michaeljc70 wrote: ↑Tue Aug 03, 2021 7:25 am
As others have said, the main issues are personal belongings and
if one of the expected beneficiaries dies before the father. For example, say the wife dies before the father and he doesn't change who gets the house in time. The wife's long lost cousin (or whoever her heirs could be) could get the house. Some brokerages allow more advanced beneficiary designations but some don't.
My husband and his brother took his widowed 90-YO mother to our estate planning attorney several years ago, as she was clearly declining mentally. The lawyer set up a trust with the two brothers as trustees, retitled the house and bank accounts and also created POA, health care surrogate and living will documents.
MIL was clear that she wanted everything "divided equally to my boys" but I still recall my husband coming home after one appointment and saying the lawyer had stumped all of them by asking what did mom want to happen to her estate if one of the brothers died before her? Nobody had considered that possibility-they all agreed the child or children of the deceased would inherit their dad's share.
Due to dementia and repeated injuries caused by her lack of ability to care for herself, within 6 months MIL was placed in assisted living where she remains today almost 6 years later. She will turn 98 in a couple of months and is now in a vegetative state on hospice care in the memory unit. Having all the documents in place to care for her has taken a burden off us that was unimaginable at the time but which is unfortunately all too common today with better medical care for the elderly.
As for the will, my brother in law was diagnosed a couple of years ago with terminal cancer and this spring we jointly agreed to simplify MIL's affairs by selling her house. In this market it sold fast and for close to a million dollars.
BIL died in June. Less future expenses for MIL's care, my niece will now inherit half of that amount.
None of us ever would have predicted that my MIL would still be alive at almost 100 albeit unable to move, speak, talk or comprehend anything while our much loved brother in law would be dead at 70 years old.
We all know the end of the story. But we can never know the timing or what twists and turns life will hold on the way there.
To the OP: tell your dad to quit being selfish and short sighted and get the will and care documents set up. Why is he deliberately trying to make life harder for those he says he loves, especially at a time when they will already be emotionally distraught by his loss whether it be through death or dire physical/mental decline and dependency?