I am an only child with an 88 yo mom and 90 yo dad both in relatively poor health. My name is on bank accounts and I am signer on stock accounts. House is titled in my parents’ name. There are no other assets. I am POA but of course that ends with death. Should we have a will drafted?
I would highly recommend an "Elder Law Attorney" to do the paperwork, as there is more than just a Will to consider. My parents had Medical Directives/Living Wills which told everyone what they wanted done on their final journey, like whether to use CPR, for feeding tubes, how to proceed further with their care, etc. It was so helpful for me to use that as a guide. No second guessing.
Your parents might want to think about a Revocable Trust. In the Trust will go the stocks, bank accounts, the house title, etc. The Attorney can let you know if he/she thinks the estate is worth doing that type of paperwork.
If your parents have each other as joint title on everything, thus if one should pass, everything automatically goes to the other. Then when the last parent passes, everything could go into County/City Probate, depends on State laws.
So, bottom line, I would talk with them about a simple will and a Transfer on Death deed. They're relatively easy. To ensure you and your parents do it right confer with an estate attorney.
IMHO it seems like you have enough on your plate and it seems that everything will pass as you all might want it to. Assuming there aren't any hidden family members . . . ready to pop out of the woodwork!
Drawing up a will won’t cost much to do but it’s there for you to whip out if need be otherwise you face having to determine lineal heirship (sigh) however that’s done for your state.
I mention all this cause periodically on this site someone will post that their elder has unexpectedly gotten an inheritance. Like never in this solar system would they ever had expected it...... that a distant relative, old friend, army buddy, former student, whatever named them in their will or as a designated beneficiary. And it affects their eligibility for Medicaid or affects how they have trust, or divested assets, etc. Or their parent forgot about or didn’t think mattered for an old asset and that asset was not titled to the trust. A will allows executor to get things done & comes in pretty handy to have.
You don’t have to enter a will, you can just have it at the ready.
There’s a wonderful NYT article with fotos from 2015 on unexpected inheritance, “The Lonely Life of George Bell”. Has like 2k in comments which are just as moving & insightful as the article.
See All Answers