My grandmother recently passed away, leaving behind a fair bit of money to her children. She had a will that was supposed to split the money evenly between her children (or said child's kids if any child pre-deceased her), but she set her accounts all as payable-on-death, and she didn't realize that this superseded the will. One of my uncles had died shortly beforehand, leaving behind a widow and three young children, who now aren't getting anything from the payable-on-death accounts, because they hadn't been updated to name his wife instead. The family is trying to get her the money that was supposed to go to her, but we want to do it in such a way that it will be spent on useful things for her and the children since said aunt has a history of being bad with money (racking up credit card debt on online poker, borrowing against the house to get a new car, etc.). The kids were all adopted out of foster care, so they already have guaranteed coverage for medical care and for college tuition as long they stay in-state, which means funding 529s for them doesn't make sense here. How can we make sure the money is used for useful things (ideally without the hassle of setting up a trust)?
Submitted April 09, 2021 at 09:50PM by tax_q_throw-away https://ift.tt/322tSCw
