Personal Finance (Not Investing) • Letter to heir - what would you include?

so your suggestion is I write my son out of my will ?.... My point was sometimes it's delivery not message and knowing the audience. It's also about framing it so it's helpful for the individual and taken in the right intent. If he had a letter summarizing where the assets were, the properties and bank accounts, sure that would be helpful.

Both my kids have been on their own for a decade. Although i don't always agree with their financial choices, they have never asked for money, filed for bankruptcy. had bad debt... they manage their own accounts and they know how to change / move homes. They don't need me to tell them how to pay the electric bill ....The goal is to simplify this as much as possible for my wife when I pass and also for my children.

if someone feels their heirs are too young or less capable and need help so be it...

Tibbits, help me make this productive. i have no issue with either letter. I just personally , for me, find more value in the other letter and provided that perspective. .. I am not trashing a nuts and bolts letter. If it, however, becomes an 8 page letter, unless it's a very complicated estate, it feels like parenting from the grave....

I am retired with a 7 figure estate.

one 401k still at megacorp, one brokerage account with joint investments,wife's IRA and Roth, A TD account, a local bank and a home. Will and beneficiaries in place and considering a revocable trust but still doing my homework. All items on one page with accounts and location. Beyond utilities, that I want to be cremated and where the deed is ..... Sincerely where are the 8 pages of nuts and bolts?


Once again. there is no correct /one way to live or die.....

I provided an example of what's in the eight pages. Don't you believe that a paper savings bond that hasn't been delivered yet could easily be misplaced or lost if someone didn't know to expect it? My last one was actually delivered to a neighbor by mistake. Do you believe your beneficiary would look at your income taxes carefully enough (when you'd already filed and your remaining refund deposited in your bank account) to notice that you were still owed a savings bond(s)? Does your beneficiary even know that it's possible to request a part of a refund be paid in savings bonds? I'm guessing most people don't.

You gave paying the electric bill as an example. I have two electric bills at two properties with different utility companies, neither of which is familiar to the person who'll administer my estate. My document describes the payment methods, which are different for both companies. Under the circumstances it might not occur to someone that if a certain credit card is cancelled after death they'd need to change the auto-pay for that account, rather than wait for a notice of non-payment, which they might or might not receive in a timely manner. My objective is to minimize the time and effort required in the "discovery" process.

I'm saying that if your son wouldn't read every item in an eight-page letter you should turn the estate administration task over to someone else. That's not "disinheriting" him, it's acknowledging that the actual work of administering the estate needs to be left to someone who's willing to pay attention to details and would appreciate - and not resent - having multiple pages of detailed instructions.

Statistics: Posted by 1moreyr — Thu Mar 14, 2024 6:55 pm — Replies 68 — Views 4805