Legal question on wills

[Northern_Piper]

@Some_Call_Me.Tim

That’s a truly bizarre will. The spouse basically can get nothing long-term (all the money goes to the kids on the 31st day of life-after-spouse) but provides the option of willing the money to someone other than the kids if spouse 2 dies before 30 days elapse.

The ‘…provided he/she survives…’ version may be common, but the verbiage above, not so much.

As noted in posts 6 and 7, I screwed up. Should have been “provided he/she survives me”, as you suggest.

Aside: “See, kids, this is why you don’t go to internet strangers for legal advice.”

[md2000]

@Max_Torque

In that situation, you can set up what’s called a “life estate”, which means she has a property interest in the house such that she can live there, but that interest can be revoked. A life estate would go something like, “To my wife, I give a life estate in my house [this assumes he owns the house separately], to live in and enjoy so long as she wishes and pays all taxes, utilities, and reasonable upkeep, but upon her death, or if she moves out of the house or wishes to sell it, the house will vest in fee simple to my children, Drake and Josh [or whoever].” “Fee simple” means you own it outright, no baggage. So, the new husband could live in the house with her, but if she died, he’d be SOL.

Yes, one of my relatives with a $3M house did this, even though the only heirs were their two sons - also to avoid taxes as much as possible.

I think my boss was not trying to tie his wife’s hands - she could sell if she needed the money, etc. Just that he did not want her sons and only her sons to get his hard earned money, or whatever was left - a 4-way split among both sets of children was perfectly fine. The moral of the story is that it is very difficult to tell people what to do once you die.

And another side topic - one cliché is that to properly disinherit someone, you are better to leave them a small amount… i.e. $10,000 instead of millions. IIRC this is what John Lennon did to Julian - £20,000 from an estate of millions. Of course, the problem is exactly what happened - he sued Yoko alleging undue influence… not a difficult thing to prove in the circumstances, and they came to some more equitable settlement.

The problem is if the one inheriting the bulk of the estate spent too much time with deceased, it may be for altruistic reasons, family loyalty - or to poison the old one’s mind against the others. Nothing brings out the family divisions or sibling rivalries like a good inheritance fight.

[StarvingButStrong]

@md2000

Nothing brings out the family divisions or sibling rivalries like a good inheritance fight.

So spend it all before you go.

[Max_Torque]

@md2000

And another side topic - one cliché is that to properly disinherit someone, you are better to leave them a small amount… i.e. $10,000 instead of millions. IIRC this is what John Lennon did to Julian - £20,000 from an estate of millions. Of course, the problem is exactly what happened - he sued Yoko alleging undue influence… not a difficult thing to prove in the circumstances, and they came to some more equitable settlement.

Well, the idea is to give them something to lose and include a no-contest clause. Like, if Deadbeat Don knows you don’t really like him, but you’re leaving all the other kids something, leave him a small gift, then have a clause that says, “Anyone receiving a benefit under this will forfeits their benefit if they contest it.” But the gift has to be of sufficient substance to make them think twice about contesting it. If you leave Deadbeat Don nothing, he might as well contest it, because there’s nothing to lose.

John Lennon’s estate was just way too large for a £20,000 gift to dissuade a child from going after a bigger share.

[md2000]

The other reason too for a small gift was to prove that the person was not omitted due to oversight or forgetfulness.

Although, IIRC Mommie Dearest (Crawford) disinherited her adopted daughter with “I leave her nothing for reasons known to her.” I assume the book and movie rights helped make up for it.