Do you have a will?
Monsieur_et_Madame_Ha
member
Mobile bumpers: Do you have a will?
Warning - This is very sad - It made me cry, and I am fairly certain the pg hormones had nothing to do with it
My co-worker's neighbhour unexpectedly passed away last Friday. He was 32 and seemed compltely fine. He started complaining to his wife about having difficulty breathing, but by the time the ambulance got there, he was already gone. There was nothing they could do.
He is leaving behind his wife, their 2.5 year old, and an unborn child (wife is 12 weeks pregnant). They were both from China, and the wife wants to move back there to be with family, but she needs to sort things out here first. Which is where the importance of a will comes into play (my co-worker's neighbhour didn't have one)
In this province, if you pass away and don't have a will, 1/3 of what you have goes to your spouse and the remaining 2/3 go to your children. Everything they owned, they owned together: the house, the joint bank account, etc. That means that part of it now belongs to the kids and the wife can't do anything with it (like put the house on the market). It's a pretty big mess that will likely take months to clear up, and I just can't imagine having to deal with that on top of the sudden loss of my husband, especially with family being so far away.
This whole story just breaks my heart and I don't want to imagine what it'd be like if it were me instead of my co-worker's neighbhour. There's obviously nothing we can do to prevent the unpreventable, but this has really opened my eyes to the necessity of writing up our wills as soon as possible.
Re: Do you have a will?
That is so, so sad! Really makes you stop and think that you just never know....
To answer your question, we do not have a will. We have talked about it, and I feel that it is really important to get one put together. We always falter when we talk about who would take responsibility for DD (and now baby #2) if something were to happen to both of us. The most obvious choice is our parents, as none of our siblings have children yet, or are even married.
On one hand, DH's parents are in a somewhat better financial position than mine to provide for their future. But on the other hand, they're also ten years older than my parents, who are probably in a better condition (physically) to keep up with two little kids on a day-to-day basis. We really need to sit down and come to some sort of decision, though.
No will, I think in the US though everything goes to the spouse, and if both were to die to the parents?. . . but I am not sure how that works as 1/2 to my parents and 1/2 to DH's mom?
We have discussed once and thought my middle brother would be the best choice, but never asked him or put it in writing.
No we do not have a will. We need to do it, but we're TTC and it seems silly to make one before then. I guess I should just do it. Maybe that will be my New Years resolution too.
Olivia June BFP 12/26/10 EDD 09/01/11 Birthday 08/02/11
BFP 12/25/12 EDD 09/06/13 M/C, 01/02/13
BFP 01/28/13 EDD 10/08/13 STICK BABY!
"Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer." Romans 12:12
Owyn Russell - August 10, 2011
Lily Ann - March 22, 2016
We just got life insurance (yay us!) and we have been talking about the will for some time now. We had agreed that my brother should take LO in the event that something happened to both of us, then MIL butted in and said she didn't want her grandson raised by him and wanted him with a set of grandparents. DH cannot stand up to her, to we compromised that my parents would be the guardians for now if something happens. Grrrr. She makes me absolutely crazy. After we had our physicals for life insurance, she says we are overpaying, we didn't shop around enough. It's none of her damn business. God I hate her, and there is no way in hell LO would go to live with her. EVER.
One thing I have learned from my grandparents' mistakes: You should leave everything to someone in your will (spouse, kids, parents, whoever) because if it is left to the estate, it goes to probate, and the survivors have to pay a certain amount of taxes on everything all over again, and go through a lot of legal mumbo-jumbo to access the money.
Ooooh thanks for the tip. Also, I love your new siggy pic! So much so I think I will start a separate thread about it!