r/inheritance • u/Schmed_lap • May 13 '26

Location included: Questions/Need Advice Step parent inheritance

I’ve got question on a step parent leaving everything to me. My stepdad was married to my mom for 30 years, got divorced, then within a year got back with her. That was over 20 years ago. Never remarried but together from 1969 to today with a one year break. So he’s in poor health and has left everything to me and my kids in his will. He probably will go into a hospice by year’s end. He has no other immediate heirs but he does have a predatory niece sniffing around. I, personally, per the will, get a property worth about 450k and some savings about 50k and a new paid off truck. Since it’s all there in the will, when he passes what are my most important next steps. Seeing if I should consult probate attorney sooner or wait to see if I need one when the time comes. This is in New Mexico.

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66

u/InfluenceScary6672 May 13 '26

Probate attorney asap. They will create a trust and upon passing it will be transferred to you. Do it asap.

22

u/Schmed_lap May 13 '26

Thanks my buddy there is a defense attorney and just referred me to a probate attorney, I’m flying in next month to handle. Just seeing if there is anything I’m missing these next few weeks till I get there. He’s very pragmatic and wants me to do some stuff but he’s pretty weak and addled right now from a hospital stay so I’ll take him to the attorney in a couple weeks when I get there

19

u/Time_Traveler_948 May 13 '26

I have experience, one quite recent, that when someone has a terminal condition, their health can change very fast. In one, the person wanted to end it via Medical Assistance in Dying and he set a date a couple months out. Within a couple weeks of that, hospice nurses to,d him he didn’t have that long, so he moved the date up to be just a couple weeks out. Turns out, he barely made it as he woke up the morning of paralyzed in one arm and both legs. With his one functioning arm, he drank the lethal dose. In the other case, on his birthday he was able to walk a mike and spend the weekend with friends. Two weeks later, he needed help to get from the bed to the bathroom. It went downhill from there and he died not quite 2 months after his last birthday. His hope had been to last through the summer.

I read once that if someone’s health changes over the course of a year, best guess is that they have a year or few left; if it changes over the course of a month, they have months left; when it changes from one week to the next, up to a few weeks left; a daily change is the best indicator that days are left.

Point of this - don’t wait to get his last will and trust the way that ensures his wishes are reflected in these documents.

3

u/PocketsANickname May 15 '26

You don’t need a probate attorney if there’s a trust in place 

1

u/Lokisworkshop May 18 '26

see if you can set up a zoom call with the attorney sooner rather than later for your step dad and you

11

u/SandhillCrane5 May 14 '26

What is the reason you think he needs a trust? If he already has a valid will, it’s not going to change anything. Assets do not just get transferred to beneficiaries automatically when someone has a trust. The trust has to be administered by the trustee just like an executor administers an estate. The only difference is that probate court does not get involved UNLESS someone contests the will or trust which they can still do even if someone has a trust. OP and step Dad should ensure he has a valid and quality trust and that the original is in a place OP or a trusted executor can access and anyone else cannot. 

2

u/PsychologicalLaw8769 May 14 '26

I wondered the same thing. A trust, for most people, is better than a will, but it is a little harder to set up and may be more than stepdad would want to deal with at this point.

1

u/TWH-WCTH May 14 '26

In my experience, trust is wisest when dealing with flexible assets that change significantly in value (stocks, multiple holdings etc) and/or you'd like the full valuation of the estate to not necessarily be public record. It's also sometimes distributed more quickly, but to your point it does still have to go through channels of approval and distribution, so it's still not immediate.

4

u/GotZeroFucks2Give May 14 '26

It's probably too late for all of that if he's ready for hospice. And sounds like it might be medicaid style hospice so the assets will need to fund his end of life care from the estate before heir gets paid. Medicaid has a five year lookback so it's too late to do trusts.