| Having someone you love die suddenly can be | | | | property would be divided. |
| terrible enough. But when that someone had no | | | | Instead of the estate plan they had intended, the |
| signed estate planning documents, the nightmare | | | | real estate was divided into thirds, one-third for |
| of dealing with the financial mess can go on for | | | | her and one-third for each of their two children. |
| years. | | | | Now her family is close, and everything will |
| Mark and Eileen had gotten to the point with their | | | | probably work out all right. But this could be a |
| estate planning attorney where draft documents | | | | never-ending nightmare for the widow in some |
| had been prepared. Even though their estate | | | | families. |
| planning attorney kept encouraging them to make | | | | Of course, even getting that far wasn't easy. Her |
| decisions, Mark and Eileen never got around to | | | | lawyer had to file for probate for the separate |
| resolving a few open questions. | | | | property, which meant more forms, more legal |
| And then Mark was killed by a totally unexpected | | | | mumbo-jumbo, more expense, and of course, |
| cerebral hemorrhage. One day he was here, the | | | | more time. All in all, it took two years from the |
| next day he wasn't. | | | | time her husband died until his estate was finally |
| Then Eileen wondered how she was going to live. | | | | settled. |
| She thought things would simply come to her and | | | | And the worst part? The legal fees were about |
| go on the way they had before, with the same | | | | $17,000. That's right, $17,000. And most of this |
| bank accounts, investments, and real estate. But | | | | amount were fees based on the value of the |
| that was not to be. | | | | probate estate and fixed by state law. It didn't |
| Much of their property was community, which her | | | | matter how much time her lawyer spent on the |
| attorney explained meant that it could be | | | | case, whether there were a hundred pieces of |
| transferred to her without probate. Without | | | | property to deal with or just one, he got the |
| probate, sure - but with a lot of legal papers and | | | | same for the probate - $14,000. (The additional |
| a court filing - a "spousal property petition" - that | | | | $3,000 came from the spousal property petition |
| cost her $3,000. | | | | above.) |
| However, her husband had inherited a piece of | | | | Not finishing their estate plan cost Eileen $17,000, |
| real estate from his parents. That made it | | | | took two years of her life, volumes of |
| separate property. Imagine how shocked Eileen | | | | paperwork, and ended up with her husband's |
| was to discover that separate property does not | | | | estate not being passed on the way they had |
| go to the surviving spouse in California! | | | | intended. |
| She and Mark had planned that this property | | | | The moral of this true story: put aside your |
| would go to her while she was alive, and then | | | | objections, doubts, hesitations, and reluctance; find |
| pass to their children upon her death. But since | | | | a good estate planning attorney; get a will and a |
| her husband died without a will, that is "intestate," | | | | living trust - and sign these documents; GET IT |
| California law determined how his separate | | | | DONE! |