Reply to MIL’s will has left kids fighting

Forum Index » Eldercare

Reply to "MIL’s will has left kids fighting"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This sounds like tiny amounts of money.  If you aren't in serious need, I'd just stop paying attention.  It's not worth the stress.  Let the siblings duke it out.  Your DH has no responsibility and even less so since his kids were excluded, so he has no need to pay attention on their part.  [/quote]

He should try to take on a minimal role, participating calls and calmly stating reality. F not it will just be a bigger mess.

He should point out calmly that the life insurance benefits are not part f the estate and can not be used for estate debts to protect estate assets. When his sister suggests that everyone privately give their share back to pay off the car, I would point out that there is no reason for all the siblings to donate 3K to secure a used car for a 30 year old who already has one and a 16 year old who just got their license. Be clear that the car is an asset. The value of this asset is only its current market value minus the remaining loan balance. Sometimes pointing out the absurdity of someone’s manipulations makes things very clear to all. [/quote]

+1, although at this point I would operate under the "assume good intent" principle. Executor is likely under a good deal of stress and grieving. She may feel an obligation to carry out her mother's wishes even if there isn't money to do so. And she may be getting pressure to do so from other family members.

RE: the car - grandma couldn't will something she didn't own. And if there's a car loan then she didn't own the car outright. It makes no sense to the heirs to pitch in $ to buy a portion of the car.

OP, your husband can do what he wants and feel how he wants to feel. But nothing is going to change the fact that it appears that his mother's estate may be largely drained by her debts and that he's unlikely to inherit anything. So he should focus on his sibling relationships and if he wants to maintain them. As far as the estate it seems like a consult with a lawyer is a good idea so that it's clear what goes into the estate, what doesn't (life insurance, retirement), and then how the heirs can obtain the property willed to them (most likely buying it from the estate at fair market value) in the case where the estate doesn't have enough money to pay all the debts. I'd avoid these side agreements and keep it by the books.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics