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Guys:
I am a practicing lawyer of the general
practice persuasion, and when not making trouble on RCSE I do a significant
amount of estate planning for "regular folks."
Some basic advice:
have a will
don't get sucked in by a
"trust mill"--most people don't need a trust, and most people that have one
manage to screw them up before dying.
you should have a living
will and health care power of attorney
lots of stuff passes
by contract or survivorship, meaning your will has little or nothing to say
about where this stuff goes. Make sure you know how your
"non-probate" stuff is set up, since it is probably most of what you are
worth. Examples: life insurance, joint bank accounts,
retirement, payable-on death provisions in bank accounts, joint ownership if
brokerage accounts, joint and survivorship deeds for real estate.
Wills and stuff are controlled by STATE
law, so check with your local counsel. There are some oddball state
provisions. In Ohio, for example, a surviving spouse can take two
cars and a boat and an outboard motor without going through probate court.
At least one of the older members of my
RC soaring club has a provision in his will that calls on the club to auction
off his RC stuff amongst ourselves and put the money into the club
treasury. We have already done this for one other
member since I have been flying, and I can tell you we treasure those
items.
Finally, there was a good article about
wills, estates and "our stuff" in the AMA magazine in the last couple of
years. Check it out.
Oh yeah: try not to
die.
Tom H. Nagel
Columbus, OH |
