bob's rant for the day....
make a will. now.
i'm in a situation where a close friend of my mother's convinced my mother to make her executor(trix) of her will, rather than my father or myself. her approach was to "spare" myself and my father the trouble.
this person also has a vendetta against my father because she believes that "he never treated her right", even though they stayed together for 38 years.
the will they drew up, after my mother had already had a stoke due to a brain tumor, places the executrix in control of the disposition of any possessions of my mother's that did not have a beneficiary. and NY is -not- a 'shared property' state, so property does not revert to the spouse. this includes about $10k in jewelry, two cars and approx $6k in a bank account....that we know of. she can liquidate it all and distribute it, minus 5% off the top for herself (provided by law). if she takes the cars, my father cannot get another. i believe that's one of her goals.
she is also having the will probated, which will tie things up for about 9 months. i can attempt to contest the will on the grounds of "not of sound mind" and "undue influence" at the time of signing. but, any investigation expenses for the court come out of the estate, and any lawyers fees come out of my pocket. but, even if the will is invalidated, the court takes over as executor and decides where everything goes. might just be worth it though to get this bitch's finger out of the pie.
another thing she did was convince my mother that my father was not good with money and place a $104k IRA in my name instead of his. she can't touch that, or any insurance. great. but if i move it, i'll lose 1/3 to 1/2 in takes, as any withdrawls go on my yearly income. a spouse could have just rolled it over into their own IRA, but i lose a big chunk even if i just want to give it to him. i've been talking with a broker from Woo'sta, Mass (built a vacation home in my home town) about investing it so it generates about $15-20K/year so that my father will have something to live on besides SocSec, and so that any withdrawls will sting less.
this person has no idea what she's done to the remaining family members of her 'friend', and doesn't care. she knows best and we're all scum.
(rant over)
so, make your will today, you might get hit by a bus tomorrow. be very specific about what goes where and who's in charge, make sure you can trust them. it's not morbid, it's just business, planning for the future.
i'm in a situation where a close friend of my mother's convinced my mother to make her executor(trix) of her will, rather than my father or myself. her approach was to "spare" myself and my father the trouble.
this person also has a vendetta against my father because she believes that "he never treated her right", even though they stayed together for 38 years.
the will they drew up, after my mother had already had a stoke due to a brain tumor, places the executrix in control of the disposition of any possessions of my mother's that did not have a beneficiary. and NY is -not- a 'shared property' state, so property does not revert to the spouse. this includes about $10k in jewelry, two cars and approx $6k in a bank account....that we know of. she can liquidate it all and distribute it, minus 5% off the top for herself (provided by law). if she takes the cars, my father cannot get another. i believe that's one of her goals.
she is also having the will probated, which will tie things up for about 9 months. i can attempt to contest the will on the grounds of "not of sound mind" and "undue influence" at the time of signing. but, any investigation expenses for the court come out of the estate, and any lawyers fees come out of my pocket. but, even if the will is invalidated, the court takes over as executor and decides where everything goes. might just be worth it though to get this bitch's finger out of the pie.
another thing she did was convince my mother that my father was not good with money and place a $104k IRA in my name instead of his. she can't touch that, or any insurance. great. but if i move it, i'll lose 1/3 to 1/2 in takes, as any withdrawls go on my yearly income. a spouse could have just rolled it over into their own IRA, but i lose a big chunk even if i just want to give it to him. i've been talking with a broker from Woo'sta, Mass (built a vacation home in my home town) about investing it so it generates about $15-20K/year so that my father will have something to live on besides SocSec, and so that any withdrawls will sting less.
this person has no idea what she's done to the remaining family members of her 'friend', and doesn't care. she knows best and we're all scum.
(rant over)
so, make your will today, you might get hit by a bus tomorrow. be very specific about what goes where and who's in charge, make sure you can trust them. it's not morbid, it's just business, planning for the future.