why don't you have a will?

amother

Thu, Jul 26 2012, 7:09 pm

anon for this wrote:

amother wrote:

Do you know any time where this has happened? That a child with willing relatives was taken into foster care because there was no will. In the event of the death of a parent or both parents, it takes weeks to have a petition drawn up and admitted to Surrogates Court. Then you have to have a GAL appointed. Then GAL reviews. You also need a death certificate which is not instantaneous.

I wish the death certificate was issued the day my husband died because it is important to apply for SS right away. SS does not go back to the time of death. It goes to the day of application.

Most times with smaller estates without minors, a will is not necessary. The cheapest most most effective method to pass assets is through beneficiary designation. An estate potentially subject to estate taxes should be administered through a trust to avoid probate court.

Amother, in my experience the bolded is no longer true. I wasn't able to apply for survivor benefits without a death certificate, but benefits were calculated from the day of death, not the day of application.

I had a two week delay. It cost me $1723.00 in 2006 for my children.

ElTam

Thu, Jul 26 2012, 7:46 pm

We got ours done after YEARS of procrastinating. My mother died when I was young, so I knew how important it was. I guess I just couldn't face my own mortality.

Once we got it done, it was SUCH a relief. I wish we hadn't waited.

little_mage

Thu, Jul 26 2012, 8:51 pm

As many others have said, procrastination. We know what we want it to be, we just haven't done it. And like Chocolate Moose, we don't have any frum family (except for some second/third cousins in Israel), so it's even more important. We have someone frum who is willing, but as she's not a family member it's really important.

As far as life insurance, we applied. I have a policy. My DH (at 23!) was rejected. He's the primary breadwinner, so it's really scary, but I don't know what we can do about it. So it's not quite as simple as go get one.

Ruchel

Fri, Jul 27 2012, 2:35 pm

I keep reading on Imamother it's important, but I just don't know of young people doing it. I don't know. The idea bothers me also. I brought it up several times to friends or relatives and they got weirded out?