of sound mind, I simply cannot allow access, even to a reputable lawyer, to my bank accounts or safe deposit boxes by giving keys and authorization. The fiduciary principle means less than it should to me ... I simply see someone other than myself on my accounts. Are there others who have as profound a fear about this?
I have looked into the living trust alternative to probate and fear that the designated trustee will not be monitored by any court (at least that is what NOLO says). An executor of a Will is readily monitored, but such executor needs asset access well before the court proceeds; in other words, while I am still living and of sound mind. Ideally, I would want such access solely after I am incapacitated for at least a month (then let me die) or, immediately, if i am dead. Otherwise, I would not be able to sleep if I knew that such 'fiduciary' had such preliminary access, no matter how stellar the reputation. (Asking me to 'get over it' is futile.)
[MOD EDIT]
My fear is real, my conclusions are sounder than most wish to believe, and ... yet, for all my thinking about this, I am saddened by my incapacity to develop an alternative which, to me, makes a more profound sense of common sense. - David
I wrote my Will myself, and attached it to a PA self-proving affidavit, which was notarized and signed by two witnesses (at a bank). I showed the combination at a legal clinic and was told that the Will is entirely valid.
Yet, I might die intestate. I stated that I wanted to leave everything to Doctors without Borders (Medecins sans Frontieres). But ... while I am of sound mind, I simply cannot allow access, even to a reputable lawyer, to my bank accounts or safe deposit boxes by giving keys and authorization. The fiduciary principle means less than it should to me ... I simply see someone other than myself on my accounts. Are there others who have as profound a fear about this?
I have looked into the living trust alternative to probate and fear that the designated trustee will not be monitored by any court (at least that is what NOLO says). An executor of a Will is readily monitored, but such executor needs asset access well before the court proceeds; in other words, while I am still living and of sound mind. Ideally, I would want such access solely after I am incapacitated for at least a month (then let me die) or, immediately, if i am dead. Otherwise, I would not be able to sleep if I knew that such 'fiduciary' had such preliminary access, no matter how stellar the reputation. (Asking me to 'get over it' is futile.)
[MOD EDIT]
My fear is real, my conclusions are sounder than most wish to believe, and ... yet, for all my thinking about this, I am saddened by my incapacity to develop an alternative which, to me, makes a more profound sense of common sense. - David
Last edited by a moderator: