<p>Our will is on file,at our lawyers office. He advised us NOT to put it in a safety deposit box because in the event both of us died at the same time…no one would be able to get to it! </p>
<p>Since our will isn’t exactly a secret, we sent a copy to our chosen executor. But it’s still on file with the lawyer too. And a number of people know who the lawyer is.</p>
<p>My lawyer is a firm of lawyers, there are people to take care of my will/trust when the original lawyer is no longer there.</p>
<p>Interesting about who should have a copy/where to keep it…I assume an original copy must be available? What about an electronic copy? Who needs to see an original after death? Dh and I just met with our attorney to update our will/trust last week and he agreed to share our final documents in electronic form (in addition to hard copy originals). I’ll have to ask him these questions as I thought we could just share the electronic copies with the appropriate people (executor, etc.).</p>
<p>Our lawyer told us he has a copy and I have a copy, I have to check on that since my memory is not good lately.
I think an electronic copy is a pdf format of the paper copy. </p>
<p>Our will is very simple (most assets will pass outside of the will). We filled out forms in a community class run by a lawyer, so can’t store at a lawyer’s office. (I’m ok with that. I called our NY lawyer that I thought had our old 1990 will, and he had consolidated with another firm and could not find it. So perhaps it is best in our own hands.) </p>
<p>We’ll probably store our new at home. So I am shopping for a bigger home strongbox for will and various other paperwork. I would leave the key in it, like we do with our current small strong box. It’s for protection from fire and water damage, not robbers. </p>
<p>It does make sense to mark all copies as “Copy - original stored at _______” </p>
<p>How hard is it to get a court order to open a safe deposit box?
My parents kept theirs in a strong box at home. My mother developed dementia and before I could get to the home she opened the box and every thing was missing. I recently discovered some on the contents hidden in the bedroom. </p>
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<p>On file at the lawyer’s office, and a copy in our safe. Our executor also has a copy. Our will/trust is a little complicated so it was done by a lawyer who specializes in this type of practice, within a firm. A sole practitioner would not have been the appropriate choice here so no concerns about succession if the lawyer passes away before we do. We do not use a safety deposit box but the lawyer recommended against keeping the wills there.</p>
<p>Because of this discussion, I’m thinking of adding one kid who lives near us to have access to safe deposit box. There is nothing valuable in there, mostly important papers like birth certificates, passports and such.</p>
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<p>You could, but it could take a while. Sometimes there is a need to have an executor named fairly quickly, and that process could be delayed if you can’t get to the will. Bank accounts will be frozen with no access for anyone, etc.</p>
<p>We were in a situation once where a relative tried to STEAL a will after a person’s death. The will was not in her favor, and we think she would have destroyed it if she had managed to get it, because without the will she would have inherited everything. It was quite the cloak and dagger moment. We sent a trusted friend to pick up the will from the deceased’s house, and she tried to get into the house while he was there and asked for the will. He had it in his inside suit pocket, and didn’t give it to her. I assume having a copy at an attorney’s office could have been quite useful in that situation (don’t know if there was one or not).</p>
<p>If you have a safe, make sure someone knows how to get into it! My original is at my attorney’s office, and my kids know who that is. There is a copy in a lock box in my house, and D1 knows where the keys are.</p>
<p>My parents always assumed that my mother would outlive my father but the opposite happened. My father didn’t know where my mother kept the key to the safe deposit box and filled the paperwork out to have it opened. When this happens, everything within the safe deposit is inventoried and estate taxes may be due on jewelry or gold coins within the box. </p>
<p>The federal estate taxes don’t kick in until the estate is over 5.25 million. But it is possible for that to occur. </p>
<p>dadx, I thought it’s twice the amount because there are 2 parents, is that not correct?</p>
<p>It’s correct, but it also depends on having arranged asset ownership and the wills correctly. If someone doesn’t do that properly, they’ll pay more in estate taxes than they are required to. It’s quite complicated and its rather nice for many people that the exemption level has risen, which makes it easier to deal with since I’m well under the new levels. </p>
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This was true up until 2010, when the law changed and exemption portability for spouses was added. It is no longer necessary to set up bypass trusts or play games with asset ownership or do other estate planning in order to get the full $10.5 million.</p>
<p>There can still be good reasons to continue to use bypass trusts though, but not needing them makes planning a heck of a lot easier for medium-sized estates.</p>
<p>I found the following link useful as to what should you fund your trust with. So far I only put illiquid assets, I think it sounds like the IRAs should not be changed over either.
<a href=“https://www.estateplanning.com/Understanding-Funding-Your-Living-Trust/”>https://www.estateplanning.com/Understanding-Funding-Your-Living-Trust/</a></p>
<p>For the people that this will matter to - the 2014 figure is actually $5.34 million :> </p>
<p>For the people that this will matter to - the 2014 figure is actually $5.34 million :> </p>
<p>On the wills and safe deposit boxes, etc. Be sure that anyone who may be dealing with those issues knows where to find them. A family member recently passed away unexpectedly, and though she was typically meticulous in organizing, we could not find will. We found a safe deposit box key, but have no idea what bank it is from. (We’ve checked many of them, with no luck). For all we know, it’s an old closed box, perhaps even from a previous move. We also discovered that she had a storage unit. If you have something like that, make sure people know and that there is access to the key! </p>
<p>My H has a state pension, which they keep messing with, reducing contributions, requiring us to contribute, trying to change the whole system. It is scary. He has just under 5 years before he could get full benefit, and we are sort of holding our breath, hoping the state doesn’t make any catastrophic changes. We don’t have much in retirement accounts beyond that, but, if all goes according to plan, we will have the house paid off and have no other debt to speak of. </p>
<p>Health care costs can be extreme. The same for nursing care. My mother is in a skilled nursing facility, which, thankfully, can now be covered by medicaid, but that was a process, and now limits her options. Prior to that, when she was able to do more for herself, but not to live on her own (We tried the living with relatives thing, that was not working on many levels), but medicare does not cover Assisted Living. Had my father not passed away first and left mom with some life insurance, she would not have been able to afford it.<br>
She was not able to purchase LTC insurance due to preexisting conditions (even year ago), and my impression is that you have to be very careful about LTC insurance, as not everyplace will take it. </p>
<p>Link to read more about bypass trust and $10.680M
<a href=“What Is an AB Trust?”>http://wills.about.com/od/overviewoftrusts/a/abtrust.htm</a>
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<p>We’re veering off topic with this stuff, but its worth keeping in mind that it could all revert to the older system and the “portability” for those folks who could use it might be revoked. It wasn’t that long ago that it was $1mm for the exemption. Longtime homeowners in affluent areas find themselves in that category fairly often. </p>