hon30critter BATMAN Better have a Will in place I totally agree!! It took a couple of years of nagging, but our son and DIL finally got their wills last year just before the baby was born. I would suggest doing something else (assuming that it is legal in your neck of the woods). That is to give the person who will be your executor signing authority on all of your bank accounts and your investments (assuming that you have full trust in them of course). They then become part owners of all of your assets. When you pass away those assets do not have to be listed in your will and will not be taxable because they essentially become the property of the executor. You can leave instructions for the money to be distributed just as you would in your will. Again, you have to have full trust in the person that they will follow your instructions and not run off to Timbuktoo with suitcases full of cash! Caveat: I am not an expert on this stuff! Talk to your accountant. Cheers!! Dave
BATMAN Better have a Will in place
I totally agree!! It took a couple of years of nagging, but our son and DIL finally got their wills last year just before the baby was born.
I would suggest doing something else (assuming that it is legal in your neck of the woods). That is to give the person who will be your executor signing authority on all of your bank accounts and your investments (assuming that you have full trust in them of course). They then become part owners of all of your assets. When you pass away those assets do not have to be listed in your will and will not be taxable because they essentially become the property of the executor. You can leave instructions for the money to be distributed just as you would in your will. Again, you have to have full trust in the person that they will follow your instructions and not run off to Timbuktoo with suitcases full of cash!
Caveat: I am not an expert on this stuff! Talk to your accountant.
Cheers!!
Dave
Sorry Dave, but this is just bad, bad advice.
A person came to me in shock as he was presented with a huge tax bill. He was put on the title of his mom's house, and years later when she died he sold the house. The trouble was he already owned his own house and because he already had his one principal residence he had to pay capital gains tax on his Mom's house. If he had just inherited the house as part of the Estate he would have had to pay Probate on the value of the house but that would have been a small fraction of what he paid in capital gains tax.
Giving someone a POA with or without restrictions is a very good idea, especially when it comes to deteriorating health. Just remember a POA has no power once a person dies. A POA cannot even draw money from a bank account to pay for expenses such as cremation or funeral. An Executor must be in place that is named in the Will.
Everyone's situation is different. Everyone should have a Will, even if you have minimal assets, it just makes things a whole lot easier for your partner and loved ones on so many fronts.
The very least you should do is have a Notary draw up your Will using proper legalese. Whatever it costs is money well spent. If you have more assets and depending on who the beneficiary is, a Lawyer, Tax Lawyer, and/or Accountant should be consulted.
The only advice I ever give to people when it comes to Estates is what professionals they need to go talk to.
Also, Laws are different between countries, Provinces/States. Other than telling someone to get a Will, advice should only be given by professionals.
Edit: I see I am on the hook for breakfast, so eat up!
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Good Morning,
Dave, I read your post and the recommendation contained therein. It gave me concern. I was responsible for all legal matters concerning dealers in my job for over 30 years. I dealt with lawyers in all 10 provinces. All dealer contracts and registered security were my resposibility so I do know a fair bit about contract law. I was the executor for my mothers estate. Her investments were held jointly with me and that caused me issues with Revenue Canada. As there isn't estate tax here it was done for other reasons. Signing authority is not necassarily joint ownership, it depends on the wording of the documents setting it up. Just a note of caution.
Well, it is balmy outside, 11F and may go up to 15! If this keeps up I think I will get the car washed later in the week. It needs it.
Got an interesting book for Christmas, American Steam by William Withuhn. Well written by some sections are a little too technical.
Think I will order another display case. The CP Hudson is in a cheap plastic one and at least deserves one with a fake wood base.
Time for coffee.
CN Charlie
Afternoon folks!
Interesting conversation on Estate Law and such.... My first comment (having delt with some of this personally) is to be sure to first thing, sit down with your lawyer and find out what can be done and what is the best route for where you live!
About a year ago I put all my property (IE: my house) in Trust for my two son's. As per the trust, they now "own" the property but I pay all costs (utilities and taxes, etc.) as long as I reside here. My youngest son (in the UK) is the executor of the Trust. The purpose of the "Trust" is that if I end up in a nursing home or some similar place, they cannot take the property for payment for my care.
I think I need to continue residing here in my home for about one more year for the document to take full effect, and I'm not planning on going anywhere else soon...
My Father way back when, did something similar which ended up protecting his children in the end. He outright gave us the property and we made an agreement to send our parents $$$ every month to help them pay their bills. Dad kept accurate records of every check we sent so when he died I (I was put in charge of the contract, as he did not trust my sister who lived nearby and my older sister was in Florida. He wanted someone close by....) handled all the final accounting.
After he died, my mother ended up in an assisted living facilty. That cost was actually paid for from the sale of the property. My Mom ended up breaking her hip and falling (in that order) and spent the last few weeks of her life in a Nursing Home. The BICT....., ah... Woman in charge of the financial office there, accused us of stealing our parents home and insisted we pay what we sold it for to the Nursing Home and was going to take us to court. I got a "cease and desist" letter from my Father's Lawyer telling her what we would do to her if she didn't and that my Father did NOT own the house! I walked in her office with the letter and insisted on talking to her NOW!!!! She finally came out and I handed an envelope to her. She gave me a nasty smirk thinging it was a check for the County Home (Nursing Home). She read it, threw it in my face and slammed the door going back in her office. I made an evil gesture as she did that. Her secretary saw the whole thing and applauded my handling of the matter!!!!
Sometimes you win one!
Each of us need to find out what the laws and policies are of where we live and act on them!
73
Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO
We'll get there sooner or later!
CNCharlieSigning authority is not necassarily joint ownership, it depends on the wording of the documents setting it up. Just a note of caution.
Hi CN Charlie,
You are correct. I guess I used the wrong wording. The assets should be in joint ownership if I understand properly.
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
My son Cole, DIL Kaitlin and I made a big decision today. We have been working with a kitchen cabinet company and a contractor to replace Cole and Kaitlin's kitchen. We finally got a quote from them last week and it was astronomical!!! The kitchen is roughly 15' x 12' and there are a total of 19 cabinets required. The only cabinet that will be expensive will be the pantry. The rest are all quite straight forward. All we want is a simple Shaker design. The contractors are asking for more than $120,000.00 Cdn.!! Tomorrow I'm going to tell them to take a hike, in the nicest possible way of course!
We are back to square one kitchen wise, but our stress levels just went down big time!
ja beargmpullman: This completely eliminates any mention in a will, which can be disputed... And I thought that we were the only place stupid enough to allow wills to be contested!!
And I thought that we were the only place stupid enough to allow wills to be contested!!
I got a rude awakening in this arena back in 2008 when a good friend in neighboring Indiana passed away. In his will he left everything to me.
Two weeks after his passing I received a certified letter saying I was being sued. A casual friend of the deceased was contesting the will and it was up to me to defend my status.
Well things really got tossed around and in the end, all of the deceased assets were auctioned off at pennies on the dollar. Out of a $350K estate, legal fees ate up 90% of the assets. Even the executor, called a personal representative in Indiana, had to hire his own attorney since he couldn't represent himself.
One deposition alone cost $15,000 with travel expenses and stenographers, plus more lawyers.
Yes, this person had a will and the lawyer that drew up the will was present. Mysteriously, a second will appeared out of nowhere, a codicil, and complicated the whole mess.
My expenses were covered but the $350K had vaporized into the pockets of the SEVEN lawyers, plus court costs, involved.
Having a 'boiler plate' will isn't always a guarantee of a fair and equitable outcome.
If the aggrieved party would have simply contacted me I would have explained that I was planning to divide the estate up between all the affected parties in a fair and equitable manner. As it turned out there was nothing left to divide.
If at all possible, have as many assets as that are qualified with designated beneficiaries. This avoids probate in most cases. ALL my financial accounts are set up this way and a will has no effect on them. The financial institutions make the transfer of assets automatically after being sent the death certificate. I can name primary beneficiaries and alternate beneficiaries in the event one or more of the primaries are deceased.
Our real estate holdings are all TOD or transferable on death.
Another thing that greatly helped us was contacting the county department on aging or whatever senior assistance programs your area may have. Dee Ann and I had our complete wills, powers of medical and financial attorney and living wills drawn up for very little cost. Our county senior center has a list of attorneys that they recommend for estate planning. Look into it if you can.
I attended a free seminar conducted by our county's probate judge and the advice I learned there was invaluable.
Cheers, Ed
My parents had a will and my brother was the execuitor. YThe property was to be divided four ways. But while they were alive they went into Assisted Living, first in Pennsylvania, but then in North Carolina, since Russell was the executor, and the closest to Pennsylvania some 12 hours away.
Once trhey went to Assisted Living wes sold thier car and put the money in their piggy bank. We then sold the house, and got a good price for it. The carpenter who worked on the house wanted it, and so we let him know that it was now availalble, he named a price and we put that too in the piggy bank.
With Dad's IRA and other monies, they were able to live quite well, and if the money ran out before they did they would have to move to a nursing home where the county would have to piock up the bill.
But the VA paid a sum about half the cost of the assisted living, but would not pay toward a nursing home.
Anyway, they passed away before the monewy did and after taking care of the last expenses Russell divided the remaing money between us, closed the bookd, and that was that. No lawlers, no government, no expenses, jusst that and nothing more.
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
Now then, cn anybody tell me where my leopard got off to?
Good morning!
Bill Tidler Jr.
Near a cornfield in Indiana...
howmus About a year ago I put all my property (IE: my house) in Trust for my two son's. As per the trust, they now "own" the property but I pay all costs (utilities and taxes, etc.) as long as I reside here. My youngest son (in the UK) is the executor of the Trust. The purpose of the "Trust" is that if I end up in a nursing home or some similar place, they cannot take the property for payment for my care.
Is that completely true? Will the trust survive the Medicaid 5-year look-back? I wouldn't be patting yourself on the back just yet.
Lots of iffy and some outright bad estate planning advice in the Diner over the past few days. If I were writing the MR Forum Policies, I would add legal advice (including estate planning) to the following list of MR Forum Policies of banned topics: race, religion, ethnicity, sex, violence, guns, abortion, politics, unions and immigration. As an open forum, visible to the general public, a lot of harm can occur from following bad legal advice. If you are concerned about your own estate planning, visit an attorney who specializes in estate planning.
Rich
Alton Junction
Good morning, everyone. Bacon, eggs, and black coffee, please.
The diner has had a lot of weather comments lately. How about weathermen? (weather people?)
This morning, the weather forecast for tonight is possibly ... no precipitation, rain, fog, sleet, snow, freezing rain. I think that weatherman covered just about every possibility for tonight except for a hurricane or tornado. I guess tomorrow we can congratulate him for being 100% correct.
hon30critterThe only cabinet that will be expensive will be the pantry. The rest are all quite straight forward. All we want is a simple Shaker design. The contractors are asking for more than $120,000.00 Cdn.!!
Dave, I'm not sure, but I might have had a stroke when I heard that estimate. Was the cabinet maker driving a Ferrari or a Rolls Royce?
Have a great day, everyone.
Ecuador:
Tourists on the Devil's Nose Train by Frank_am_Main, on Flickr
York1 John
richhotrainAs an open forum, visible to the general public, a lot of harm can occur from following bad legal advice.
I agree, I have had to clean up some real messes where the deceased took advice from their own children and/or other family members and close friends. I can't imagine how ugly it could get if the deceased planned their Estate after getting advice from a MRR forum.
I don't agree that the subject should be banned. If reading this thread doesn't reinforce the fact that Estate planning should be done with the help of a professional then it doesn't really matter at that point. People don't know, what they don't know.
On another forum, they were giving out medical advice. I had to show my wife that one as people were jumping on that bandwagon. She was in disbelief at what she read.
On the hobby front, I spent several hours yesterday installing HO-scale lag bolts into the coaling tower I am building. You get good at it after a while, it is kind of like learning a new tune on the guitar or piano.
Had visitors overnight from down South, really nice people but.........
Need to clean the furnace after our cold spell, I am sure it is full of dog hair.
PUUUUUUSH! With a tailwind no less.
All the best to all.
BATMAN richhotrain As an open forum, visible to the general public, a lot of harm can occur from following bad legal advice. I agree, I have had to clean up some real messes where the deceased took advice from their own children and/or other family members and close friends. I can't imagine how ugly it could get if the deceased planned their Estate after getting advice from a MRR forum. I don't agree that the subject should be banned. If reading this thread doesn't reinforce the fact that Estate planning should be done with the help of a professional then it doesn't really matter at that point. People don't know, what they don't know.
richhotrain As an open forum, visible to the general public, a lot of harm can occur from following bad legal advice.
BATMAN On another forum, they were giving out medical advice. I had to show my wife that one as people were jumping on that bandwagon. She was in disbelief at what she read.
Afternoon folks....
richhotrainBrent, I appreciate your reply. The reason that I would ban legal advice is because of the possible financial harm caused by bad advice. When you look at the list of banned topics, those topics can all lead to flaming, name calling and hurt feellings, but not likely financial harm.
Actually, I agree pretty much, Rich, but that is up to our hosts..... I would only comment that everything I have done has been on the advice of my attorney! Anyone looking at similar options, no matter where you live should do the same.
Just put in 4 miles of running this morning over at the fieldhouse, according to fitbit... I have in the last 6.5 years put in 8,260 miles. (Not too worried about something called a "lookback".)
Got to renew my Passport soon as I plan to go over to the UK and visit my son this summer. My two granddaughters are planning to travel with me.
i'm not an expert on much, but I know enough to let the lawyers handle the legal stuff. We got a will after my daughter was born, basically to protect her from the extremist "tax the rich" environment of the government in that era. We weren't rich by any means, but would have been under the government's silly policies. Since every state in the US makes up its own laws, it's a good idea to have an in-state lawyer do a will.
Also, have someone review your will, to make sure the laws haven't made your will somewhat invalid over the years.
Weathermen? The Weather Channel here keeps trying to get me to subscribe for longer-range forecasts, but why? Those ninnys can't get the forecast right for tis evening, why pay them for an extra week of incorrectness?
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
hon30critter My son Cole, DIL Kaitlin and I made a big decision today. We have been working with a kitchen cabinet company and a contractor to replace Cole and Kaitlin's kitchen. We finally got a quote from them last week and it was astronomical!!! The kitchen is roughly 15' x 12' and there are a total of 19 cabinets required. The only cabinet that will be expensive will be the pantry. The rest are all quite straight forward. All we want is a simple Shaker design. The contractors are asking for more than $120,000.00 Cdn.!! Tomorrow I'm going to tell them to take a hike, in the nicest possible way of course! We are back to square one kitchen wise, but our stress levels just went down big time! Cheers!! Dave Hi Everyone, Dave: $120K for a new kitchen seems high, but is not that unusual. But, from the price quote it sounds like you're having more done than just replacing cabinets. First would be base price of the cabinets. All plywood construction will add around 20% to the base price. Any bells and whistles in the form of things like roll out trays, etc will drive up the price. The very general breakdown is 1/3 for cabnets and countertop, 1/3 for installation, and 1/3 for appliances and accessories,etc. If you're moving walls that will add flooring and more and definitely enhance the price. I hope this has helped.
Jim (with a nod to Mies Van Der Rohe)
Built in 1937 by General American Car and has carried the number 15797 its entire career. This box car was built to the Association of American Railroads standard design
MisterBeasley Weathermen? The Weather Channel here keeps trying to get me to subscribe for longer-range forecasts, but why? Those ninnys can't get the forecast right for tis evening, why pay them for an extra week of incorrectness?
One day they will be correct.
David
To the world you are someone. To someone you are the world
I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought
Always time for a spot o' tea, don't you agree?
Blair Kooistra, 1st Prize, Color by Center for Railroad Photography & Art, on Flickr
From Erie, Pennsylvania to Brasil:
FEPASA, Valinhos, Brazil, 1990 by Center for Railroad Photography & Art, on Flickr
up831 Dave: $120K for a new kitchen seems high, but is not that unusual. But, from the price quote it sounds like you're having more done than just replacing cabinets. First would be base price of the cabinets. All plywood construction will add around 20% to the base price. Any bells and whistles in the form of things like roll out trays, etc will drive up the price. The very general breakdown is 1/3 for cabnets and countertop, 1/3 for installation, and 1/3 for appliances and accessories,etc. If you're moving walls that will add flooring and more and definitely enhance the price.
There is a lot of other work that has to be done and I appreciate the fact that that type of work is not cheap. What we disputed was mainly the cost of the cabinets themselves. There are a total of 19 cabinets. All except one (the pantry) are very straight forward, and we want a simple Shaker style. The average installed price per cabinet including tax worked out to $2370.00 each ($45,000.00 total). A simple range hood worked out to $3200.00 incl tax. That is for a 'custom' kitchen.
I priced another cabinet supplier, and the installed price including tax worked out to $1300.00 average. Their cabinets are not custom. They are pre-built in 3" increments in size. The total cost including tax is $25,000.00.
Both suppliers use the same construction materials, i.e., plywood cabinets with MDF or solid wood door/drawer fronts, dovetail drawer joints, soft close hinges/drawer slides, etc. etc.
In some cases using pre-built cabinets can waste a lot of space with fillers, but that is not the situation here. If you compare the exact sizes of the custom cabinets to the pre-built units, the sizes vary by less than an inch in most cases.
As far as all the other details go, we are budgeting about the same amount of money.
We have lined up three new contractors, one of which we have worked with before and who's work was superb!
To Brent and everyone else:
I promise to never offer legal advice again on the forums. 'Nuff said.
I was shocked to see that $120,000 figure...until I Googled it and found this for my area:
In the Chicagoland area, most kitchen remodels cost an average of $195 to $580 per square foot, and more for higher-end projects. These figures reflect the less involved minor kitchen updates ($60,000 to $85,000 total cost) to the complete mid-range kitchen remodel ($85,000 to $115,000 total cost).
A complete dream kitchen remodel in the Chicagoland and northern & western suburban area typically costs $115,000 to $200,000 or more. In a 424 square foot kitchen, that’s a price point of $271 to $472 per square foot, or more.
Ouch!
Good morning, diners. Chloe, I'll have bacon, eggs, and black coffee.
Dave, I assumed it was just for the cabinets. I hope you and your kids can find something that is affordable and just what you want.
If you live in a rural area like mine, I imagine you have mailboxes at the street rather than on the house. If so, this is January 23, "National Snowplow Mailbox Hockey Day"! On some streets, every time it snows it's a game to find the pieces of the mailbox. Enjoy!
gmpullmanAlways time for a spot o' tea, don't you agree?
During WWII, my father was in England, then France, then Germany. He always laughed that the English soldiers would be in a battle, but late afternoon they wanted tea. I think he was just having fun with them -- I know he respected them.
I hope everyone has a great day!
Good morning from the soon-to-be sunny West Coast. I asked Alexa when it will stop raining and she said it will stop raining in 20 minutes. She is so accurate, it blows my mind. She also said the Sun will come out in 90 minutes. I also ask her when will it start raining and again she is always right on.
We had a new kitchen done in 2021 and it was not cheap. You have to remember that Dave is talking Canadian dollars so there is a difference to account for. The prices have just gone crazy since we did our kitchen, we wanted cabinets for our master bathroom project and it was upwards of $20,000.00 for those from the same company. We shopped around and it was the same huge jump in price with all the makers. We will have to bite the bullet.
My wife is an amazing cook and loves her kitchen with all its ovens. We used to have only one oven. I did all the plumbing and electrical, paint, and drywall, so we saved there. I also replaced the sunshine ceiling and put in the pot lights and those UFO lights the wife wanted. I also have put in a new full-glass kitchen door since these photos were taken. We do a half dozen big family dinners a year with some topping 20 people. With all the ovens, the wife has a much easier time.
The house was full of Veterinarians all day yesterday and some had stayed over from when they arrived on Sunday. Hours and hours of shop talk.
Time to hit the trail, it has been a few days, I found it somewhat painful trudging through the snow with my arthritis. I always start to feel like crap if I go for more than a few days without a scoot.
We were down in the lower Latitudes of the Pacific for a good spell before Christmas, and boy do I feel like going back. I must be getting old.
Hi Rich,
The kitchen is about 180 sq. ft. That works out to $670.00 Cdn. per sq. ft. based on the $120,000 quote. That puts it at the top end of the price range. The kitchen is not fancy and there aren't any expensive extras.
We have found a cabinet supplier who can do the cabinets for $20,000.00 less. They are well built cabinets. I don't expect the other items like lighting etc. to be much lower in price.
Grabbed a buddy from our dog pool and hit the trail. There was still a bit of snow but the trails were muck. Twice I sank to my shin. It took me 1:22:00 just to go 6.20km, very slow. I often knock off 10km in an hour. With the snow melting a lot of lost articles showed up along the way. I found two lanyards with multiple IDs and pass cards on them and I also found a big fat wallet. The wallet belonged to a local farmer who gives us armloads of vegetables all summer long so I returned that on the way home. He had lost it three days ago in the deep snow and had been through the trail a dozen times looking for it. The lanyards are in the process of being returned. I am trying to contact the people on the ID rather than the institution they belong to, as I am sure someone would be in deep doo-doo if the institution was aware of them having gone missing.
Apparently, my 87-year-old FIL has taken out a $800,000.00 reverse mortgage on his house and is at the BMW dealership as I type picking up his brand-new BMW. This can't be good.
My buddy just turned one on Christmas day. He heard something in the bush and really growled and barked once and we heard a lot of breaking branches. It was either a deer or a bear, my guess was a bear as we can usually see a deer as it bounds away.
Howdy Folks!
BATMANApparently, my 87-year-old FIL has taken out a $800,000.00 reverse mortgage on his house and is at the BMW dealership as I type picking up his brand-new BMW. This can't be good.
Hey! What the heck! Might just as well go out in style..... My choice would a Tesla S Plaid though!!! (That's the one that does 0 to 60 in 1.98 seconds flat....)
Bet you were glad the "puppy" was out for a run with you! I sure would be!!!
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."