Not to bring up a totally depressing subject, but because its such an important one... I was wondering what plans you girls have set in place in case anything were to happen to you and your husband? This is SO something I don't like to think about, but at the same time, I hate to think what would happen to Cecelia if something did happen to Scott and I and we hadn't made our wishes known.
Right now we are in the process of setting up a trust. In my research on the topic, a trust seems a better option than a will as it takes less processing time and doesn't involve as many legal fees. Obviously, our trust will be constantly changing as we have more children and such, but as of right now, if anything were to happen to us, Cecelia would be placed in the care of my sister Kayti and her husband. We are also setting it up so that whoever was caring for Cecelia would get a certain allowance of money from our life insurance policies each month to help provide for Cecelia's needs, but that the bulk of the money would not be available to Cecelia until she was in college or married.
So, what do you girls have set up? Is this something you and your husbands talk about?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
17 comments:
We invested in life insurance (beyond the basic stuff you get through work) and disability insurance a year ago. We don't have a specific will yet but that will be our next step. We're also terrible about savings for our girl so far but that's a near future goal for us as well.
It's something Michael and I have discussed quite a bit. As soon as our financial situation settles a bit (after we move in 2 weeks and aren't paying rent on two places!) then we're going to set up some type of financial reserve for MM. We also have talked to his brother and his wife and they would raise MM. That was a really hard choice for us. My parents are older and the rest of my brother and sister and extended family aren't LDS, so we had to choose from Michael's family since that is a super important factor for us.
Eric and I have told my sister Lisa that we would want her to take our children. We have not set up anything legal yet because honestly I haven't thought much about it. But now I think I will discuss it more with Eric and try to figure it all out. I like your ideas Claire of the trust fund.
Weird. I was just thinking about this. Where do you even begin with a will? My main concern is putting in writing where my daughters would go if we passed away. Do you have to meet with a professional? Aren't there things you can do on-line to start this?
From the research I have done, I would agree with Clair that a trust is the best way to go. With a will things go through probate and can take up to a year to settle. Having no will or trust, though, can be a disaster. Depending on the state you live in, the children can go into foster care until custody is decided. We haven't set up our trust yet, but we know we need to soon... We do have life insurance policies and our son Grant is the secondary beneficiary on those.
Good post! Thank you.
I loved this post and this blog.
Have a nice weekend.
Arizona is a state where your children become wardens of the state, so we really HAVE to get it taken care of. Linz- you can talk to a family law attorney and they can help you set it all up. I've heard of being able to do it online, but honestly, that scares me a little! To me, this is a big enough issue to fork over some money to resolve, but that's cause I'm paranoid about getting scammed! We are very lucky, because through Scott's job we get free legal aid. We just have to contact the PDs legal department and we can meet with someone and set it all up. Which we need to do ASAP. Not that I think anything is going to happen, and I certainly pray it won't, but, I'd like to have it taken care of anyway. I'll rest easier knowing that Cecelia is set.
My hubby and I have life insurance policies (one on each of us). We are in the process of talking with family about guardianship, then will do a will. Our financial planner suggested that we do a will rather than a trust at this point in our lives, simply because we don't have very many assets it isn't worth the cost or hassle. The primary purpose of the will would be to name guardians of our child(ren). I was concerned about who to put as second beneficiaries on our life insurance (it is BAD to have minors) and am hesitant to put the possible guardians as beneficiaries (thus wanting to do a trust). Our planner still recommended that we just do a will. And concerning putting the guardians as beneficiaries, I am already trusting them with my offspring, which is my greatest and most precious asset. What is a couple million dollars compared to that???
Still, it is a lot to think about. At some point we will set up a trust, but for now the more pressing concern is to name guardians.
Why is it bad to name minors as the secondary beneficiary? I've never heard that before... We have Cecelia listed as ours right now...
We met with a lawyer and did a will, and it was really easy. It was all taken care of in a day. We actually chose will over trust because we felt like things were pretty simple at this point in our life, and that guardianship was our main concern. THe lawyer we met with said as long as you designate a specific guardian, a will should be sufficient and would take care of it. I was surprised to read someone saying that a trust would be cheaper, because we were told the opposite. We paid $150 one time, and our will is taken care of. In my understanding, a will continues to have fees???
great topic, Claire!
Steph, did you mean a trust continues to have fees? That makes sense to me because we used to have a family trust and paid taxes on it every year! I have also heard that you can buy cheap computer programs that walk you through writing a will if you don't want to track down a lawyer but that it is a relatively inexpensive deal, like Steph said.
I want to know about the minors being beneficiaries as well. M is ours as well.
yes, I meant a trust continues to have fees, thanks!
Interesting... I guess I haven't done my homework very well, but since we don't have to pay any fees anyway, its not a huge issue right now. Stephanie- are you able to go in and change your will, for instance, if you have another child can you add them in, without paying additional fees?
Oh, and what I meant about legal fees, is from what I understand, when a will is settled (or whatever the term is) after a person dies, there are legal fees involved and it takes longer. I was told that a trust only takes about four weeks to settle and since you don't have to go to court to settle it, there aren't any fees at that point. But, now I have no idea, so I think I'll call the legal aid dept. at Scott's work on Monday and set everything up to go talk to them...
About naming a minor as a beneficiary: minors cannot receive or control the proceeds. In most jurisdictions, state law determines when children are entitled to receive the proceeds, which may be as young as 16 or old as 18. So what does one do in the meantime to provide coverage for your children if you are gone?
Say something did happen and you have a 2 year old. Your child can't receive the proceeds until they are are "legal" and their guardians have no access to money to help provide for their care. Once your child came of age and received the proceeds, they would be under no obligation to give any money back to the guardian. That would stink, huh. Hopefully the child would be taught better than that by the awesome guardian that you chose.
I don't know much about the legal fees that occur at execution of a will or trust, so I can't comment on that.
One doesn't necessarily need to change a will or trust at the birth of another child. Terms like "minor children as equal beneficiaries" or something along those lines can be used.
Limiting the monthly amount available for support of your children could cause unintended consequences. What if your child is diagnosed with a condition that is expensive to treat? Or wants to pursue a talent that they are very good that happens to be expensive (I mean what if they become a star ballerina or something?)? What if they never get married and that is the event that releases money to them? Just things to think about.
I hope you don't mind my browsing...but I love the topic. My husband and I set up a will for our children a few years ago through a cousin that is a lawyer. A trust is more secure than a will when designating your wishes for your money and your children. A will can be contested much easier and therefore cause more problems if family fights over custody and money. However, one thing that may be helpful that we did was discuss with our families what our plans were and what our wishes were that we set forth in our will so that there will be no suprises and less likelihood of complications should we pass away. I hope this bit of info helps.
That's a great point Amanda (re- monthly cash amounts). I had never thought of that. And thanks for your comment Lindsay family. That is very helpful info as I try to understand everything!!
I thought I would share a tidbit I learned from Hope and Kurt VB's blog... Kurt just finished a Wills & Trusts class in law school and he shared this info-
He says not to use forms from the Internet to do a will. He said that the problem is, if they are done incorrectly, there is no one to be held accountable. If you were to use a lawyer, and for some reason your children received the incorrect inheritance, they could sue the attorney for malpractice because they messed it up. They wouldn't be able to sue the publisher of the forms though...
Hope that makes sense. I found it to be interesting information.
Post a Comment