Thanks for all of your great comments on the last posting about wills!
Given the number, and breadth, of comments I thought it would be best to follow up with another post.
Living Trust
Yes, given the circumstances in Afghanistan we have certainly considered the question of “when to pull the plug.” The issue that I have is that I think this takes judgement beyond any specific period of time. I think the issue is that your loved ones judgement may be altered when you are in such a state. These are tough things to consider, but very important.
Pets
We are certainly glad that our readers brought up pets. This is something that we hadn’t considered in our initial conversation. We do have two lovely and enormous pets that would need a lot of love and food in our absence. We in fact adopted them from a woman whose mother had passed away and wasn’t a cat person herself.
Children
Kids are certainly a very important reason to have a will. We had left this out initially, as it hadn’t been part of our discussion. I am however listed as the caretaker of my nephew should my twin sis and her husband pass away.
Life Insurance & Disability
This one is a bit tricky, as I am well covered on both ends but James is not at all. I however will arguably be more in danger and whose salary we depend on. Should something happen to James I could reasonably get by on our current assets without having to downgrade out of our condo. Thus, considering that we don’t depend on his contributions to the household we feel it is less of an issue to insure him.
I do find it interesting that I am more concerned about covering James in my absence than the other way around. Perhaps that is just my way of wanting to take care of my love. I figure that the assets James would pass on would take care of me fine enough.
Letters to Family and Friends
My next task is to take the time to write letters to friends and family just in case. I’m thinking it would be interesting to write a new set of letters ever couple of years. This way, when I pass away at a hundred people will have a whole stack of letters over the years. The only problem is that most people would not make it that long with me. It would be an interesting exercise though.
Avoid the Hassle
When we first went to our lawyer she said that in DC we wouldn’t face probate at our current level of assets and thus we were less in need of a will. While we could certainly opt not to have one, this would be like not having a pre-nuptial agreement. For us, it is just the smart thing to do. Wouldn’t you rather discuss and decide how things will go rather than the courts? Not to mention family! We all have stories of this!
Share the word!
Altogether, very important things to consider. As I’m thinking of this I’m not even sure if my parents have up to date wills. I’ll have to check in with them.
In the mean time, I’ll work on staying safe!
Best wishes to all!
Miel
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