Boomer Parents please do these 3 things
Both my parents died in the last 12 months. Please take my advice. This is for anywhere, United States.
Aside from all the estate planning and hiring lawyers you guys need to:
- Clean all the junk out of your properties. You leave behind soooo much stuff.
Family spent a full week clearing out my dad’s modest home. We have away about six or more van loads to charity. Gave away several van and car loads to neighbors and anyone who would be stop by. Still there was so much stuff!! No one has time to sift through it all. (My friend did with her mom she said it took a full year!) So in the end I had to pay junk hauling company $10,000 of my own cash to fill a 30’ dumpster and ten if their trucks. A crew of 5 or 6 for a full week. No one has time to go through all your stuff. We have jobs and kids. And our own medical bills issues. Stop thinking of us as kids with loads of free time!!
Start clearing it out while you’re fit and able.
Don’t keep secrets. If you want to give certain things to certain kids—do it while you are alive. Or hire a really damn good lawyer. Don’t be cheap and try to do some online thing. Because one of your kids will start a fight about it go to probate and we will end up spending 3x that amount and it will probably come out of your hard earned assets you left behind.
Pick some real passwords and save it to your phone’s keychain. Set up 2FA for everything. Add your personal representative or executors face or fingerprint ID to your phone.
Everyone info is on the web/dark web so create real passwords, save them to your phones password book. Use 2 factor authentication. Add your personal rep to your phone’s family and share the passwords through that. Then make sure whoever you want to be your executor or representative can get in your phone. Make them your legacy contact too. Your representative can’t do much without your phone. You can set up an extra Face ID or fingerprint for them on your phone. At least tell them the password to get in.
And don’t pick multiple representatives. Pick an alternate but co-reps are likely not a good idea. And while you are considering your representative, don’t just pick the trust worthy kid. Think about their spouse. Because when you pick someone, you are also picking their spouse.