Married (48M, 43F) with two kids (8 and 6). Live in South Carolina. Shortly after we had our second girl we sat down with an estate attorney to draft:
-- Wills
-- Durable POAs
-- Declaration for desire of natural death
At the time our NW was in the low single digit millions. I wasn't too worried about estate taxes (nor am I now) so we really focused on what would happen with the girls if we were to both pass.
The gist of the wills was was to spell out how much money could be used to immediately support the children and then how much for their continued support. Once they became adults they'd get access to more money and then finally get it all at 35 (so I guess trusts would be created). We were trying to balance making sure the girls were supported while kids but saving the majority for their inheritance. The guardians, while super trustworthy, aren't the most financially savvy.
In the subsequent 6 years we've been fortunate to have our NW grow to 10+ million. My original attorney is no longer available and I have concerns that my original will was too controlling and/or too stingy given how much money is now in our estate. I have a few questions:
1) If I'm still in agreement with the majority of the will, is there a way for me to update some of the numbers without going through an attorney?
2) If we should still go through an attorney, has anyone used something like https://trustandwill.com? If anyone's used them, do they tend to start from scratch or would they update/use existing wills?
3) Are these Durable POAs registered anywhere?
4) Are the Natural Death declarations registered anywhere?
5) Are the wills registered? If we were to die, how would anyone know where to find the will?
6) Is there any need to create a trust now (me and my wife, our estate, our kids)? Is there any benefit to creating trusts now and placing all our assets in the trust?
7) Are there other estate documents I should have?
8) My plan when we retire and the kids are adults is to gift each of them the max gifting amount to be used however they see fit. Is there any benefit to creating a trust for them now that allows us to do the same thing but keeping them from accessing it until they're well into adulthood? I feel as if I'm wasting each year the ability to reduce my estate by 2x gift amount per child. Should I just use a 529 for this and then let them deal with using the money for non-qualified purposes?
-- Wills
-- Durable POAs
-- Declaration for desire of natural death
At the time our NW was in the low single digit millions. I wasn't too worried about estate taxes (nor am I now) so we really focused on what would happen with the girls if we were to both pass.
The gist of the wills was was to spell out how much money could be used to immediately support the children and then how much for their continued support. Once they became adults they'd get access to more money and then finally get it all at 35 (so I guess trusts would be created). We were trying to balance making sure the girls were supported while kids but saving the majority for their inheritance. The guardians, while super trustworthy, aren't the most financially savvy.
In the subsequent 6 years we've been fortunate to have our NW grow to 10+ million. My original attorney is no longer available and I have concerns that my original will was too controlling and/or too stingy given how much money is now in our estate. I have a few questions:
1) If I'm still in agreement with the majority of the will, is there a way for me to update some of the numbers without going through an attorney?
2) If we should still go through an attorney, has anyone used something like https://trustandwill.com? If anyone's used them, do they tend to start from scratch or would they update/use existing wills?
3) Are these Durable POAs registered anywhere?
4) Are the Natural Death declarations registered anywhere?
5) Are the wills registered? If we were to die, how would anyone know where to find the will?
6) Is there any need to create a trust now (me and my wife, our estate, our kids)? Is there any benefit to creating trusts now and placing all our assets in the trust?
7) Are there other estate documents I should have?
8) My plan when we retire and the kids are adults is to gift each of them the max gifting amount to be used however they see fit. Is there any benefit to creating a trust for them now that allows us to do the same thing but keeping them from accessing it until they're well into adulthood? I feel as if I'm wasting each year the ability to reduce my estate by 2x gift amount per child. Should I just use a 529 for this and then let them deal with using the money for non-qualified purposes?
Statistics: Posted by jaj2276 — Thu Sep 26, 2024 6:08 pm — Replies 2 — Views 135