Yes, I know, we should have done it a long time ago. But here we are: married, 41, no kids, 2 cats, a sizable net worth and no estate plan in place.
Everything we own is either owned jointly or we are each other's primary beneficiary. So if one of us dies, the other one gets everything. We do have cats, and the trustworthy person who has agreed to take care of them in case of our early demise is the secondary beneficiary on our retirement accounts. So the cats would be provided for. But beyond that we have no plan in place, no wills, no trusts, nothing. Until recently, our attitude was very nonchalant about it, to be honest. We didn't really care what happened to the money after we were gone.
Well, my wife's sister has just come out of the woodwork. We have had no contact with her for 8+ years. She is having money problems after a divorce (we've had bill collectors calling looking for her). So now we have some motivation to get our affairs in order because she has treated my wife very badly in the past and we do not want that person to get a cent.
So where to start? Would a simple will be enough? Do we need something more ironclad?
Everything we own is either owned jointly or we are each other's primary beneficiary. So if one of us dies, the other one gets everything. We do have cats, and the trustworthy person who has agreed to take care of them in case of our early demise is the secondary beneficiary on our retirement accounts. So the cats would be provided for. But beyond that we have no plan in place, no wills, no trusts, nothing. Until recently, our attitude was very nonchalant about it, to be honest. We didn't really care what happened to the money after we were gone.
Well, my wife's sister has just come out of the woodwork. We have had no contact with her for 8+ years. She is having money problems after a divorce (we've had bill collectors calling looking for her). So now we have some motivation to get our affairs in order because she has treated my wife very badly in the past and we do not want that person to get a cent.
So where to start? Would a simple will be enough? Do we need something more ironclad?