Category Archives: Estate Planning

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My father left his home to his kids — my stepmother sold it for $1 million

We read this recent column from MarketWatch and found it interesting enough that we are repeating it in its entirety. If you have step children or step parents, you should be aware of what might happen if proper planning isn’t done.

He made his wishes clear, but his second wife had other ideas

Dear Moneyologist,

My brothers and I are mentioned in our father’s will as what he “wishes to happen” with the house he purchased for his second wife. He put the house in her name, but stated that if he should die first, he would like the wife to live in the house till she dies, but wanted the house to be sold and the proceeds to be split among his children.

After he died, my stepmother has sold the house for $1 million. She bought a new house for $500,000 and kept the difference. She has not put all the children on the ownership of the new house. Also, she has children from her first marriage who might want a percentage of the estate, including the new house. The will was made in Taiwan. I live in Texas.

Where do I and my brothers stand in this situation?

Betrayed Daughter

Dear Daughter,

When it comes to family drama, stepmothers fare about as well as mothers-in-law. That is, they get a hard time. Sometimes, it’s deserved, other times I think they fall victim to negative stereotypes. In one case, the stepmother wanted to cut her husband’s children out of his life insurance policy. And another stepmother obsessed over her husband’s children and what might happen to his credit score should he die. It’s easy to come down hard on stepmothers, mostly because of Grimm Fairytales. This 2009 book “Stepmonster: A New Look at Why Real Stepmothers Think, Feel, and Act the Way We Do” tries to debunk that myth. On this occasion, the jury is out.

Your father can’t leave his children something that he no longer owns. That’s not how life or the law works.

Your stepmother has downsized and created a nice nest egg. That was her prerogative. Your father can’t leave his children something that he no longer owns. He put his house in your stepmother’s name and, judging by his will, it seems that he wanted her to give it back. That’s not how life or the law works. If you could prove undue influence, you might have a case. You would need to provide evidence that (a) your father was not of sound mind when he signed over the house and/or (b) your stepmother somehow did not have his best interests at heart and tricked him into signing over the home. That would be an expensive and difficult process.

It’s still unclear whether U.S. or Taiwanese law would apply here. According to Taiwanese law, “The making and effect of a will are governed by the national law of the testator [your father, in this case] at the time of the making of the will.” But that may prove fruitless. “If you can prove that the testator was the true owner, you can file a litigation against your father’s second wife,” says Ou Yang, Hung, managing attorney at Brain Trust International Law Firm in Taipei, Taiwan and adjunct assistant professor of law at Soochow University. “It will be very hard to prove that the testator was the true owner of the house.”

Put it in simpler terms: You may have to kiss that $1 million goodbye.

For information about estate planning, check out our website www.diesmart.com.

Want to avoid probate?

You may think that if you have a will and in it you name the person who should inherit your home, that’s all you have to do. Yes, it is if you’re willing to have the home go through a probate process. That probate process will cost the beneficiary a lot of money as well as time and will be a public record.

However, there’s now a way that many can avoid the whole probate process and that’s thru the use of a transfer on death (beneficiary) deed.

There are several states that have a similar law and California just joined their ranks in January of this year.

If you live in one of these states, you now have the option to complete a Revocable Transfer On Death Beneficiary deed and name a beneficiary for your home. After your death, the beneficiary can directly claim ownership rights to the property without involving the probate court and paying probate fees.

The deed can be completed and filed without hiring a lawyer or paying a third party to record the deed with the county recorder.

For some homeowners, a TOD Deed can be a cost effective way to avoid probate on the death of the last owner. If you own a home and have it listed in your will, you might want to consider this new option.

For more information about probate and estate planning, go to www.diesmart.com.

Just living together can cause unwanted estate planning problems

Many couples, especially those who get together later in life, are just living together. For whatever reason, they’ve decided not to get married. Living together, they accumulate stuff but who owns what?

One of the biggest problems with just living together is estate planning. If you’re one of these couples and you’re not careful, your loved ones might end up losing their home and getting nothing.

If a partner dies without a will, this is called dying intestate. In this instance, state intestacy laws determine who will inherit that partner’s assets. In most cases, that means a biological relative may inherit those assets, not the surviving partner. This is probably not what either of the partners really wanted. To alleviate this problem, a will should be drafted and executed by each of the partners. It should include a statement that directly disinherits biological relatives and leaves the assets to the surviving partner.

Another document each partner should prepare is an advance healthcare directive and durable power of attorney. Unless these documents specifically name the other partner to make their medical decisions for them, a physician will not follow the instructions of anyone except a biological relative because of potential family objections.

A further document that should be considered – a revocable trust. This will enable the partners to transfer property and money between them and will allow one partner to transfer control of his or her assets upon death.

A last point you should be aware of – the unlimited marital estate inheritance exclusion. This exclusion cannot be used by an unmarried couple. Instead, there may be sizable inheritance tax repercussions if estate planning is not done correctly.

It would be smart for any couple living together without the protection of marital laws to consult an estate attorney to find out what the best plan of action is for them.

For more information about estate planning, check out our website www.diesmart.com.

Your never to young to write a will.

Anton Yelchinleft, the Star Trek star, died a few months ago in a bizarre automobile accident. He was 27 years old. His assets were about $1.4 million….and he had no will. He also had no spouse or children. Therefore, his parents are asking the probate court to make them administrators of his estate.

He may not have wanted his parents involved in his estate. He may have wanted someone else to handle his affairs. But we’ll never know. Accidents do happen and you need to be prepared. Write a will today. Make sure that people know what your wishes are so that they can be carried out after you’re gone.

For information about estate planning, check out our website, www.diesmart.com.

Where does your Pokemon go after you die?

Everyone today has several online account and is part of the digital world. Are you one of the millions of people playing Pokemon? Are you using real US dollars to make in-game purchases? Do you place a real value on your game progress?

Well what happens to your account when you die? According to a recent Forbes article, if you have online accounts for things like Pokemon, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Gmail, the answer is not a simple one.

First you need to look at federal and state law. At the federal level, there isn’t any direct authority related to digital assets. At the state level, some states have enacted legislation to allow an estate’s executor to gain access to some digital assets upon the death of their owner. However, this legislation does not extend to all 50 states and is not totally consistent in its direction.

Once digital assets are treated more like physical assets, then your will, trust or state succession laws will determine how these accounts are transferred. However, you may not want all of these assets transferred; you may want them deleted on your death. For example, you may not want your spouse to read all of your emails or private Facebook messages. You will need to indicate your wishes in your estate plan.

If you have online accounts at places like Home Depot or Lowes, you may want to direct your executor to pay any outstanding balance and then delete that account so that it can’t be hacked.

Have you read the service agreements that you clicked “okay” for when you signed onto Pokemon Go or Facebook or Gmail. They put restrictions on your ability to share passwords or to transfer the account. “In fact, Pokemon Go’s contract gives you a ‘limited nonexclusive, nontransferable, non-sublicensable license to the application.” What this means is that when you die, your Pokemon Go account is dead as well.

As you can see, online accounts are governed by documents as well as state laws. You need to carefully read the agreements that you “sign” so you can understand what you really have….or don’t. When you prepare your estate plan, make sure that you include a list of the names of all of your online accounts, their passwords and usernames so your family can access your accounts when you die. Develop a plan for the disposition of those accounts when you die. It is an important part of any estate plan.

For more information about your digital estate, check out our book, Access Denied: Why Your Passwords Are Now As Important As Your Will.