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Thread: Trusts -- do you really need to have one?

  1. #41
    Senior Member jp1's Avatar
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    What are digital assets?

  2. #42
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    Quote Originally Posted by jp1 View Post
    What are digital assets?
    Here is a digital cheat sheet on how to create a digital estate plan. It explains.

    https://www.everplans.com/articles/d...al-estate-plan

  3. #43
    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    We dont have digital assets that create income, but we certainly do have data everywhere. We have recorded the password to our main computer and have a written record of passwords to most of our social media accounts. In the pure sense the content of those social media accounts are not mine, so they are not technically assets. Zuckerburg owns my Facebook content, for instance.

    I have thought about this is some detail, and
    I do not care if my Facebook page lives on forever, or if it is deleted. So many other social media sites will simply become inactive if I die.

    For financial records, I expect our Executor to interact with those holding companies, banks and brokerage firms, in an analog way.

    But certainly key passwords that provide access to digital sources you want managed should be recorded in the estate documentation. I think the key piece here is “you want managed.” As I said, I dont care about 95% of it.

    edited to add: I do not keep important or private information in the cloud and if it all disappears, or is all unaccessible upon my death it is no big deal. I have 1,000 photos in Cloud storage, but no one wants them, they simply are not important.
    Last edited by iris lilies; 1-21-18 at 4:37pm.

  4. #44
    Senior Member jp1's Avatar
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    Interesting. I had given absolutely zero thought to what would happen to my facebook account after I died. When friends have died their pages either remained or their family had them closed. Since I won't be around I don't much care which way mine goes. And like iris lily, I don't have any financial assets that have any financial value or much else stored online. The main password for my computer, as well as my password vault password are written down and stored in a spot where they will be found after I die. Those are the "keys to the kingdom" as every other of the 116 passwords I have are stored in the vault. Not that most of the 116 accounts will have any importance after I'm dead. I mean really, no one is going to be interested in logging into my Headset Parts Unlimited account...

  5. #45
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    The terms of our will set up a trust for our minor daughter in the event my wife and I die at the same time. Between insurance, pension, investment accounts and real estate, it's enough for her upkeep, education and probably a decent nest egg around the time she hits thirty. One guilty pleasure of the process was deciding the various ways we could impose our will on her from beyond the grave. A gap year in Europe? Not on my cold dead dime, my darling.

  6. #46
    Senior Member beckyliz's Avatar
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    Everyone should have a will at the very minimum. Even if you have all assets titled with beneficiaries, with joint owners or with transfer or payable-on-death, you may receive assets later on when you are not able to set up the designations the way you want them (inheritance after you become incapacitated, for example, or die in an accident where there are insurance proceeds paid to your estate).

    Also, if you have beneficiaries or joint owners or TOD/POD designations, you have to remember to change them when or if that other person predeceases you. Read the forms - what happens if the beneficiary predeceases? Does it go to his/her heirs? Back to your estate?
    "Do not accumulate for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal. But accumulate for yourselves treasure in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, your heart is also." Jesus

  7. #47
    Senior Member jp1's Avatar
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    And everyone should review their will/trust documents on some sort of regular basis (annually, every two years, something...) for the same reasons beckyliz mentions. My dad's uncle had established a trust but it wasn't current in terms of his assets at the time that he and his wife passed away, so almost a third of the estate went to a lawyer to clean things up, and took almost 1 1/2 years before the remaining assets got distributed.

    It's also easy to forget an asset when designating beneficiaries. I recently realized that I'd never set a beneficiary for my HSA. It's not a large part of my assets, there's only about $10,000 in it, but nonetheless, I'd still prefer that it go to SO rather than my sister if I pre-decease him. And years from now it will likely be more than just $10,000 (unless, of course, I have some long drawn out final illness).

  8. #48
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    Quote Originally Posted by jp1 View Post
    And everyone should review their will/trust documents on some sort of regular basis (annually, every two years, something...) for the same reasons beckyliz mentions. My dad's uncle had established a trust but it wasn't current in terms of his assets at the time that he and his wife passed away, so almost a third of the estate went to a lawyer to clean things up, and took almost 1 1/2 years before the remaining assets got distributed.

    It's also easy to forget an asset when designating beneficiaries. I recently realized that I'd never set a beneficiary for my HSA. It's not a large part of my assets, there's only about $10,000 in it, but nonetheless, I'd still prefer that it go to SO rather than my sister if I pre-decease him. And years from now it will likely be more than just $10,000 (unless, of course, I have some long drawn out final illness).
    That is absolutely true. We waited five years between reviews, and it was amazing how much had changed in our situation.

  9. #49
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    Recently received a newsletter from estate planning attorney that previously checked our plan for completeness. The newsletter mentioned putting copies of all beneficiary forms in estate binder in case they should be lost/misplaced by entity where money is held. Interestingly, when checking Vanguard I can find beneficiary forms for each of our individual accounts but not for those held jointly. Needless to say, I am calling Vanguard on Monday.

  10. #50
    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by frugal-one View Post
    Recently received a newsletter from estate planning attorney that previously checked our plan for completeness. The newsletter mentioned putting copies of all beneficiary forms in estate binder in case they should be lost/misplaced by entity where money is held. Interestingly, when checking Vanguard I can find beneficiary forms for each of our individual accounts but not for those held jointly. Needless to say, I am calling Vanguard on Monday.
    That is creepy to contemplate, that our brokerage accounts misplace our beneficiary data. But I suppose it is possible.

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