Old Wills, Trust, etc

[qwerty3656]

Years ago, when the kids were young, we created a Trust, Wills, and Power of Attorney (for health care and financial purposes). We never funded the Trust and have since created new wills and Power of Attorney. We are planning on creating updated Wills and Healthcare Power of Attorney yet again (we have no interest in a Trust), primarily because all our kids are grown now and we had some language about taking care of kids who were not yet adults.

There is a statement at the beginning of the Wills saying that we revoke any previous wills. I suppose, technically, we should somehow amend the previous documents saying they are no longer in force, but having all these old documents, that just say "please ignore" just seems to add a bunch of confusion. They are not filed anywhere and we did not hand out copies.

I have the old documents and plan on just destroying them. We've always had the same beneficiaries (spouse and 3 kids) and we aren't talking about a huge fortune.

Are people keeping all the old documents around or is it ok to say these are the latest and supersede any old documents that might exist?

 

[statsman]

I always thought the most recent, properly witnessed and notarized Will took priority over any other Will floating around.

 

[OldShooter]

Your attorney will advise. In our case, all of our old stuff is in her files, including files from previous attorney's office. Attorneys are useful pack rats.

 

[PaunchyPirate]

My attorney advised me to shred and dispose of my previous set of documents.

 

[SecondCor521]

I think it's better to shred them to prevent any confusion.

My wills all say "I revoke all previous wills and codicils" also.

 

[Sunset]

I think it's better to shred them to prevent any confusion.

My wills all say "I revoke all previous wills and codicils" also.

+1

When my Dad died, it was extremely confusing to find all sorts of old documents that concerned money, even old insurance policies.
If they are not needed SHRED.

 

[Badger]

How much inheritance can you cover with beneficiaries on those accounts? As I understand they take priority over wills and trusts and this is something you can do yourself at each place you have an account.

Cheers!

 

[ERD50]

+1

When my Dad died, it was extremely confusing to find all sorts of old documents that concerned money, even old insurance policies.
If they are not needed SHRED.

HOLD ON!!!! Voice of experience here:

Do NOT shred everything. Years after FIL passed, I found there was an old account on the books that was 'abandoned' and had been turned over to the State (I found it while doing a search when MIL passed - at the time of FIL passing, it wasn't on the books yet as 'abandoned').

In order to claim it, I need some documentation. Fortunately, I had saved some documents from each old or closed account, and was able to satisfy their requirements. I needed an account with his name on it at that old address that the 'lost' account had on record. They had moved a decade ago. If we had shred all the old accounts we wouldn't have anything like that with their old address on it. Who knows how many more hoops I'd have to jump through?

What I've been doing: I take my old/closed accounts, ins policies etc, and keep the last statement (that includes our name/address), and a few others just in case. I put these in a folder clearly marked "OLD/CLOSED ACCOUNTS". If applicable, I write on the statement where that money was transferred to.

So while you don't want your executor/trustee to come across old paperwork and not know if it is active or not, they may need some of that old stuff. You never know. And the trail can help explain some things if needed.

-ERD50

 

[CRLLS]

How much inheritance can you cover with beneficiaries on those accounts? As I understand they take priority over wills and trusts and this is something you can do yourself at each place you have an account.

Cheers!

Somebody correct me if I am wrong. If an account is owned by a trust when you die, the trust still lives on. Distribution is done via the successor trustee. There is no death as far as the trust's accounts are concerned, just a possible change in trustee. Any beneficiary, if named at all, would not automatically own the account. As a matter of fact, an account owned by a trust probably should not have any named beneficiaries.

I could be wrong on this.

 

[RunningBum]

I see more bad than good with keeping an old will. If someone was in an old will but not the latest, they might be more likely to contest the will, saying the deceased was coerced into changing it, perhaps. But if there was no old will to be found, they may not even know they were in it and even if they were they probably have less to base their case.

My understanding is that trusts can be more complicated and there could be assets titled to an old trust so I'll leave that alone.