A couple of things which may not have been mentioned;
1) Check with the financial institutions where her money is at to make sure that everything is in place to manage her money if you need to. People have posted that Vanguard in particular is difficult to work with in this situation where they would not take a valid POA which was not on their forms. You using her financial signons on is likely not allowed and could cause all sorts of problems if her account is ever hacked or if someone questions what you are doing with her money.
2) Make sure that there is paperwork and someone who knows what to do if something happens to you. I have heard of that happening and it was a mess. You mentioned that your wife has a POA in case something happens to you but you need to keep in mind that your mom could live another 20+ years and that would be a long time to take care of your MIL.
3) Get a copy of her contact lists and kept it current. My mom outlived my and when she passed we had a hard time knowing who to let know about the funeral arrangements. Many of the people we knew about, who were still alive, had either moved either out of town or to retirement centers so we did not have contact information for them. The next Christmas some people who had not heard sent her Christmas cards so we needed to let them know then.
Pointing out that if she does not have a will then lawyers will make a lot of money that might help her decide to set up something simple just to avoid paying the lawyers.
1) Check with the financial institutions where her money is at to make sure that everything is in place to manage her money if you need to. People have posted that Vanguard in particular is difficult to work with in this situation where they would not take a valid POA which was not on their forms. You using her financial signons on is likely not allowed and could cause all sorts of problems if her account is ever hacked or if someone questions what you are doing with her money.
2) Make sure that there is paperwork and someone who knows what to do if something happens to you. I have heard of that happening and it was a mess. You mentioned that your wife has a POA in case something happens to you but you need to keep in mind that your mom could live another 20+ years and that would be a long time to take care of your MIL.
3) Get a copy of her contact lists and kept it current. My mom outlived my and when she passed we had a hard time knowing who to let know about the funeral arrangements. Many of the people we knew about, who were still alive, had either moved either out of town or to retirement centers so we did not have contact information for them. The next Christmas some people who had not heard sent her Christmas cards so we needed to let them know then.
In addition to a will there is also other paperwork for things like medical directives and authorization for you to make medical decisions for her if she can't. In some ways these can be more important than the will itself.I am attempting to get her do an estate plan. CA is not a good state to probate in. She is superstitious about wills, so I might try to say that it's a special trust.
Pointing out that if she does not have a will then lawyers will make a lot of money that might help her decide to set up something simple just to avoid paying the lawyers.
Statistics: Posted by Watty — Tue May 21, 2024 11:22 pm — Replies 7 — Views 1287