Anyone know anything about estates and probate court?

[Tgo01]

One of my friends is very sick and probably has less than 5 years to live. She wants to redo her will so when she passes everything goes to her son. Apparently her other children "borrowed" (and never paid back) substantial amounts of money and my friend gave them a lot of money besides. The son she wants to leave everything to has never asked for money, never borrowed money and according to her seems to be the only one who cares about her current health conditions.

She's worried though because in her state when someone dies it always goes through probate court and a will is basically just used as a guide. She wants to ensure her son receives everything and is worried her other children will contest the will after she passes and will receive an equal share because she is in a sense cutting them out of the will. We're not talking about a huge estate either, it's less than 100,000 dollars.

I thought if she put her house, car and bank account in both her and her son's name that would bypass the probate court after she passes on and the son wouldn't have to worry about those things being contested. Is this true? Are there other things I'm missing with this idea such as taxes or whatnot the son might be subjected to in the meantime?

Any other ideas or suggestions?

[Drew]

If they do joint tenancy on the house she may have to pay gift taxes on it and it can still be disputed after her death.

[Tgo01]

If they do joint tenancy on the house she may have to pay gift taxes on it and it can still be disputed after her death.

I guess she already did a quit deed claim in her and her son's name. Don't really know much about quit deeds though.

[Ysamine]

Also in her will she should not write her kids out of the will but bequeath them something to show that they were not accidentally left out of the will or influenced to write them out of the will. Think Rainman and the rose bushes. Leaving a kid out of the will makes it easier to contest it.

[Tgo01]

Also in her will she should not write her kids out of the will but bequeath them something to show that they were not accidentally left out of the will or influenced to write them out of the will. Think Rainman and the rose bushes. Leaving a kid out of the will makes it easier to contest it.

She said she put in the will that everything will be left to her son and in the event her son passes before she does then everything will be split evenly between her surviving children. Think should she redo it and leave them something to begin with?

[Liagala]

If she plans to move things to her son's name, she should do it as soon as possible. Many states have laws allowing them to go back 3, 5, or more years to determine what was hers, in terms of estate.

[Latrinsorm]

Hire a lawyer!

[msconstrew]

Hire a lawyer!

Exactly. If she has enough money to worry about what her children are going to get after she dies, then she has enough money to consult a lawyer about estate issues. It cost me about $1200 to get a will, and that included setting up a recovable trust related to some inherited property. Further, every state's laws are different. For example, one poster above said you have to put a de minimus gift in the will to excluded children in order to prevent will contests. That's untrue. A statement in the will that the child was intentionally left out is generally sufficient, but it may actually require an affidavit and witnesses in some states.

Good luck to your friend. Sounds like a rough situation.

[Ysamine]

Mentioning the kids in the will assures that she was not suffering from dementia or forgot she had other children. Leaving them out completely opens the door for a point of contestation. And yes, best to get a lawyer.

[diethx]

Is this the friend with the stomach cancer? That's so rough. :(