[Jewelry making - Article 01171] - Re: [Orchid] Legacy...

[The Doctor]

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    Hi Kathy. I chose to reply to your post in particular, but only
    because it hit me very close to home. I'm not aiming my reply
    specifically to you, I'm just sharing my own experience with all. 

>         Well, dad died rather suddenly in September, without any sort
>     of will or living trust. Now we get to experience the joys of going
>     through probate on his house. Fortunately we know that there's
>     nobody who can legally contest it, but it's still a huge hassle,
>     and it is bringing a lot of creeps out of the woodwork who are
>     trying to collect on debts for deadbeats whose names are similar to
>     dad's. 

    Seriously consider a revocable trust, as opposed to a living trust
    or will. This is what I set up for my mother because she wanted to
    completely avoid probate and all of the hassles you mentioned.
    Basically, a revocable trust is an instrument you and your attorney
    set up which contains all of your property and you name yourself the
    trustee, i.e., The Kathy Johnson Revocable Trust, Kathy Johnson,
    Trustee. In it, you name a Successor Trustee and a Contingent
    Successor Trustee. 

    The benefit is that when you pass away, the one you name as
    Successor Trustee becomes the Trustee, just as you were. Done. No
    probate, no woodwork crawlers. A Pour-over will insures that any
    properties unnamed in the original trust you haven't had the
    opportunity to add before passing  "pours over" into the trust. If
    the Successor Trustee dies before the Trustee does, the Contingent
    Successor Trustee takes over. The Successor Trustee should be the
    person who would have been named Executor in the will. 

>         But if I choose not to keep the equipment, I will have to
>     decide what to do with it. It would have been greatly helpful if
>     dad had given me a clue where he wanted the stuff to go (and even
>     more helpful if he'd written down some basic instructions and ID'd
>     the stones...). 

    Absolutely necessary with a will, even more so with a revocable
    trust. ID everything and at least leave some sort of instructions as
    to the disposition of everything, even if only in a general way.
    Most of us want a better, easier life for our kids, this last act
    may be one of the best efforts to accomplish just that. Probate is
    no fun for anybody (except attorneys). 

>         Don't leave your family in that position. And don't disrespect
>     your own legacy of jewelry making by leaving unidentified items to
>     be thrown out, sold at a garage sale, or dumped into someone's rock
>     garden. 

    This very thing happened to my mentor, a wonderful woman of 78
    years, a lifelong rockhound and jewelry designer who got her G.G. at
    age 64. Her widower, with whom I had a falling out some time before
    her death, sold a (relatively) small amount of her items piecemeal,
    and the rest as a full estate for practically nothing. He had no
    idea what any of it was worth (he mentioned so to me many times
    before our problem), and hired a local 30-year-old "friend" of the
    family to help him price items. This guy's hobby is to find all of
    her opal that he can, break it all into small chips (no matter what
    the quality) and put them in vials because "that's pretty, people
    will buy them." He priced a Trapiche Emerald at $5. A friend of mine
    walked away with a riker box with several hundred karats of faceted
    Aquamarine for $50. How would you like that to happen to YOUR stuff? 

>         And get your will or living trust done *NOW*. 

    Kathy, you are SO right. I got my mother's done several years ago,
    it's time for me to get on the ball as well. Thanks so much for this
    kick in the pants, I needed it!! 

James in SoFl

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