Happy Sunday!

This week I wanted to talk about a probate that came into our office this recently – and the disastrous results that almost ensued.

It is the wrong way to do estate planning with minor kids – and something I see more often than I’d care to admit.

Here’s the backstory.

Someone called our office because their parent had died.

The caller was not a minor. They were an adult.

They told us there was a Will and they needed to open probate – we were happy to help.

The first thing we do in a probate with a Will is review the Will to make sure it is valid, and to confirm who the executor is and distributions.

As we reviewed the Will we were shocked to see that the Will left everything not to their children, but to a family friend!

This was not what the children anticipated, or the friend, for that matter.

The friend explained that they’d been named as the beneficiary in the Will because when the Will was created the children were under 18 and the decedent thought naming the friend would be good because then the friend could care for the children.

Wrong.

What this Will did, in effect, was cut the children out of any inheritance!

Thankfully, in this case, disaster was averted, as the friend was willing to take steps to ensure the kids received the inheritance.

But they didn’t have to – and if they didn’t, everything would go to them.

If you have minor children and want to appoint someone to oversee your assets if something happens to you, you MUST do this with a revocable living trust.

Anything else you do opens the door for disaster.

For example, let’s say the friend died before the parent. There is a good chance the inheritance would have gone to the friend’s kids instead of their own kids!

If you’re in the market for estate planning, please talk to a pro to learn about what you should do (and ask questions about any ideas you might have to see if there are unintended consequences).

Sometimes it can mean the difference between taking care of your kids and cutting them out of your estate.

Have a great week!

Cheers.

Christopher Small
Founder/CEO
CMS Law Firm LLC

PS – don’t keep this estate planning stuff to yourself – you know it’s important and we LOVE referrals!