Tag Archives: intestate

Don’t bury your head in the sand!

So you don bury head in the sand ’t think you need a will?

Don’t bury your head in the sand like more than half of all Americans. That’s the percentage of people who don’t have a will…and probably don’t think they need one.

Maybe you think you don’t have enough assets to make it worthwhile. Perhaps you think your spouse will automatically get everything. Or you know your children will do what’s right so you don’t have to worry about it.

Do you know who actually decides who gets what when you die if you don’t have a will? It’s the government! Yes, every state has laws that determine who will inherit your things if you die intestate (without a will). Your spouse and children will have no choice and will not be part of the process. In some states, it’s simple. Your spouse gets everything. In others, your spouse splits the estate with your children. If you aren’t married or don’t have children, your parents or siblings may be the ones who get it all. You may not want your siblings to get anything or, perhaps, you don’t want your parents to inherit. Maybe you’d prefer that the bulk of your estate goes to charity. Whatever your wishes, without a will, they won’t be carried out.

It’s very easy to draw up a simple will. There are many templates on the web or forms you can fill out for less than $100. If you have a complex estate and need to sit down with an attorney, it will cost more. However, for less than $100, you have no excuse.

Get a will drawn up today. Don’t let the government make the decision for you. You decide who inherits what when you die.

For more information about wills, go to diesmart.com.

Dying Without a Will

WHAT IF YOU DON’T HAVE A WILL OR A LIVING TRUST?

If you die without having created a will or a trust, you are considered to have died intestate. In this situation, the state has a created a default will for you. The default will determines who the state appoints to manage your affairs after you die and the default will determines who will inherit your probate assets.

Upon your death the following will occur if you die without a will:

A family member will inventory the assets of the deceased and list what the decedent owned and what the decedent owes.
The inventory will include a list of all property with a title. Based upon the method of title, the person taking the inventory will place the assets in either the automatic inheritance bucket, the trust bucket, or the probate bucket.
- Property with automatic inheritance rights will automatically be transferred to the named beneficiaries.
- Trust assets will be managed by the designated successor trustee.
- The remaining probate property will be distributed according to the applicable state law of intestacy. These are laws which describe who inherits your probate property when you fail to leave a will.
  - Under most state laws of intestacy, the probate assets are divided among a surviving spouse and children of the decedent. However, if there is no surviving spouse and no surviving children, then the intestate assets are distributed to next of kin. In most states, stepchildren have no right to inherit. If there are no surviving relatives, the entire probate estate may go to the state.
The inventory will also include a list of all property without a title, i.e., your jewelry, your furniture, cash, art, and your digital assets. The estate representative will determine how to distribute the personal property to your beneficiaries.
An estate representative, sometimes called an administrator or a personal representative, will be appointed by the court to administer your intestate probate estate. Most state laws contain a preference that a surviving spouse, and then surviving children, be appointed to serve as the administrator of the intestate estate.
The estate representative will decide if probate is required and whether the estate needs to follow procedures for a small estate, a surviving spouse, or a normal probate process.
The court appointed estate representative has the same responsibility as someone you appoint as an executor in your will or the successor trustee in your living trust, except that they are not guided by a will or a trust; their actions are governed by state laws only. ibutton: State Intestate Succession Statutes

Another actor did it wrong. Do you have your plans in place?

Julie Garber, in her weekly blog, wrote about another person who did it wrong. When actor Paul Walker died in a terrible car crash on November 30th, 2013, he left an estate estimated to be worth at least $45 million. However, he had done no estate planning and left no will. He was only 40 years old and probably thought he had plenty of time to get his affairs in order. His parents, ex-wife and girl friend of seven years are now fighting over who should inherit.

According to California intestate laws, the entire estate should be inherited by his daughter, Meadow. Since she is only 15, someone needs to be responsible for managing to estate until she turns 18. Her mother is her guardian but is not necessarily the one who will control the money on her behalf. Since her parents believe they should manage the estate, the case will have to go to probate court.

And what about his long term girlfriend, Jasmine? She won’t see a penny.

Have you done estate planning? Is all of your paperwork in order? Or are you, like Paul Walker, leaving a mess for your loved ones?

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

Stieg Larsson died with no will

Stieg Larsson, the man who wrote the milenium trilogy including the novel, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, died suddenly in 2004 at the age of 50. At the time of his death, he was not yet famous and he was living modestly with his partner, Eva Gabrielsson. In fact, they had been living together in Sweden for 32 years.

Larsson spent his career investigating rightwing extremism and received many death threats. He feared that getting married would make them an even bigger target. Despite that, he and Eva finally set a date for the ceremony but Larsson died before it could take place.

The couple had talked about setting up a company in which the two of them would share all of their assets as well as any money earned for writing books and articles. The company would provide that if one of them died, the other one would get everything. Because of this plan, Larsson felt that a will would be unnecessary and so never prepared one. But the company was not set up before Larsson’s death.

Sweden has no provision in their law for inheritance by common-law spouses so when Larsson died without a will, his brother and father inherited everything he owned, including the rights to his books and the profits that the 50 million copies sold made.

In 2007, the family gave Gabrielsson ownership of the modest apartment in which she and Larsson had lived and offered her $2.75 million. She turned down the offer because she wants control of the estate so she can manage the handling of the books, including movie and other publication rights. There is a partial manuscript for a 4th book in the series; since she supposedly helped Larsson write the trilogy and the manuscript is in her possession, she could finish the novel but she refuses to hand it over to Larsson’s family.

If only Larsson had written a will, settlement of the estate could have been handled smoothly and in a timely manner. Instead, in 2012 (more than 8 years later), the dispute is still going on.

Don’t put yourself in this position. Make sure you have a will so your estate will go to the person you want it to….not the one the government dictates. For more information about this topic, go to diesmart.com.

Everyone needs a will. Do you have one?

It is critically important for everyone to have a will. If you don’t have one, your wishes may not be carried out. Why?

First of all, every state has laws covering what is called “dying intestate” (without a will). These rules strictly dictate who will receive what from your estate.

Let’s look at one example. You have two children. The first child worked his way through college and didn’t take any money from you. You paid all of the fees associated with the second child getting a degree and consider that money an advance on that child’s future inheritance. So you would like the first child to receive 75% of your assets and the second to get only 25%. However, when you die, you do not have a will which specifies this. According to the laws in many states, both of your children will share equally in your estate.

You may feel sentimental about some of your possessions. Maybe you have a few special pieces of jewelry and know to which member of your family you wish to give each one. Without a will, your wishes don’t count.

A will is also a good place to specify what you want your family to do with your body after you die. Perhaps you wish to be buried; however, they may not know and this and may cremate your body instead.

This week, I read two interesting blogs which reminded me of how important a subject this is. Both, interestingly enough, come from outside of the United States.

The first comes from Ghana and begins by talking about the late Colonel Momar Khadafi You may not care what Khadafi’s wishes were or that they were not carried out despite the fact that he had a will. However, later the blog talks about the writer’s father and how he set the precedent for everyone in his village to have a will.

The second was written by a woman in British Columbia and is a sad story about a man who told his former doctor, and later friend, about his wishes. However, he didn’t write them in a formal will. When he died, the doctor contacted the coroner to try to ensure that the wishes were carried out. Instead, the man’s body was turned over to the Public Guardian and Trustee (a government group) and his wishes were disregarded.

Consider getting your will written today. Not only will it make it easier for your wishes to be carried out but will remove an extra burden from your family members when you die.

For more information about this subject and other related topics check out our book “Die Smart, 11 Mistakes That Cost Your Family Money When You Die”.