Do you have a will and advanced directives?

[FLA]

I have advanced directives but no will. DD turns 18 in a few months and then I will make a will. I did not want the kids to have to have a trustee overlooking their money. They are both fiscally responsible and I know my family or their dad would keep them from going off the rails with the money. I own a quarter of this house and I will get half of it from a trust when my parents pass. I have to find out if I can put my share in a trust and the share I should be getting into one big trust for the kids. IDK if you can have a trust within a trust so to speak.

I know having gone since my divorce and separation in '02, that I took a blind chance not having a will for so long. I was very lucky.

I plan to change my advanced directives to a MOLST this year. Some states have this, most don't yet. Although, I was a fail on a will for 14yrs, I am a big believer that every adult no matter how young and healthy, should at a minimum have a health care proxy.

What do you have?

[LivingAlmostLarge]

will yes! But no trust yet. we have some work to do.

[rennigade]

We dont have either..a will or a trust. Not sure what happens if we both die. Hopefully our dog will be taken care of whatever money is left over.

We should probably get one made though...probably wouldnt be a bad idea. We're kinda waiting till we have a kid.

[disneysteve]

We have wills and advanced directives. No trusts.

[rennigade]

We have wills and advanced directives. No trusts.

From what ive heard trusts are far superior to wills...something to do with the amount of fees attached to wills. Not sure if thats true.

I know when my grandmother died my mother and her brother were crushed with inheritance fees? Not sure if thats what its called. I guess with a trust somehow those are avoided? I could be totally wrong here but thats my understanding.

[Thrif-t]

We have wills and advanced directives. No trusts.

Us too. I want to get moving on a trust but my problem is I don't know who to use. No one I'm close to has one to recommend an attorney for me :-(

[disneysteve]

Us too. I want to get moving on a trust but my problem is I don't know who to use. No one I'm close to has one to recommend an attorney for me :-(

Do you have a pro do your taxes? You could ask them. If not, perhaps someone at work. Who prepared your will?

[Thrif-t]

I do our taxes, people at work are no help, not fiscally responsible. Had a general attorney do our wills. I've heard you should use an estate/trust attorney for trusts. I would just like to find someone to give me a recommendation that I can trust, don't want to just get someone out of the yellow pages.

[disneysteve]

Had a general attorney do our wills.

If you trust him, I'm sure he could probably make a recommendation.

[tripods68]

Not yet. But we are supposed to do everything this year with Trust & Directives.

[creditcardfree]

Will, yes. POA, yes. Living will, yes. Trust completely unnecessary at this point.

[MonkeyMama]

Wills, advanced directives, life insurance, and a trust.

I'd say the vast majority of people in 20s, 30s, 40s, do not have any of the above. I just know way too many people (parents) who passed suddenly on the young side (during my childhood). We put everything in place in our 20s, when we had kids.

I am always stunned how many long-term stay-home parents I know whose spouses aren't insured. It's like they know they *should* be prepared, but no one wants to deal with these things.

[kork13]

We have a will & advance directive for us both, though the wills were written before our son was born (I was deploying overseas, so it was prudent to accomplish then instead of waiting for him to be born). We now have another boy on the way, so we'll likely wait to re-do them until after he's born.

I'm not very familiar with how trusts work, or how you set them up, or most importantly, how you select a trustee... but I do know that it'll likely be a factor for us to deal with in the future.

[QuarterMillionMan]

John Doe (or Jane Doe) living revocable trust
John Doe (or Jane Doe) trustee

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I am not sure about the whole trust thing either. But we have a super simple will saying my parents get the kids and they get everything. We now have to book an appointment with a lawyer for more details. Plus probably advanced directives. We do have substantial life insurance considering that we're a 1 income family and full disability coverage.