Posted: 11/28/2014 12:09:33 PM EDT
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I've been thinking about a will lately and I realized I know absolutely nothing about how this works. Are there attorneys who do it for a reasonable fee? How much is reasonable? Are there kits you can buy that will hold up in court?
My very limited understanding is that if I die, my wife gets everything. I she dies, I get everything. If we both die at the same time (happened to my grandparents) what happens to our stuff? Is credit card debt collected against our estate? Can we get our house paid off and the deed transferred over to my wife's sister without our government overloads ruining the whole thing with their fucking taxes? What are some good but reasonably priced routes to explore these issues? |
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If you want to see it done right, you have to see a competent attorney, you don't want to die intestate, in that case the state or the courts make all the decisions, strangers who don't even know you making the decisions, not good. The best is a revokable trust, but they cost more to set up, as it was explained to me, a trust is where you spend the money on attorneys before you die, a regular will spends more on legal fees after you die. My Mother had set up a revokable trust, I was in charge after her death, it was awesome, I didn't even have to go to court, of course it depends on how many surviving relatives there are, a trust works best with very few survivors. |
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You don't need an attorney to make a will.
That said, you should use an attorney to help plan succession of your estate, including, but not limited to, making a will. You should already have a plan for when you die. If you don't have one, now, you should. The basics: Oklahoma doesn't have inheritance taxes. FedGov does. $5.34 million is exempted from Federal inheritance taxes as of 2014. This same limit applies to gifts made during life. Same goes for your wife. So together, you have $10.68 million exemption from inheritance taxes. (There are lots of rules, exceptions,etc.) Basically, if your (including your wife) net worth is not over $10.68 million, then you don't really have anything to worry about in terms of inheritance taxes. Anything more outta me will cost you. 
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Thanks for the information, guys!
I broached the subject with my wife last night and she was a little surprised at first rapidly agreed. She agreed with my overall plan to distribute our assets to give all the help possible to our nieces and nephew. I'll start doing some preliminary work next week. Thanks! |
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Here's the Oklahoma Tax form for the Oklahoma estate taxes. I had to pay Oklahoma estate taxes on my Mother's estate in 1996, however the exemption amounts now are high enough most people won't have to pay anymore. http://www.tax.ok.gov/forms/45499.pdf |
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My wife and I had ours drawn up after we had our first child. We stated that we wanted our child(ren) to go to our really good friends that live about an hour away. My family was more than pissed about it, some said very hateful things (my grandmother), then denied saying it for over a year. We just cut them out of our life until they decided to behave. Still don't talk to her much.
Wife's family was happy we put our wishes in writing. |
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Quoted:
My wife and I had ours drawn up after we had our first child. We stated that we wanted our child(ren) to go to our really good friends that live about an hour away. My family was more than pissed about it, some said very hateful things (my grandmother), then denied saying it for over a year. We just cut them out of our life until they decided to behave. Still don't talk to her much. Wife's family was happy we put our wishes in writing. I've thought about the implications of how our choices might affect other family members. They likely won't know the terms unless the worst happens. |
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Your will is as confidential as you want it to be while you are still alive, there's no requirement to tell anybody anything. After a death its a public document. My niece and nephew will be greatly disappointed in how much they get of my estate, its mostly going to set up endowed scholarships, they don't know how much and I haven't told them, and I won't tell if asked. |