60+ year old thread.

Love it!

 

Your intent is admirable, but method is obsolete. Wills are easy to make, and lawyers are as fond of them as they are fond of divorces. Every family has at least one jackass that wants more than his counterparts, and will sue to get all of your leavings. If you don't want your legacy to be tainted with that mess, do a Revocable Living Trust. This puts your assets out of reach of the body snatchers because they are already distributed to the trust, and with you as the Trustee, you can change it anytime before you die. No courts, no lawyers, no Probate, no year waiting time for your heirs. There is a difference in upfront pricing between a will and a trust, though. A will can be drawn up on a sheet of toilet paper, but a trust can cost 4 digits, needs a lawyer to do it, and has the added advantage of covering all the advance directive bases as well. Another consideration, if you have assets that require active hands-on management, a year in probate can be destructive, while a trust provides a smooth transition of ownership.

 

Just make sure all of your assets have a "TOD" built into their description ("transfer on death"). I am NOT a lawyer but in Mo. the "TOD"s keep your stuff, including real-estate, out of Probate courts. This may vary depending on state laws
'

 

Wanna taco is spot on with the Trust advice. Don’t go cheap and half ass on this.

 

Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyybe.......

Once the insert gets in there, and there's a stainless pipe inside the chimney.......NAH. I'm not allowed on the roof anyway.

 

Once I got into my late 60’s I decided no more going up on the roof and no more than a couple steps up on a ladder. When my dad was 71 he and I were trimming and felling some trees on his country property. I told him to stay off the ladders and to let me do all the climbing and ladder work. Hard to tell one’s father anything. I looked over and saw he was about only 10’ up a ladder. Just as I said “let me do that”, he fell and broke his back. Fortunately after hospitalization he recovered. Made up my mind that when I got older I wouldn’t climb ladders or go up on roofs any longer. I’m still pretty agile and strong but I don’t do roofs and only low ladder work. No one that falls off a roof or ladder thinks they are going to fall, but there are 500000 injuries a year from falling off ladders and 300 deaths. Those numbers don’t count the falls off of roofs. Most injury falls off ladders and roofs happen at home.
So think about that my porch friends and be cautious.

 

We're going through this right now with my parents' estate. They had wills, not a trust. My sister's husband went through the process with his parents, who had a trust; the whole schmeer was over in 4 months. We're looking at 18 months, possibly longer.

 

and the rest of you are quoted by default....

SHEESH, don't tell my wife she's right about all this!! Because , then

 

Afternoon all:
Interesting discussion about estate planning, I had done a little research on the subject and Alan is right about if there is a jackass involved, I saw it first hand with a friend of mine, and heard about it from some others, in some instances one of the named beneficiaries grabbed everything from the house before the others could get to it!
I did a probate A-Z as the executor when my mother passed, big difference when there is only 1 involved.
Here are 2 tidbits from something I just looked up:
1. PA. court and register of wills charges are relatively modest since their involvement in the probate process is less supervisory than in some other states.
2. It is important to note that assets controlled by the descendent at death even if not subject to probate are still subject to all of the same death taxes as probate assets.
I have a friend who is not "rich" but who has substantial assets, same situation with only nieces and nephews, we have discussed the issue on occasion and haven't come up with a satisfactory solution!
BTW: Unless they changed it, nieces and nephews are subject to a 15% tax on inheritance, life insurance policies aren't taxable in PA.

 

I’m going on 82 and still stupid. You can find me on my extension ladder trimming the palm trees, or on the roof repairing the solar water pipes. I don’t fall, but I do invariably bump my head in the basement. The head bone always has scabs, and even once drew blood from installing a roof. (Wind caught a 3 tab as I picked it off the stack). I take it back. I do fall often from tripping over my own stupid big feet.

 

68, I clean the chimney with a brush and fiberglass rods twice or more a year.

 

My ma passed last fall (in Missouri), she had both a trust and several "transfer on death" bank accounts. Her will only expressed her funeral and burial wishes and a couple of personal items to be distributed. Everything went smoothly - as she planned. But...... we had a terrible pain in selling the stocks that were in the trust. My sister was predetermined (and clearly stated) to be the next trustee and she had all sorts of difficulty proving her right to act as the seller of the stocks. I'm sure the different financial entities were just following procedure - but of-times, it seemed that things were made unnecessarily complex. I believe that issue had to do with some stocks that had not been transferred to trust ownership.

Sis is a CPA and she had some IRS questions that meant calling in to them for guidance. She told me that all together she spent over 20 hours "on hold" while getting things straightened out. Very painful. Be sure your tax attorney has a chance to advise on what happens as the trust holders pass and it is dissolved.

(this is said with a grin) When my wife's widower dad passed - he had everything in order financially, a trust - and a will simply stating his wish to be cremated. However - with no final direction about what to do with his ashes - the three girls had a considerable discussion. Before I knew about this discussion ..... they held some sort of meeting and came to the decision that they would leave them on the fairway of the golf course behind his home in Sarasota. In a sand trap, directly across the eighth fairway from the house and beside a water hazard with resident 6 foot gator. I was voted to carry out this act - but no one told me about this plan until we were driving into the neighborhood. I refused. This man had played a round of golf at every opportunity for over 50 years - and at an elevated age had a 7 handicap. They were going to put him in a sand trap for all eternity. So ...... he ended up in the Gulf. RIP Roy, sign your card.

 

Ah, so the initial transfer of stock to the trust would have gone well, but as newer stocks were purchased or earned, they got left behind? That would be a common error, not keeping up to date with new acquisitions added into an existing trust. I'm guilty of that myself, as the purchase of a piece of real estate was mistakenly titled to me rather than to the trust, and I have yet to transfer it over.

 

Good morning fellow Porchatonians!!

No plans for today - would like to do some work on the truck but with temps in the teens and 20s it's just too cold in the garage. I may get the propane heater out.....or not.

Stay safe out there!!

 

Wonderful pictures. -14 is really cold. At -20 I do not like to be outside in the cold. I have always wanted to go up in a hot air balloon, I need to make that happen this year.

This reminds me to revisit our trust this year. Thank You

We have very few fires in the fireplace, maybe 30 a season, should we have the chimney cleaned every year?

Mark: I have a smaller 2 car garage and put in a 5000-watt Fahrenheit 240-volt heater about 15 years ago. Makes a big difference when puttering in the garage. The concrete slab never heated up, but I could work on our cars in a t-shirt.

The coffee grinder on/off switch came last night. I will be making the repair today. I have a Zoom call at noon today with a pit master on the west coast. Today's call is questions and answer session. I have a few questions about making my own rub. Only 18 degrees here this morning going up into the high 30's today. Stay warm everyone.

 

Tom - Make that hot air balloon flight happen!! Life is too short and it is an experience that is amazing.

I have a large 3 car garage with high ceilings - tough to heat. I wish I would have had the radiant lines put in before we poured the floor and added a separate zone to our heating system - one thing I would change having lived in the house for 17 years now. I could keep it at a comfortable temp that way. I do have a portable propane heater that will push the temp up pretty quickly but it's noisier than he**. We'll see. Maybe I'll hook up the heater to a propane tank later this morning.

 

Happy Birthday Kurt!

 

I just had a landscaper try this on me. Said it took more materials and time than he had estimated. I simply said that the work done was within the scope of the contract and that nothing unexpected was encountered and that was that.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/wood-heat-thread-post-pics.237436/

I have a woodstove that burns from Sept to April, or more. It is turned down low at night and that is most likely the cause of any creosote deposits. I am not an expert. I did stay at Holiday Inn Express last month though.
I can usually tell if the pipe needs cleaning if the cap is dirty.

Our roof is not steep. Only a loft as a second floor. The pipe is not long. Easy to clean with the brush.

 

We had a mini-split put in when our garage was built. It's also an insulated building. I run it at minimum heat in winter, and "dry" setting in summer. Don't really even notice a change in the electric bill. Might be an option for you if you put some insulation in...

Re estates in PA: IRA and other retirement accounts are also not subject to probate process or PA inheritance tax.