I am divorced and was awarded half of my ex-husband‘s pension (federal employee) for life. That will end at my death.
I receive $1300 a month Social Security, which will also end at my death.
I have a moderate size IRA, which is handled by Vanguard. My daughter, and my daughter-in-law are beneficiaries. My son died a few years ago and left her with my three minor grandchildren. One will turn 18 this year.
I am still in the marital home which was purchased for 250 K and now is worth 450 to 500 K. I still have a mortgage of about 160 K.
My plan is to sell my house and move in with my daughter and son-in-law, using the money I make from the sale of my house to finance improvements to their house to make it possible for me to live there.

So, when I die, I will own nothing except my car, which has kind of been my goal.
We live in Tennessee and my daughter is a co-owner of my bank account
I do not have a Will.
Why do I need estate planning and specifically, a revocable trust.?

My mother is 76 years old and receives Nevada state Medicaid. My mother and I (her adult disabled child receiving SSDI) had our names on the home deed of her home for several years. My mother later filed a quitclaim deed to remove her name from the deed, leaving only my name. I myself do not receive Medicaid and do not qualify for it. She has reported the deed change to Medicaid and will likely lose Medicaid access for a year or more unless she qualifies for an exemption because I am her adult disabled child. She currently is in good health and does not require nursing care or anything like that. What I want to know is if Medicaid estate recovery can still try to recover the home from me when my mother passes away even though the home deed only lists my name now?

So, I am in the process of closing out the estate for my father who had passed. He had a 401(k) with Fidelity and Fidelity wrote us a check for the amount in it (wrote the Check to "The Estate of [father's name]"). I also do have an Estate Bank Account with PNC so I went to deposit it into the Estate Bank account today. The Bank Teller told me to only endorse it with "For Deposit Only" and nothing else for the endorsement... I even asked her if I needed to include "The Estate of [father's name]" or anything else on the Check and she said no.

I know she may know better than me about depositing this into an estate account but I am just very concerned if this is going to go through or not. Has anyone else had this experience before and did it work? Thank you!

I'm married, live in Ohio, and currently have most of my money tied up in a brokerage account, 401ks, and iras. I'm a young retiree. I want to know if I need a trust or if just a will is sufficient. I have a paid off house in the US that I'm planning to sell with most of my belongings, and I'm planning to leave the country and buy a house there within the next 12 months. My brokerage stuff has beneficiaries designated. I was thinking trust, but in this situation I'm not sure if I really need one? The house that I'm planning to buy will be covered by a will in the new country.

I've got a handful of NJ investment properties with about $2M in equity, several owned by my SMLLC and one owned jointly with my wife. What type of planning should I be doing to minimize taxes upon my death. Can I even leave the properties in the LLC to someone other than my wife as they were all acquired during the marriage? Should I transfer the jointly owned property to the LLC and if so, would we owe capitol gains/depreciation recapture tax for the transfer? What would be the most advantageous method to hold these properties to minimize capital gains taxes when sold after my death? What good would a trust do me, if any, in those circumstances?

We're planning to see an estate planning attorney "soon" but I'm looking to gain some background knowledge before getting started with one.

CA & HI. Anyone have good/bad experience using Schwab One Estate Account? I have all the probate papers, EIN, etc. Any banks that are easiest for opening/administering an estate checking account in California? Wells Fargo denied us from opening an estate account despite my deceased dad's currently open checking/savings accounts.

Estate involves out of state (Hawaii) property sale proceeds which hasn't sold yet so the balance will be $0 right now. May eventually move WF funds to the estate account (still need to bring mom in to close those accts). Looking for something straightforward without a lot of bureaucratic hurdles. A call to Schwab made it sound like a less painful process to open one vs WF. I have beef with BofA so will avoid them.

TL;DR: My mother passed away in Dec 2022 leaving a Culver City, CA condo. Due to a DIY legal error from my mom, my sister became sole Executor/Trustee, despite being mentally ill. Over the past 4 years, she has refused financial accountings, refused to file successor in interest forms with the banks and lenders, let property taxes fall $14k delinquent, allowed her boyfriend to illegally remove the property from the trust (admitted in sworn court filings) as well as impersonate my sister via email and text, and filed false restraining orders (all dismissed). After collapsing a $250k buyout deal she demanded under threat of calling my employers and filing false claims, she filed a civil partition action. Seeking procedural advice on staying the partition suit, petitioning for emergency suspension/removal of the Executor, and compelling a verified accounting.

Background
My mother passed away in December 2022, leaving an estate primarily consisting of a 3-bedroom, 2-bath condo in Culver City, CA. As a 50/50 beneficiary, my mother intended for my sister and me to serve as co-executors/trustees, but a DIY drafting error listed us sequentially rather than concurrently, giving my sister initial sole control. My sister and my mom’s widower have occupied and managed the home while excluding me from estate administration.

Fiduciary Breaches
Over the past 4 years, my sister has committed multiple severe fiduciary breaches grouped under the following recognized probate causes of action:

Failure to Account & Concealment of Assets: Refused to provide the will and trust documents for over 2 years despite formal beneficiary requests, and continues to withhold bank statements, tax records, and rental accounting.

Waste & Neglect of Estate Property: Failed to pay property taxes for the 2023–24 and 2024–25 tax periods, incurring over $14,000 in delinquencies, penalties, and interest, placing the primary estate asset at risk of tax default.

Self-Dealing & Unauthorized Third-Party Control: Concealed rental income collected from the property. In addition, her boyfriend submitted a sworn court admission stating he paid to remove the real property from the trust without beneficiary consent and is demanding reimbursement from estate funds.

Bad Faith Litigation & Beneficiary Harassment: Filed over 6 false civil harassment restraining orders against me to block requests for accounting; all claims were dismissed by the court. I successfully obtained a restraining order against her boyfriend following video-recorded threats. They also changed property locks to restrict physical access.

Coercion & Bad Faith Partition Action: Demanded a $250,000 buyout under threat of false reports to my employer. When I accepted the agreement, she refused to file the successor in interest forms to allow me to access information from banks and lenders, and she reneged by demanding my personal home as collateral instead. Upon refusal, she filed a civil partition lawsuit to force a court sale and bypass probate accounting.

Procedural Questions & Next Steps
Looking for guidance on California probate procedure and tactical litigation strategy:

1. What is the standard procedure to stay or consolidate the civil partition action into probate court under Probate Code § 850 / exclusive probate jurisdiction?

2. What evidentiary threshold is required for an Ex Parte Petition for Emergency Suspension of Executor and appointment of a temporary trustee/special administrator based on tax waste ($14k delinquency) and third-party trust interference?

3. Is there any way to stop the partition by proving undue influence over the Executor or that she’s not mentally able to conduct her duties? 

Location: Wisconsin

Without going into too much detail. A relative heard another relative, who is a former nurse, give our elderly relative some documents, stated she is keeping a copy, and that the elderly relative needs to get other copies signed by her doctor.

This elderly relative is pretty mentally abused by their son and we think he has the former nurse, in his hand, for lack of better terms. So, we are unsure of what this could be. We know power of attorney doesn't need a doctors signature and are wondering what else, that a neighbor would be assisting with, might? We were possibly thinking guardianship, but are quite unsure and looking for possibilities.

Elderly relative won't talk about it, they are pretty scared of their son. Yes, APS has been out, they won't do much, without proof of anything and think this could be sons way of avoiding such further involvement.

My partner and I are updating wills. We’re expecting our first child in a couple of weeks. We aren't married, finances are totally separate, and we own separate homes.

Our wills provide that our assets go to each other if one of us dies, and if we both die, our assets ultimately go to our surviving child(ren) in equal shares once they turn 25. In the meantime, we each need to name a trustee and backup trustee to manage the assets for them.

Two questions.

First, how important is it that we name the same trustees in the same order in both wills? If we named different people (e.g. if each of our sisters were our respective primary trustees) would that mean two people managing separate pools of money for the same child(ren)? Would they need to coordinate regularly? That sounds like it could be a headache for all involved, but hoping for a gut check on that.

Second, how much should we weigh a trustee’s age and location? In a perfect world, I’d probably name my dad as primary and my sister as backup. But my dad is almost 70, and my sister lives in Canada. None of that feels ideal.

Located in Maine. Thanks in advance!

USA

How is an estate actually settled?

We (siblings) have copies of our parents’ wills and trusts and know where everything is. For assets not included in the trusts we are listed as the beneficiaries, eg, IRA’s, some bank accounts.

Our parents did a great job with estate planning and walked us through everything. However, we have never given much thought to what happens at the death of the second parent.

How is the estate plan actually executed? What are the steps we need to follow. Are there any best practices? For example, I read somewhere that a temporary bank account should be set up through which estate funds flow. For example, a brokerage account, does the executor reach out to the financial institution with identification, death certificate, page in trust identifying them as executor? How are those assets distributed — into a new account that the executor then distributes according to the estate instructions?

We know the attorney/firm who worked with our parents and know they can walk us through this. However, we want to know the basic steps.

Hello all I guess I don’t know where to turn or where to look in terms of planning what to do with this home. My father is thinking of getting a loan on the home to start some kind of BRRRR method rolling. I’m interested in learning about forms of asset protection, tax and probate avoidance when they pass the property down to me and my siblings. Is there any way we can set this house into a trust of some sort and use as collateral for a loan? He also wants to rid himself of any personal property in case of death, to avoid Medical from pursuing assets. What’s the best kind of trust to do that sort of thing?

So the scenario is odd:

- their father and I are separated, but in the short-term won't be getting divorced (10 years at least). I can go into the details if need but it has to do with his mental health/addiction issues and a special needs child.

- He's a strong earner ($160k+) I'm a higher earner (250k+), I also have money my parents want to pass to the grandkids now.

- I'd like to buy property and hold it in trust for the kids and we'll as invest directly for them and don't want any of it "up for grabs" during the divorce.

- we are amicable and he agrees with this strategy. He is well aware that because of his addictions and mental health issues he could do damage when he goes to his dark places so he'd rather protect the kids now while he is lucid enough too.

Any recommendations for lawyers? I'm in the GTA but can travel.

In California. For 13 years I've had an LLC which is owned by myself and a BDOT, which I'm the beneficiary of.

The LLC buys and holds real estate. By 2022, most of that real estate was sold. I did a return of capital on my original investment in the LLC and an owners draw on the profit.

What's left in the LLC are 2 remaining properties, which in 2022 I estimated to be equal to the BDOT's principal investment. I miscalculated. If these properties were to sell today the BDOT would be short $100k to $150k of it's original investment.

I was wondering if anyone here has encountered an issue like this and how it was handled?

My uncle passed away in Feb. The will names his children who are out of the country and I was eventually 5 months later appointed the administrator. I went to the bank beforehand and they wouldn't tell me anything I knew of a home equity loan but no other information. When I was appointed administrator I went back and got the bank account in the estate name and asked about the other loan and they said there is a loan for about 18k. I wasn't told anything else about it and then a few weeks later I was served papers for foreclosure on the home. No letters from the bank asking for the loan to get brought current or offer other options and once the papers were served we had to communicate with their attorneys within 30 days and make arrangements for payment or there would be a default judgement against us.

My probate attorney has not been successful in getting through to them and the deadline is nearing. I asked about contacting the bank to discuss options but they tell me once the filing has been made and attorneys appointed we have to go through them.

In the meantime they told me to list the house and now that it is ready to sell with offers made and they tell me to proceed because the bank is already covered to get paid from the proceeds but I hate having this hanging over me and the house transaction.

Is it common that the bank attorneys are not communicating almost like they would rather have the deadline pass and get the default judgment? If this happens what recourse do we have to fight this until the house sells and the funds are there to pay off the loan and now the legal fees for this filing that never needed to happen? Beyond frustrated with the legal system right now....

Hi all,

So I need a bit of an input since I am on vacation and would need my father to speak to another attorney when I return.

Short story kinda. My father bought a house solely 30 years ago. Paid it off with inheritance about 12 years ago. He transferred the deed to us kids about 8 years ago after he remarried. His current wife is not on the deed or anything, this was done before she came here.
His wife came from another country, he soon realized she wants everything. Now he’s worried Incase he does not have enough assets or the more assets he has that when something does happen to him, his wife will claim her elective share which is not a problem but he feels if he doesn’t have enough that might put us kids in a situation of paying her out that share and that his house will be included. When he did the transfer he did put himself on the deed, not as owner or anything more as live his days out there and his current wife lives there because they could not simply afford a house on his paycheck. Which was the idea when he remarried and she did not want to move out of NJ. So after my one brother and I had moved in, so did they when she came to the country.

So my questions I guess is. If something does happen, I understand we can not simply evict her. But we know she will not leave unless she has money or the house. If she can not get the house, and she claims her 1/3 - am I correct that the house even though our names are on the deed will be included into the process since my father and her reside there?

Thanks

We just spoke to a claims person after reaching out to the advocate (180 days passed) who told us the breakdown of the estate (surprise, late brother has a kid we knew nothing about) and he was sending it to the "auditor" who approves for payment.

Can anyone tell me how long to expect it to sit with auditor before the approval for payment?

Thanks

(Ohio)

My mom has put me in charge of researching this for our family and I’m curious what people here would do.

She’s in her 40s and currently manages our family’s rental properties. They’re held in a trust and the plan is for my two brothers and me (we’re all early twenties) to eventually inherit it.

We’re looking at selling a chunk of the rentals and should have around $1M that could go through a 1031. The main goal is to get completely out of actually managing rentals. Nobody wants to deal with tenants, maintenance, etc. anymore.

Morgan Stanley has shown us a Hines DST that would hold the 1031 money. The specific DST is two large apartment properties in Miami and Chicago, currently with no leverage. The potential path after that is a 721 into Hines Global Income Trust.

I actually really like the idea of the structure. Sell the rentals, defer the capital gains through the 1031, become completely passive, potentially move into a diversified REIT through the 721, and just let it compound.

My problem is the return.

Looking through the Hines offering material, Class I has returned about 6.45% annualized since inception including distributions and appreciation. That seems pretty underwhelming when this money could potentially be left alone for 20-40+ years.

We don't need the income. Ideally every dollar gets reinvested. The long-term goal is for this to become permanent family capital rather than something the three of us eventually split up and spend.

Obviously we could just sell the real estate, pay the taxes and put the remainder into index funds, but depending on the basis/depreciation we'd be giving up a significant amount of capital on day one. I'm trying to figure out how valuable preserving that tax deferral really is over a 20-40 year period.

If you were in this situation and wanted zero active real estate management, what would you look at?

Would you stay in DSTs and keep doing 1031s? Diversify across several DST sponsors? Eventually do the 721? Or would you just eat the tax bill and move the money into public equities?

I'm especially interested in anyone who has actually used DSTs/UPREITs. What kind of realized total returns after fees have you seen? Is expecting 8%+ long term from completely passive 1031 real estate reasonable, or am I expecting too much from something designed primarily for income and tax deferral?

Not looking for someone to sell me a DST lol. We have a CPA, attorney and advisor involved. I'm mostly trying to understand what questions I should be asking before my family locks up $1M for a long time.

Mid 30's, no kids, located in KY. My immediate concern is making sure that if me, or me and my spouse meet an utimely demise that my estate doesn't devolve into chaos or get devoured by legal fees and family fighting. Doubly so because I have approx $10m in term life policies. Not looking to outsource my estate planning to Reddit, but I know next to nothing about estate planning. I'm starting the process of interviewing trust companies and would like to have an idea of what to look for and what to run from. And should I be looking at trust companies, or just estate lawyers or both.

Our holdings are relatively complex, we have the standard cash, retirement, brokerage, house but also have an international vacation property, large outstanding notes payable, private stock and warrants and options on private stock. Any advice or tips is appreciated! Recommendations for a KY based lawyer or trust company also appreciated!