Are we covered?

[withonel]

What is the name of your state? CA

I am divorced, with 2 minor children and I live with my bf (not their father).
The house is in my bf's name alone, he has 2 minor children, & 1 adult child who still lives with us 1/2 time. He has left the house and all contents to me in his will, specifically excluding the children.
We have made our parents beneficiaries on our 401K's, and each other beneficiaries on our life insurance policies. The intention is to have our parents hold any inheritance for the kids until they are of age since our exes are both willing and able to care for our respective children should one/both of us die.
We each have a car, which are still financed. That's it for assets.
Question 1 - Since all I have is my car, do I need to have a will?
Question 2 - He plans to put the house in a trust...just haven't quite figured out how yet... is the will enough to keep me in the house should he die before the trust is complete?

 

[Dandy Don]

Is the house fully paid for or is someone still making mortgage payments on it? If possible, and boyfriend is willing to pay the few hundred dollars of legal expense, you need to ask him to get your name added to the deed if the house is fully paid for. If it is not paid for, then the mortgage company still owns it.

Do you or whoever boyfriend has chosen as executor know where the will is located?

What is the value of YOUR estate? Yes, it would be wise for you to also have a will made out in order to exactly specify what your wishes are for your money, especially the description that the insurance money is to be held in trust for the children. Have you discussed this aspect with your parents? As it stands now, if you have not discussed this aspect with them, as beneficiaries they could spend the money on themselves and wouldn't necessarily have to give or save any of it for the children, if the parents don't know what your wishes are.

You may even consider wanting to establish a trust yourself, and putting the life insurance policies in the trust and either choosing a professional trustee to manage your trust (which would save your parents the time and trouble of doing that), or naming your parents as trustees, thereby assuring that the money would be held in safe investments until the children reach college age.

Read a book about trusts and consider having a consultation with an estate planner or with a trust attorney or with the trust department of a bank and they can advise you.

 

[oopsidaisy]

I would be careful, if your name is on the deed that makes you fully responsible for paying off the debt as well, unless he has mortgage insurance.

Without your name on the deed, and if he doesnt have life/mortgage insurance to pay for the house, you can walk away from it, and let the bank deal with it.

 

[djohnson]

oopsy,
If you read the above post you can see he stated if the house was paid off that would be something to look at.

Nothing makes you liable to pay a debt except signing to pay the debt. So even if he could add her if there was a mortgage she would still own her half. But if there is a mortgage they can't just add her to the title. Please try to be helpful and correct with your responses.

 

[withonel]

My parents are aware of my wishes in regards to my 401K (only $5K), I think having them be the beneficiary is the cleanest method. Once the kids are on their own, I'll make them the beneficiaries. The life ins policy is to assist my bf in final arrangements and help replace my income which currently pays for utilities, food, etc., he's the beneficiary so there shouldn't be any issues with that.

Is the house fully paid for or is someone still making mortgage payments on it? -- No, still making payments. We've not put me on the title because of unpaid fed taxes (prior to divorce-I'm making payments), don't want to risk a lien on the ppty.
So if something were to happen to him, where would that leave me? , Assuming I am able to find a way to refinance the house, does the will keep me from being out on the street?


Thanks.

 

[Dandy Don]

The will has no power to keep you in the house, since boyfriend is not the owner of the house and has no right to do anything with it. Since the house is not paid for, it still belongs to the mortgage company. At the time of his death, you would need to decide whether you want to continue making payments on the house, in which case you would renegotiate or make arrangements about this with the mortgate company (and they will probably agree to this since they want the payments to continue coming in), or if you don't want to continue making payments, the mortage company will repossess it and sell it to someone else, or you could confer with the mortgage company about selling it yourself and paying off the remaining balance with the profit from the sale.