Will You Inherit? Will you leave an estate?

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

I just read that 93% of people whose parents die from now till 2052 can expect to inherit an average of $168,000 per child. That sounds very high to me (both the dollar figure and the percentage figure). What do you think?

Personally, I expect I'll use up my saved money on medical expenses and not have anything to leave to my offspring. There might be the house, but maybe I'd have to sell it to live off fo the profit. Ya just never know how long you're going to live, or in what kind of health.

My own parents are still living, but they have nothing that will be left to their children.

[markio26]

i inherited $60,000 in cash when my dad died.. not to mention WW!! money, items... gun, sabor, etc...furniture, things i did not select......coffee cans full of coins, i gave to my grandkids..old coins in it.. silver dollars and such...
prior to that i inherited part of a mini farm in ky from my mom, and purchased my 2 unkies parts.. total 12 acres, 3 deeds, homeplace house...i rented it for yrs. and it fell down... i think it is worth $28500 an acre now..
we own a home, we built on the mainland, value $145,000 appraisal.
we own a home, we built on ki, value is over $300,000, just guessing.
we have in place, as my dad wished, the will, power of attorneys, medical power of attorneys, and such, so, our kids can take over today, if needed....
will this stuff go to the kids? hard to say... life happens, things change.. we have money trusts set up for all the kids and grandkids, life insurance goes to them, etc...

[Ima saver]

I will not inherit anything, my mother and father have passed away and my sister got everything. I plan to leave some money to my grandchildren, but I would rather leave the majority to people that need help but have a handle on their money. I would hate to think that my husband has worked this hard all his life, to have the money just frittered away.
I worked with a young gal once, that inherited about $90,000 (this was 25 years ago) and blew it all in one year. She had nothing to show for it!

[boefixepa]

If I inherite anything from my parents it will be a box of old photos and a furneral bill....hey at least I'm not expecting anything.

[Thrifty Ray]

My parents had been trying to save their IRAs as an inheritance for me. But I have always told them, I hope I have to sale the last teacup to finish paying off the funeral, as I want them to use their hard earned money.

(DD1 says she hopes her last check bounces! )

Anyways...so the last few years I have encouraged them to buy my dads dream car (PT Cruiser), buy the little RV home that they live in, and to get new dentures...bless their hearts, they were doing without dentures to leave money for me...NO WAY. So in a month or so, my dad will once again be able to eat whatever he wants, rather than what he can gum...eww...(sorry).

I know I tease on here about my 'whoopin stick' when it comes to their spending....but I really do want them to enjoy what little money they have.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Good for you, Ray. My husband's father, too, feels like he should leave something for his children. I guess it is the anxiousness that every parent feels to never see their children in real want. But of course it goes both ways: we children do not want to see our parents doing without such things as good dentures just to be able to give to us after they are dead!

[PauletteGoddard]

My parents are dead. I didn't get much from my mom. $35,000. My father didn't leave me anything.

Aside from a life insurance policy of $250K, I don't plan to leave anything to my husband and son. I live in a community property state, so pretty much everything I have is his anyway.

[shengmei]

I will not inherit anything moneywise since my family has five kids.

Personal possessions are another matter.

[lillyb]

Neither of us will be getting an inheritance. Dh's parents are gone, his mom left a little to his sis. My parents are still living but they don't have much.

I hope to leave an estate, bUt I gotta live some more years to get it built up.

[PrincessPerky]

I figure if any money matters come after my parents pass, it will be debt

but there will be some very important material things that I keep convincing mom to store since I have a small house (and she never seems to mind clutter-I do) Nothing worth money, but many things worth keeping to me.

On DHs side...well I dunno, but they don't have debt so we wont be inheriting that! I am not sure about material things, so far I know DH wants the toy box..and the house, but since it is in PA and we are here, I dunno how well that will work...

[plumpossum]

My mom has a life insurance policy that my brother and I are set to inherit. We take it pretty lightly and joke about it often- she wants me to use the money to travel the world and spread her ashes (in secret so I don't get arrested of course).

My SO stands to inherit quite a bit in the way of heirlooms, he is an only child from a small family with some wealthy relatives. I am sure they have some sort of monetary inheritence for him as well, but I don't know what exactly, and I don't think he really thinks about it. I'm pretty sure that things like old photos and coin collections are more of interest to him anyway.

My SO & Son are beneficiaries on my life insurance and my retirement funds. Other than that my son stands to inherit our house and heirlooms. We hope to have our home paid off by the time our son is in high school, and don't have any debt outside of my car, so he should be doing pretty good when the time comes.

[nanamom]

I won't be leaving much, our IRA's are slated to be divied among our grandchildren (still holding at 7 who can inherit) Our insurance will go to raise our minor children. There will be no debt except perhaps for a car payment. Any possessions we have will be sold to take care of that. Except for the "precious" things my kids want. When we buy a house I will get insurance so that it will be taken care of if something happens to one of us. I don't want to leave any debt for my kids to deal with. When we have no more minor children we will change how the insurance will be paid.

[Bookie]

I'm not likely to be the heir to the family fortune. Never been interested in playing the games that pay off in that particular casino.

The bulk of my estate goes to an educational institution under the terms of my will.

[shengmei]

Anyone who ever watches "Antique Roadshow" realizes one important fact:

Too many people only think about things like money, houses, cars, and investments when they come to inheritance.

Too many people throw out or donate tons of stuff that could be worth $$$$$ to somebody, but they are too lazy to find out how much everything is worth.

Think about the billions of dollars buried in the landfills!!!!! That is just sad.

[kealina]

I don't know about DH's family... i hope we don't inherit any debt... as for the stuff, most of it doesn't matter to me as long as it finds a good home... i know DH wants some of his childhood books and other things but that's about it...
my mom said she's gonna give us all our stuff early so we dont' have to worry about inheriting... she's giving each of us our set of china when she thinks we're ready... it's all up to her honestly and i don't really think about it even though i know they have a few assets...

[Snoopy2645]

I inherited when my dad died not much but some I put that money towards my house. I was 22 at the time I wish every day I had my dad & not the stupid money which at 22 caused me more headaches than I care to mention on here!!! We didnt get anything else my dads wife of only a year dumped all of his stuff & married the first guy that came her way after my dad died guess he was her late first husbands brother she refinanced the house my dad paid cash for & she got & she ended up loosing it!!!

My dads mom passed this last year & left the house my dad paid for to my rich uncle along with everything else BTW same uncle never did jack for her but bring her cakes & such when he knew dang well she was diabetic well I did get a few things like my dads baby shoes that was about it so I have the first pair of shoes he ever wore & his last!!



As for my mom I have no idea if thier will be an inheritance or not she is so tight she squeks maybe for the better but maybe for the worse LOL!! As for dhs dad thier was nothing when he died & for dh's mom thier will only be debt I can guarantee that!!

[debtfreeme]

Jus tcurious how many are leaving just a will instead of a will and a trust?

Are you going to make your families go through probate and have to wait or pay higher taxes? Please consider doing a trust instead of just a will. It makes the transfer or assest so much cleaner and quicker.

It is not much money to make one, find a good trust atorney and just do it.

If you can't afford it then make sure you at least have a will. In California the majority of people die with a will or nothing. With nothing in place it means fed and CA gov get about 55% yes that is right about 55% of what you leave.

Think about it.

[debtfreeme]

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[debtfreeme]

One more thing... there are lots of places that will do trusts based upon the amount of your assets so if you have very little it is cheaper, better way to do it when you have nothing and then just amend it.

[debtfreeme]

One more thing... there are lots of places that will do trusts based upon the amount of your assets so if you have very little it is cheaper, better way to do it when you have nothing and then just amend it. That is what i did. I did mine and all i own is my car so it was really cheap (about $100) and i did it through the church. So look around you might surprise yourself.