Morning. I am a nervous Nelly flyer and never fly without having a drink or three no matter the time of day.

Next week, kids and I are flying together.  If something catastrophic were to happen, I would have no beneficiary.  It seems I would become an estate and my next of kin would then be subject to taxation.

Would a notarized statement left on my will serve as a temporary change of beneficiary for the time we are away?  Or it wouldn't stand up in court.  TIA for answering my question. 

Firstly I'd be loath to rely too heavily on message board advice, especially this one, on legal matters.

But if you have time before your trip you should look into a "codicil" or addendum to your will, signed and notarized with witnesses, and use it to add a beneficiary that would be in line after your children. 

e.g. https://www.ilrg.com/forms/lastwill-codicil/us/pa (don't buy anything on that site, you can find free forms).

You can always re-amend it later. 

 

That said, I'd make an excellent emergency beneficiary.

 

 

I imagine every state is different, but when my dad passed (at age 52) he did not have a Will... or at least none that I knew of (he had many phone calls over the years where he would comment on needing to get a Will made, and I know he had a lawyer in general, but to my knowledge and after going through his documents I never encountered one).

I called the Florida Bar Association for referrals (they basically gave me a few names of people in good standing who did Estate law) and paid probably a $2,500ish retainer fee to get the lawyer and have him start doing paperwork and all that. This was July 2017 and it wasn't until October 2019 that everything with the estate was finalized and the Courts awarded me as sole beneficiary and my dad's remaining funds and property transferred to me (he had no spouse and no other children, so by Florida laws it made me the sole beneficiary, but I still had to fill out paperwork listing every relative of his, alive and dead, as well as their relation to him). 

Florida was a tax-free state, meaning I got the balance of his checking account ($27,000 or so) and I got his house (sold for $235,000) and paid $0 to the government. I think the lawyer got something like 8% (I forget the amount) of the "value" of everything, so between funds in the checking account and a value on the house (which was calculated prior to me even listing it for sale) that guy probably got like 20-some grand (which came out of the checking account, leaving me with a balance of that $27k). 

But other than the lawyer's cut and the realtors' cuts from me selling the house, I walked away with 100%... but I also paid funeral home costs and all that out of pocket, did repairs on my dad's house (back-due bill for $4500 for replacement hurricane windows and threat of Lein if not paid -- $10,000 to re-roof the house), other misc. upkeep as well as paying the property taxes and base utilities for an unoccupied house for 33ish months (finally closed March 3, 2020). So that was the worst part -- spending probably $20-25k out of pocket (aka, racking up credit card debt) to keep things afloat until all was finalized. 

A will would probably shave off 24 of those 27 months I was dicking around with everything. 

Thanks AJ, just found codicil will see if I can handle myself.

Agent, I remember you went through a lot with father's estate and I'm glad it worked out in the end.

We only got wills done in 2017.  After losing our parents, and if you're lucky enough to recieve any inheritance, it's a good thing to have one.

 

 

23 hours ago, Agent23 said:

I imagine every state is different, but when my dad passed (at age 52) he did not have a Will... or at least none that I knew of (he had many phone calls over the years where he would comment on needing to get a Will made, and I know he had a lawyer in general, but to my knowledge and after going through his documents I never encountered one).

I called the Florida Bar Association for referrals (they basically gave me a few names of people in good standing who did Estate law) and paid probably a $2,500ish retainer fee to get the lawyer and have him start doing paperwork and all that. This was July 2017 and it wasn't until October 2019 that everything with the estate was finalized and the Courts awarded me as sole beneficiary and my dad's remaining funds and property transferred to me (he had no spouse and no other children, so by Florida laws it made me the sole beneficiary, but I still had to fill out paperwork listing every relative of his, alive and dead, as well as their relation to him). 

Florida was a tax-free state, meaning I got the balance of his checking account ($27,000 or so) and I got his house (sold for $235,000) and paid $0 to the government. I think the lawyer got something like 8% (I forget the amount) of the "value" of everything, so between funds in the checking account and a value on the house (which was calculated prior to me even listing it for sale) that guy probably got like 20-some grand (which came out of the checking account, leaving me with a balance of that $27k). 

But other than the lawyer's cut and the realtors' cuts from me selling the house, I walked away with 100%... but I also paid funeral home costs and all that out of pocket, did repairs on my dad's house (back-due bill for $4500 for replacement hurricane windows and threat of Lein if not paid -- $10,000 to re-roof the house), other misc. upkeep as well as paying the property taxes and base utilities for an unoccupied house for 33ish months (finally closed March 3, 2020). So that was the worst part -- spending probably $20-25k out of pocket (aka, racking up credit card debt) to keep things afloat until all was finalized. 

A will would probably shave off 24 of those 27 months I was dicking around with everything. 

Yes, because the worst thing that can happen to an estate in Florida is for it to go to probate (which is what you had to deal with).

3 hours ago, BBE said:

Yes, because the worst thing that can happen to an estate in Florida is for it to go to probate (which is what you had to deal with).

guess its a good thing it was a tax-free state so that i didnt get kicked in the D twice 

the phrases "fairly easy" and "legal stuff" probably shouldnt be in the same sentence...

1 hour ago, BFit said:

the phrases "fairly easy" and "legal stuff" probably shouldnt be in the same sentence...

what about "barely legal" and "easy stuff"?