A fellow blogger Anne, shared that another blogger friend Sam's husband has passed away last week. I am so sorry for Sam and wish her peace and comfort during this extremely hard time.
The unexpected passing of fellow blogger Kim's husband, her reader Hilogene's husband and now Sam's husband made me decide to finally take action about my will. I am so sorry for all the ladies and they are always in my thoughts these days. My dad had passed suddenly when he was only 54 and I know how hard it is to deal with such a loss. Wishing them strength, peace and comfort.
For a long time, I have been thinking about how I could guarantee the well being of my loved ones after I pass. In this country, the law is pretty clear cut and I always thought, one could not exclude anybody who is a rightful heir. I found out that this was partially true. Say if you have two kids and you want to leave your estate to only one of them, the excluded kid is entitled to take the matter to court and at a minimum he/she will be eligible for 15% of the entire estate. In some cases, they can even get half as they should have.
In my case, I have no kids. I have a sister, an uncle and three cousins from my two late uncles. I am estranged from one of them and I certainly do not want my belongings to go to her. I have been told I can make a will, get two people to witness it and have it notarized. However, I do need some more information and guidance because my uncle's business went bankrupt and in case he inherits something of value, he may end up losing it altogether. Also, my sister and one of my cousins is married. I want only my cousins to benefit from my estate, nobody else. I do not have a problem with BIL and I am sure, if both SIS and I pass before him, he will certainly take care of my uncle and my two cousins. He is an only child so, there are no complications on his end except for the fact that, his dad is still alive.
I found a lawyer through a friend of mine and hopefully I am going to set up an appointment this week or the next to sit down and ask my questions and also how I should structure my will.
I made a family tree and am preparing my questions so that, I can use the time efficiently.
This is a morbid and cold subject but, it needs to be taken care of sooner than later.
Wishing everyone a peaceful week, long and healthy lives with their loved ones.
I am glad you're thinking of it,it always helps to be prepared. My heart broke when I saw the news about Sam :( Sigh! I come from a huge family, wills become even more complicated.
ReplyDeleteI have procrastinated long enough. In my mini family, the oldest "child" is 48 years old.
DeleteI recently shared an article from NPR about wills on my FB page, urging my friends to get a will done. Here is the link:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.npr.org/2020/06/26/884051182/end-of-life-planning-is-a-lifetime-gift-to-your-loved-ones?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_term=nprnews&utm_campaign=npr&fbclid=IwAR2jU5ZsSKUPcDH1loFoLcCr0vE5YeXLkA9vcBC_TREs_C9Fx7wlkzp-HEM
My thoughts are with all the ladies you mentioned and I can't stop thinking about what they must be going through. I'm actually starting to get scared thinking of all the people, friends and family I know and love that are all around my age and that each time I see or talk to them could be the last time.
Thank you for sharing the article Lorraine. I know what you mean about people our age. Whenever I feel like arguing with someone I love, I hold myself back because you never know. I always tell SIS that I love her when I am hanging up. I think.
DeleteI think she is tired of hearing that
DeleteYesterday was a real wake up call for us as well. We have life insurance, but only through our company, and our company did major layoffs this month. We need to get private life insurance ASAP, to protect ourselves, financially.
ReplyDeleteGood work getting on a task like that. It's no fun.
Last year my son who is a self employed farmer and his wife finally got on the life insurance search. He and his wife are 45&44 with 6 children. It was time consuming and a little scary but although not inexpensive they both were insurable and I know he has piece of mind more. She has some preexisting medical issues. I think his previous thought was if he died and his assets were liquidated they’d be ok but as his children are older her like to pass the farm down more. I’m at an age I don’t need life insurance, children are all grown and my state employee retirement insurance vets out at 65 with a lump put into a death benefit of about 20,000 enough for a funeral. Purchasing anything is way too expensive at this age. What I do need though is a will for any assets spelled out to my 4 kids! I have a old will from the 90’s splitting everything equally by 4ths which pretty much would still stand.
DeleteWith 6 children they do need to plan ahead. Glad they did it. I wish you a long and healthy life.
DeleteIt may be morbid but you will be saving everyone so much work if and when! I also set up a "Life in Motion" file where I put details of all my bank accounts (sounds like I have thousands doesn't it), the access codes, who to notify at the pension fund, sickness insurance, etc. I also took out an insurance to pay for my funeral. I'm not so worried about the cost but as was done when my brother died, all my kids would have to do is phone that one number and all the cogs click into motion. I guess yeah it is unpleasant to think about, but it would be so much worse if everything was a mess too.
ReplyDeleteYou're right. This needs to be taken care of when we are well and able.
DeleteSuch sad news. My heart literally broke when I heard the news. I just feel like I know Sam through her writing. I was introduced to Sam’s blog through your blog list. The poor guy couldn’t wait to retire.
ReplyDeleteSo true. She is in my thoughts.
Deleteit's not a morbid subject, it's life and something everyone should have in place. You want to make sure the right people get what you want them to have. It was the best $300 CDN we spent getting our affairs/wills in order.
ReplyDeleteYou're right. I am glad I have taken the step to do it.
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