I, of course, could look it up. Fifteen years ago White Buffalo had returned (Jiminy Christmas, woman, you give me shit for lacking a religion. Could you settle on one?) and she dismissed everything as, “i’ll let my accountant handle it,” since I knew where the checkbook was and had a vague idea of what was in it. She never had to worry because I worried for her. Today looking it up is easier.
FTR, I was a terrific Accounting student with a terrific prof who wanted to teach accounting rather than flunk us out. My BA was from a top accounting school where freshmen were disposable, so I went with anthropology. A girl in my class said, “I have bachelor’s from old country but I learned more in single semester,” but she was fresh off Aeroflot and it was '95.
Fun with other peoples money, but Personal Accounting makes me puke.
I absolutely cannot wrap my brain around people who have children and no will. Our admin at work just received extremely bad health news, and her and her husband (with many years of convoluted finances, kids from their marriage and his previous one, and a desperate need to keep their money from one child in particular) have never had a will. Her MIL, who they lived with, just died without a will or life insurance, but with a plan written out for her funeral that included a $35,000 casket. Admin and hubby are being kicked out of the house because MIL had it in the wrong kind of trust (she “always meant to take care of that…”) and now the siblings (who got along just perfectly) are fighting over a CHAIR.
You started this thread almost six months ago. In that time your wife has been in at least two places where she is literally surrounded 24/7 by dozens of people with will-planning experience. You had time to oogle the nurse during your wife’s code; do you think you could grab five minutes with the medical social worker and ask her to point you in the right direction for a will? They might even have basic paperwork on site that can be notarized and witnessed by a couple nurses.
Happening at noon. Soon enough for ya?
That will vary by location and can even vary by what economic regime the spouses themselves had.
Completely different legal tradition (although the same as Louisiana’s), but I do know too many widows who were surprised to find that half or all of their husband’s property went to their children (whether half or all depends on exact location). My parents (and every married couple on his side of the family) had a single will for both which made them a tontine, with each being the other one’s universal heir: if no will had existed, neither would have inherited a penny from the other. My maternal grandparents in a different location needed to have individual wills and could only leave to each other half of their property, as the other half had to go to the children; with no will, the children’s part would have been bigger but not everything.
A local lawyer will know what the local laws are.
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Dropzone, glad you’re getting the paperwork taken care of, VERY sorry to hear your wife is still struggling :(.
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A friend in Louisiana was widowed - no warning at all, her husband was in his 50s, had just undergone minor surgery, and passed suddenly a few days later. Totally unexpected. He had no will. The law there was that the kids got half, she got the other half. Of course both kids want to disclaim their portion in favor of their mother - but the younger kid was under 18 at the time and could not do so! Not sure if the older one could have under the circumstances (might have had to wait until the younger sibling turned 18).
So the takeaway lesson for everyone: Make a will. Even one from LegalZoom would probably be better than nothing if you have a simple enough estate.
And this reminds me, we should redo ours. We have our money going to trusts for the kids; my son’s portion goes to a special-needs trust that will be released to him when he’s proven to be self-supporting; my daughter’s would be released to her when she turns 25. As she’s 20 and nowhere NEAR self-supporting, I’d just as soon she not get her hands on that kind of money should we both shuffle off in the next few years. Maybe a special needs trust for her too. And a life estate for the condo we own for the parents. Egad.
My memory from law school is that even with a will, Louisiana allows children to take a “forced share.” They obviously don’t get it if they don’t ask for it, so I think your friend would have been ok, but I think children have the right to sue for some fraction of the estate that I don’t remember. I’m pretty sure this was only Louisiana (although there are a number of states where a widow can sue for a forced share), and I think that my prof said it was related to their being a civil law instead of common law state (the only one in the US).
Obviously don’t take this as gospel on law in Louisiana or anywhere else without consulting a local lawyer - it’s just an interesting factoid.