My mom's will was very straightforward and divided the assets four ways between the four kids. I would have been OK if a larger percentage had gone to my brother, who managed her finances, and my older sister who lived nearby to her assisted living and was able to visit her almost every day.

My first big project after retirement was to do a will and set up powers of attorney. It was a little more complicated for me since I don't have a spouse or kids. I ended up allocating fairly large amounts to three charities, a few lump sum gifts to good friends, and the rest gets divided eight ways between my eight nieces and nephews.

My two besties have medical power of attorney and one of my nieces has financial power of attorney and is executor of my will. She'll get extra money for that. I know it can be a lot of work.

My parents had wills that I was the executor too. I have had mine for decades and glad I had it drawn up for my kids..Hugs! xoxo

Actually, in my experience, having a will does not allow you to skip probate - just gives the court some general direction of what to do with whatever is left after all debts are settled (if there is anything left). The courts will also follow the laws of your state on who gets paid out of the estate first, second, third, etc. I had about two years of probate hell with my dad's estate. I have a will but it is out of date, but we've mostly managed to use TOD and POD on most of our assets which does allow the skipping of probate. We still need to meet with an attorney to update some of our estate crap and put a beneficiary deed on our real estate which will keep it out of probate. We will see if the attorney thinks a trust is a better option or not. Our DPAs for finances and health care are also a bit out of date so probably look at doing everything. My mother-in-law didn't have anything but a couple of cash accounts left to dispose of by the time she passed so it was all just POD'd in fourths to the four kids (didn't amount to a lot - maybe 20k each). She had added hubs as a signer on the account to be able to write the final expense checks before the distributions were made to the heirs. It took a little bit of paperwork to straighten out with the bank once she had passed, but was pretty easy in grand scheme. We are now dealing with his uncle's estate as he and one cousin are responsible for admistering the trust that it was all left to. The current conundrum is that he VERBALLY told hubs that one of the two life insurance policies was to go to the church, but the paperwork has it left to the trust and the trust papers don't have any directions for it to go to the church. I told hubs to do what the intended and not worry about it. We'll see what the two cousins decide. It is a crazy number of phone calls to get final affairs sorted and taken care of though - feels like a hundred phone calls, emails, etc to send death certs to all the entities that need them. Hubs and I don't have anything interesting or funny - pretty much all goes to the kids 50-50 once we are both gone. We started working on a trust to handle things if they were still minors but got stalled trying to figure out how to handle age differences and if one needed more money for school than the other, etc. Looking back it was silly, but now most of it is moot because kids are 20 and 23 and they'd manage ok regardless. Still... good reminder to put this back on my to do list.

I am in the same situation will wise, a lot to think about.

I'm my mom's only child, so I didn't have any inheritance problems, but since my mom never registered her divorce with the Japanese gov't, so I had get all the paperwork from the States to file here before the property could be processed. It was a headache.

I need to make a will or living trust myself. Just before my Dad's dad passed, my mum asked if he had a will or wanted to make one before he passed. His response?? Let the jackals fight over it. Dad had seven siblings and it destroyed him to see his family fighting over the smallest thing. Needless to say he didn't speak to most of them afterwards. Then when he passed (almost 18 months after mum), did he have a will? Of course not. Luckily my brothers and I were a bit more reasonable. Add to it dad just refinanced the house so there wasn't a ton of money to squabble over.

Pony, it all depends what state you are in. Probate here in MN happens when the deceased has $75,000 or more in assets or is the sole owner of land. Assets where a beneficiary is listed does not count toward that amount.

We are going to make a will to there is a place you can make a WILL on line it's called Trust and Will. I hear it's not that expensive and quite easy. I had to become the executor of my Mother In Laws Estate because she didn't have a will and my hubby and his sister just couldn't come to any agreement about their Mom. It was so sad, but it wasn't that bad once the Attorney said I should take over.

This was my view. 🙂

No...not officially. Thinking of getting the online forms though. Just one child, its all hers. Not complicated. Both parents did not have wills....we had to go the probate route. Nothing out of the ordinary here. I do have a maiden aunt who left much to me to the disdain of my cousins. But like you, they didnt love like my parents taught me to~

Yup, there is a will, but with the passing of the step-son it's kind of out of date.

My mother had a will and I was executor. Oh great fun, but really nothing left to argue over.

Where is YOUR tiny red clothing offering?

I hope your decision about making a will doesn't have anything to do with bad health. When I was on active duty, before kids, wills were made. Now, I have no idea where they are; besides, I don't have very much to pass on, and I invited my kids to pick up anything they wanted, which I am not using.

The moon was amazing last night. I stayed out late enough to catch the partial eclipse.
When I scheduled a surgery I scribbled a note leaving everything to my kids. I think it’s time to have an official will.

I don't have a will which means everything will go to my wife when I die.
Both my parents had wills which made things straightforward between my brother and I when they died.

Love that HILDA

We put everything in a trust a few years ago. Some say trusts are unnecessary, but say we were to be involved in an accident or terrible legal battle with someone - they can't touch a trust. Now the kids will have access immediately when we pass. I mean, all there is is the house, acreage, vehicles, a few small 401Ks. I could tell you a story about how we (and 2 brothers) were cheated out of $20,000 when our stepmother died, but I don't want to bore you.

Yes, I've had a will since I was 35, leaving everything I have to my husband, and he has one doing the same with me. However, I'm aware that inheritance laws are very different in the EU compared to the USA. Here, as is usual in most things, they are much less flexible than there, although there are differences from one country to another and even from one region to another within each country. In most regions, heirs are subject to very high inheritance taxes, but fortunately, in the region where my will is registered, there are no such taxes. I find it very convenient to have a legal will made in a Notary's office and registered with the appropriate government body. In the event of death, which inevitably happens, the procedures are very straightforward if there is a will, but very complicated and expensive if there isn't one.

Sorry to say this, but, a will is only as good as your lawyer... If you do it, I've heard, you should revisit it every couple of years so it is always current... That way no one can say it's old or past tense... 💋 👄