I have been trying to decide on how to update our estate plans for over a year and I am in the "paralysis by analysis" mode now. My DW and I have wills that are outdated and have to be redone.
Problem #1 is deciding on a will or trust. Every attorney I speak with says to do a trust without even knowing our full situation. That makes me leary since they charge more for a trust and some don't even do wills. We have no children. Our remaining siblings are all older than us and in poorer health. Beyond that are neices and nephews that we are not really close with. 85% of our assets are in individual financial accounts with primary (the spouse) and contingent beneficiaries named. Bank accounts are POD/TOD. No joint financial accounts which we prefer to stay that way since we were married in our late 40's and had individual savings. Other assets are simply a home and two cars that are in both of our names. No debt. I can't seem to find good reasoning to get a trust.
Problem #2 is naming a secondary executor or trustee, beyond each spouse naming each other as primary. I think settling the estate will be relatively straightforward, however none of our families live anywhere near us making the job much more difficult. And I don't think any of them have the particular ability to do a decent job. That may leave us with the possibility of using a corporate executor or trustee. I don't know much about that option and it doesn't seem very appealing.
I have a call next week with our Fidelity estate planning department. They should be a good unbiased source since they don't do estate planning directly and I've found Fidelity to be very helpful to us. I do all of our financial planning and tax work, but this estate stuff has me frustrated. I have done a lot of research but find our situation to be somewhat unique. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Problem #1 is deciding on a will or trust. Every attorney I speak with says to do a trust without even knowing our full situation. That makes me leary since they charge more for a trust and some don't even do wills. We have no children. Our remaining siblings are all older than us and in poorer health. Beyond that are neices and nephews that we are not really close with. 85% of our assets are in individual financial accounts with primary (the spouse) and contingent beneficiaries named. Bank accounts are POD/TOD. No joint financial accounts which we prefer to stay that way since we were married in our late 40's and had individual savings. Other assets are simply a home and two cars that are in both of our names. No debt. I can't seem to find good reasoning to get a trust.
Problem #2 is naming a secondary executor or trustee, beyond each spouse naming each other as primary. I think settling the estate will be relatively straightforward, however none of our families live anywhere near us making the job much more difficult. And I don't think any of them have the particular ability to do a decent job. That may leave us with the possibility of using a corporate executor or trustee. I don't know much about that option and it doesn't seem very appealing.
I have a call next week with our Fidelity estate planning department. They should be a good unbiased source since they don't do estate planning directly and I've found Fidelity to be very helpful to us. I do all of our financial planning and tax work, but this estate stuff has me frustrated. I have done a lot of research but find our situation to be somewhat unique. Any suggestions would be appreciated.