I will take any ammo.
On death and dying and the aftermath
- Thread starter Ws6
- Start date
@Ws6 , as others have said, you need to talk to a trust attorney. Unfortunately it's gonna cost you.
Make a list of persons and possibly institutions in your life that you may want to be benefactors, and all your valuable assets.
You need at least 2 levels deep. Make this list before you talk to an attorney.
Bank and investment accounts usually have beneficiaries, so that should be easy.
In my case, everything goes to wifey but if we both perish the next level is my sister, friends and 2 schools (De Anza Community and San Jose State).
And have your DNR, etc in place! When my Mom died, there was unnecessary suffering due to my parents not having instructions in place. I had to make all the difficult decisions. So I got my father's stuff in order; he lasted another 10 years.
Getting rid of their stuff was easy because there are plenty of needy people in the Bay Area. And my BIL came down from Warshington to run operations; Mark kicks butt and gets stuff done. Me, not so much.
For real estate, make sure you have the right people in place. It's no secret that Silicon Valley real estate is off the freakin' charts expensive.
This is a timely topic; I need to revise my trust. It's been years; things change.
I will tell you that once you have papers in place, you will have peace of mind.
Make a list of persons and possibly institutions in your life that you may want to be benefactors, and all your valuable assets.
You need at least 2 levels deep. Make this list before you talk to an attorney.
Bank and investment accounts usually have beneficiaries, so that should be easy.
In my case, everything goes to wifey but if we both perish the next level is my sister, friends and 2 schools (De Anza Community and San Jose State).
And have your DNR, etc in place! When my Mom died, there was unnecessary suffering due to my parents not having instructions in place. I had to make all the difficult decisions. So I got my father's stuff in order; he lasted another 10 years.
Getting rid of their stuff was easy because there are plenty of needy people in the Bay Area. And my BIL came down from Warshington to run operations; Mark kicks butt and gets stuff done. Me, not so much.
For real estate, make sure you have the right people in place. It's no secret that Silicon Valley real estate is off the freakin' charts expensive.
This is a timely topic; I need to revise my trust. It's been years; things change.
I will tell you that once you have papers in place, you will have peace of mind.
Make sure that anything with a listed Beneficiary/Beneficiaries, reflects your current wishes. The entity who holds the accounts will go back to the original application to find the Beneficiary/Beneficiaries of the account in question.
A divorce or other event that could've changed the desired beneficiary/beneficiaries, and was noted in a later Trust and/or Will, won't matter to the account holder entity who will go by the original application beneficiary list.
I turned 60 this year and in the last few years i have basically stopped buying stuff like tools and guns . i just buy what i really need. I asked my kids if they they wanted any of my stuff when i die and they said no. I don't want to burden them with getting rid of my stuff so i have been selling my guns etc .
Our heir will primarily be our daughter. We have some very fine, very expensive furniture, some old and significant antique pieces, and some attractive modern junk. We also have a lot of "smalls", some of which have come down from our ancestors. These are things that should be passed on to future generations.
So we're bringing our daughter up to date on what is what. She can do what she likes but she needs to know which are the quality pieces. The quality pieces aren't necessarily flashy, the quality is in the build and the material.
In the same vein, we're going to go through the house and take photos of each room/drawer. etc for insurance purposes. When you live in a fire risk zone you have to be prepared to leave everything behind.
So we're bringing our daughter up to date on what is what. She can do what she likes but she needs to know which are the quality pieces. The quality pieces aren't necessarily flashy, the quality is in the build and the material.
In the same vein, we're going to go through the house and take photos of each room/drawer. etc for insurance purposes. When you live in a fire risk zone you have to be prepared to leave everything behind.
They should contact the Bar Association on that one!
I would if I didn't have a history of losing them all in boating accidents.
I've got some super cool niche stuff, personally. That I want to just...go missing quietly, when the time comes.
I am now a widower with a home, cars, a good retirement account, and a fair number of collectibles. I really have no blood related heirs. I am in the process of giving away possessions I do not use. I am putting the real estate and other assets in a revocable trust, leaving it to the grandchildren of deceased friends. I hope to leave them free of student debt, enough to put a down payment on a starter home, and maybe some left over to put into a retirement account. I hope to make it a happy day when I die. 
I want a disinterested 3rd party with solid medical to decide when to cease efforts regarding my DNR status. DNR is quick and dirty, but I want someone who understands nuance before I ever code. That is going to be a very tricky aspect, as my long term girlfriend is very very anti DNR, and I am extremely pro death.
Where are you going to find a phone book?
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My dad was in the antique/estate sale business. Up until about 2005 they bought and sold whole house contents, it was fairly easy money, older folks still were in to collecting and then things took a change. By 2010 they stoped buying whole home contents and especially furniture. Before Dad died in 2016 they had a rule - buy nothing brown. Nobody, kids, grandkids friends neighbors wanted any brown (think wood tone) furniture. By then they had also stopped buying china, figurines and other stuff old ladies collected. Tools had no value. Jewelry, stamp, coin and card collections and some oriental rugs, if 50+ years or older, had value and so did trains.
I have a work friend and I told him no one was going to want his furniture when he downsized and moved away for retirement. He told me stories about the expensive stores where he bought it and the cost, he didn’t believe me. I spoke to him last year and he is settled in an 50+ retirement place. Poor guy, his 2 kids didn’t want anything and neither did his friends or neighbors. He and his wife cried and it all went in a dumpster the day before his closing. He even advertised it on the social sites with pictures. It was all solid wood stuff and shades of brown and sadly only good for kindling. It saddens the Mrs Galt and I because we have a home full of brown furniture.
My take on this is when faced with selling a relatives home, you should sell it furnished, don’t let the vultures cherry pick the good stuff. You find find a buyer, the deal is they buy the place furnished.
I have a work friend and I told him no one was going to want his furniture when he downsized and moved away for retirement. He told me stories about the expensive stores where he bought it and the cost, he didn’t believe me. I spoke to him last year and he is settled in an 50+ retirement place. Poor guy, his 2 kids didn’t want anything and neither did his friends or neighbors. He and his wife cried and it all went in a dumpster the day before his closing. He even advertised it on the social sites with pictures. It was all solid wood stuff and shades of brown and sadly only good for kindling. It saddens the Mrs Galt and I because we have a home full of brown furniture.
My take on this is when faced with selling a relatives home, you should sell it furnished, don’t let the vultures cherry pick the good stuff. You find find a buyer, the deal is they buy the place furnished.
Zee09
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Yeah....but I have a few still
...
I thought you lost them in a boating accident.
Most people have simple estates. Those simple estates do not need a trust which is a money maker for the lawyer which they push on people.. Probate deals with "titled" property. Simple transfer on death documents for all titled assets avoids the large attorney fees and probate. A simple will take care of personal property. I experienced this five years ago with my father who had a trust. I was the executor. It was a pain and the attorney made a lot of money preparing the trust for my father and afterwards. I shook my head when it was over thinking that this could have been avoided. .
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Not this topic specifically, but there is a tendency for many to believe they need a lawyer for everything.
When I was young I got into trouble and contacted an attorney. I swear when we are young, often folks try to school us.
“Have you been charged with a crime? No? Then there is nothing that I can do for you, that you cannot do for yourself. If you want me to hold your hand and stand there in court with you, then I will take your money. But you don’t need a lawyer.”
Imagine a lawyer telling me I don’t need to spend my money on him and there’s nothing I can’t do in this scenario for myself.
In this case maybe it’s true when straightforward.
I don't see why any should go.to.a tax. It's already been taxed at least multiple times!
Not necessarily. If you die with an unrealized capital gain on real estate and investments, neither you nor your heirs have a capital gains tax liability on that increase in value. So its value at your death is subject to estate taxes. And if your estate is small, there will be no federal estate tax.
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I feel that way about having a mutual fund and not buying or selling it, but having to declare capital gains every year...
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This thread made me realize that if my son doesn't stay interested, what will become of my "Jerry Garcia collection?" The last 60 cd box set is going for around $1,400 on eBay. I think it cost $599. I have many of these types of box sets unopened. Then there are the Snap On tools that nobody will want. Those are the only two material things that come to mind. The rest would be financial accounts and the house. I assume it would be left to my son, why not, unless we unexpectedly had to take the equity...
All the spare auto parts seriously, can be trashed (lots, brake rotors, pads, exhaust, 02 sensors, etc etc)
All the spare auto parts seriously, can be trashed (lots, brake rotors, pads, exhaust, 02 sensors, etc etc)
