WHERE THERE IS A WILL
THERE IS A SOMEDAY
Oh what a
fun day Mrs. C and I had today. We
visited my lawyer and made some changes to our Wills. There is nothing like starting out your day
contemplating your death.
Mrs. C’s
main complication was her house, which I currently occupy with her. Her wish is if that if she checks out before
I do, the house would go to her children, but I could stay there as long as I
wished.
My issue was
if I check out first, my wish is for Mrs. C to get the money from my retirement
account where she would use the interest for her expenses and leave the
principle to my children when she departs.
It turns out there are problems with a will guaranteeing either of our
requests.
It is
difficult to give the house to Mrs. C’s children and guarantee they would not
kick me out and sell it. There is no way
to guarantee that Mrs. C would use only the interest of an account or that she
would not change a Will and leave that account to her children.
The solution
is something my lawyer claims is a first.
Both Wills contain a clause which has never been tested in Estate
Law. We developed a “Karma Clause.”
This clause
makes it clear to all parties what were the wishes of the deceased. The clause states that if anyone acts against
those expressed wishes they will suffer bad Karma!
Is this
clause enforceable?
Do you
really want to find out?
Ooh, that will either work really well, or not work at all. People tend to be extreme in their belief or disbelief of karma.
ReplyDeleteWhere there's a will there's a way! (Or maybe you just need a better lawyer).
ReplyDeletetoo cool! intimidation from the grave!
ReplyDeleteOr you could both just live forever and piss all the kids off royally.
ReplyDeleteS
As you know I've been thinking about karma a lot lately. Interesting idea to add this concept to a will.
ReplyDeleteDo you personally get to enforce the Karma Clause, or does the Universe at Large? There might be a conflict of interest if you have to enforce it. :)
ReplyDeleteYou might want to check with another lawyer. The house next door to us was owned by the wife & when she died it was left to the adult children with a life estate for her husband. The kids couldn't sell the house until he died. It may be different in your state, though.
ReplyDeleteHmmm. I suspect your lawyer did not pass any bars on his way to taking the Bar exam....
ReplyDeleteHere's my suggestions.....Buy your wife's house from her for $1. In your will let her buy it back for $1 if she outlives you. If she does not outlive you, in your will the house goes to her kids when you die.
As for the retirement account....hell....appoint a bank to administer it if you go first....they will see that she gets only the interest and will not let her touch the principal. These ideas used to be workable....these days I would not swear to it, but do have another attorney check it out.
Or, have I taken this whole thing too seriously?? Sorry about that....You know me.....I cannot restrain myself from trying to fix things.