Then his mom died…His father remarried someone half his age. Though she wasn’t necessarily a gold-digging spend-like-there’s-no-tomorrow, she obviously needed to be well kept. A year later, his dad died too. Guess were most of that hard earned/saved money went?
Morale of the story. If you pass away, chances are your spouse will remarry. Why should you make it easy for your spouse’s future significant other to enjoy what you should have enjoyed yourself.
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This is not at all a typical scenario, I think. In general, when a widow(er)s contemplate a 2nd marriage, they will ensure through wills and prenups that their children will inherit most or all of the estate.
So the whole just-spend-it-or-else-someone-unworthy-will is suspect.[/quote]
Actually, a good portion of people don’t have a living trust until it’s too late to begin with. Think about the implications of that one…
(Let me ask you..Do you have a family and if so, have you established a living trust yet?)
Most people never plan on the unexpected happening. Especially folks that are in in the 40ies or younger. I can tell, because I recall when these folks were doing their living trust, it was a haphazard way, in which they casually just asked my parents if they would be guardians..AT first my parents didn’t want to because it’s a big responsibility, but those friends parents just insisted, “oh come on, nothing’s going to really happen anyway”….
The other thing is once someone gets remarried, quite often living trusts rewritten..Afterall, a good portion of them are revocable…And if the spouse remarries and has (new kids) or such, he/she can do whatever he/she wants with it and redistribute it however he/she sees fit.
Some trusts (which are written) are written so haphazardly such that if the spouse dies, the inheritance goes to the surviving spouse completely, and not distributed between surviving spouse, children (with spouse as guardian)…..
This also has interesting implications if the spouse remarries and either dies or gets a divorce. (I’ve seen those too)……
Very few people adequately plan for the unexpected…If in doubt, just ask folks on this board who are in their 40ies or younger with a family if they have a LT already setup….I’m even willing to say most people are under-insured….but that’s a separate topic.
