Poorly Drawn Will= $$$ For Lawyers

[libtoken]

Actually, I wound up receiving a few splinters out of this. But some of the eventual beneficiaries died off while waiting for this to be resolved.

From what I have been able to gather, about three years ago a distant cousin died out West. His will disposed of his local property.

However, he had inherited a piece of property back in Iowa, but the will did not mention this. No doubt he had expected to sell it off after his mother died, but she lived a VERY long time. Also, Iowa imposes state taxes on capital gains.

Iowa is a state where they still have inheritance taxes in certain cases. The first thing the lawyers did was to have the estate take out a mortgage to pay the inheritance tax. Then they started looking for the heirs.

One problem: He was unmarried with no children. His mother was an only child. His father's sister died young. This meant that the nearest heirs were descended from the siblings of his grandparents (and if he'd had no such heirs, the Iowa property would have reverted to the state of Iowa!). It took their efforts, the efforts of two professional research firms, the efforts of certain inquiring minds to trace out family trees , etc. to find things out. And people of the day used initials, switched their first and middle names from one census to another, etc...

Once done, some of the per stirpes shares were laughable. 1/1728th??? But four to five generations of descent does have its effects.

Fortunately, the buyer of the Iowa property was able to hang in through the process and buy it, so there was $ to distribute back out to the beneficiaries, and my check arrived last week. But not only did Iowa get its 15% of assessed value (which they would have in any case), the lawyers got almost as much although they had to pay the research firms.

Moral? Be sure your will (or any other transfer device) will transfer ALL your property to its intended recipients!

Also, if you don't have many close relatives, do please get a will or other transfer device to ensure your possessions don't all go to feed local lawyers, foreign nations, or so on! An attached listing of known relatives and last known locations wouldn't hurt...

 

[Green]

While I don't do trusts and wills, I understand that one can have a "remainder" clause placed in the will whereby any property not specifically addressed goes to a certain benficiary(ies).

 

[Hamilton Felix]

This is a good reminder to my wife and me to update our wills.

A question, if there are any legal eagles out there (and I'm well aware that free advice is often worth what is paid for it):

If by the time a person dies, there's no real estate, no bank account, nothing but some personal effects in a rental house, is there really any reason to probate the will?

 

[Brooks]

Hamilton, I had joint bank accounts with my dad, a power of attorney, and a will naming me as executrix. He had a small estate, but there was nothing to probate because there was nothing to settle - everything had already been earmarked for distribution. I was still under obligation to divide up the bank accounts according to his will but there was no legal authority overseeing how I did that. (It definitely helped that I have an excellent relationship with my siblings.) I believe a living will accomplishes the same thing.

 

[Freeholder]

My father died this last January. In order to keep the lawyers from getting any of his money (not that he had that much), he'd closed his bank accounts a few years earlier, and kept what remained as cash in a safe at home. His home and five acres was signed over to one of my sister-in-laws (she and my brother built the place and Dad was buying it from them); his vehicles were mostly in my other brother's name (he'd forgotten one of them, so they were going to have to deal with that). Dad's instructions to my brothers, who both lived within a couple of miles of him, were that the cash in the safe was to be used to buy plane tickets for me and our two sisters and such of our families as could come and we were to have a family get-together (I wish he'd of done it BEFORE he died, but he didn't). Then the remainder of the cash was to be divided between us three girls, since the boys already had the house and vehicles. We didn't get a lot, but it was nice to have the visit, and there was NONE of the greedy "I want this or I want that" that you hear about when some people have died.

I can see a lot of potential problems with what my Dad did, but it seems to have worked out all right for him. Now, when it comes my turn to go, there probably won't be enough money to bury me, let alone leave anything to my children, sigh.

Kathleen

 

[chairborne commando]

One item you might consider purchasing is a 'Beneficiary Book'.

http://tinyurl.com/mdagk

If you put it in a safe deposit box, be sure and add a trusted family member
to the signature card. Ideally, your Executor/Executrix. Otherwise, if you get
hit by a bus, nobody gets into the box with, or, without a key until Probate ends.
And thats State Probate-at least in Illinois.

In my Uncle's case, he designated my Grandmother as his Executrix. She died several years before he did, and then he went into a state-run (Illinois) nursing home.
So...my mother became 'designated hitter'. Unfortunately, she died when
I was 10. So, I then stepped up, knowing exactly nada about the whole
process. Never, ever, appoint someone to be Executor who is older than you are.

(Good Idea #104-B: Buy a Series I-Bond for the Executor. There will be
expenses)

If your Estate is under the statute amount (in Illinois, it's $15K), then you
don't have to go through Probate.

Everyone should have a Will. Nobody likes to think about death, but...it happens
on a regular basis and you may be worth more than you think.

In any event, a Will helps avoids those tacky scenes of Government Officials haggling over your meager possessions with your distraught relatives.
Or, for that matter, distraught relatives haggling with other distraught relatives.

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I was recently reading about the 'headaches' people encountered after
Hurricane Katrina. Trying to prove identity when your Will/ Mortgage papers/
Birth certificate/ bank account records are gone, along with your bank branch.

One poster suggested making notarized copies of your passport and driver's
license and then laminating them-and then sending copies to relatives and maybe an attorney in or near the area where you intend to go in the event of as disaster.

A suggestion was made that important papers be entered in the County
Register as further duplication. Check the elevation of the Courthouse!

I have also entered a copy of my birth certificate (I was born in New York State) and my parent's marriage license with the State of Washington.