Author |
Message |
Glenn
Member
07-05-2003
| Sunday, February 11, 2007 - 3:25 pm
Kearie, I agree with everything Karuuna said, well, until the last part about being dangerous.
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Grooch
Member
06-16-2006
| Sunday, February 11, 2007 - 4:07 pm
I am ready to make a will. I have no kids but I want everything to go to my nieces and nephews. Not that there is anything to go to them. I asked a lawyer and she told me she normally charges $1,000. But since I work for my boss, she would only charge $500. Is that a lot of money for a will? I'm sorry, but I don't have much money to spend. But at the same time I know it will be money well spent.
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Weinermr
Member
08-18-2001
| Sunday, February 11, 2007 - 4:16 pm
<My mother has talked about her will since I was young. Always asking us kids what we wanted in the will when she died. I think she probably changes her will every year or so...updates it. Now her big question is...When she dies, how does she leave me my portion of the $$$ without messing up my disability. Her thots were trying to find a way to issue me so much of the money to live on each month. $500 or so. With my SSI that would give me enough to live on without the extra help my mom gives me now. Is there anyway to do this legally?> What you need is called a "Special Needs Trust". Your mother can set up a trust now while she is alive, or create the special needs trust through her will. Either way it can take affect after she dies. The Special Needs Trust will name a Trustee, who will make the decisions as to whether you receive any benefits from the trust, and how much you are to receive. A special needs trust is different from other kinds of trusts in that its provisions protect you from receiving distributions which put your other benefits at risk. See an attorney. Its worth the cost.
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Karuuna
Board Administrator
08-31-2000
| Sunday, February 11, 2007 - 4:21 pm
Grooch, it depends on how big your "estate" is, so it's hard to answer. However, if your assets are very simple, I would go the Mocha route, download a form, fill it out, get some witnesses, get it notarized, and stick it in a safe deposit box, and give a copy to whomever you've designated to be the executor. You can also buy the Suze Orman kit for about $15 at Amazon.
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Karuuna
Board Administrator
08-31-2000
| Sunday, February 11, 2007 - 4:22 pm
Glenn, I'm not sure if you're saying I am dangerous, or I'm not dangerous. Then again, I'm not sure I wanna know. 
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Weinermr
Member
08-18-2001
| Sunday, February 11, 2007 - 4:23 pm
<Kearie, she should look into living trusts, transferring the assets into a trust now, before she dies. She can take money out of the trust as she needs it. As I understand it, when she dies, you become the executor of that trust, and can take out money as you need, without exceeding the limits of your SSI.> The fiduciary named in a Will as an Executor. The fiduciary named in a Trust is a Trustee. She cannot be the Trustee of a trust and make her own decisions about how much benefit she is to receive from that trust. This will make her ineligible for the other public benefits she is receiving. <Also, you might look into whether a life insurance payout would effect your SSI the same way as an inheritance. An inheritance is considered income and you must pay taxes on it. However, a life insurance payout is not considered income, and no taxes are due. Since it is not considered income, it may not effect your SSI. It may be that it would be best for your mom to take out a life insurance policy with you as the beneficiary.> An inheritance is not treated as income to the recipient. The income EARNED on the assets inherited is income. However this does not change the fact that receiving an inheritance will increase the assets one owns, therefore disqualifying you from receiving other benefits which are provided to those without other means of support. <Either way, you should talk to a tax specialist to figure out the best way to handle this. I am not one, and probably know just enough to be dangerous!> The best advice. Consult a good estate planning and tax attorney. There are inexpensive ones, and there is good legal aid everywhere. And there are attorneys that specialize in special needs situations.
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Karuuna
Board Administrator
08-31-2000
| Sunday, February 11, 2007 - 4:40 pm
See, Glenn, I told ya I knew just enough to be dangerous! Thanks so much, Weinermr, for providing much better advice!
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Cndeariso
Member
06-28-2004
| Sunday, February 11, 2007 - 4:41 pm
wow, Weinermr, you said a mouthful of good advice.
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Karuuna
Board Administrator
08-31-2000
| Sunday, February 11, 2007 - 4:45 pm
Heh... guess it was one way to pull Weimermr out of hiding, give bad my own bad advice. Since it worked so well, I may have to keep it up! 
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Cndeariso
Member
06-28-2004
| Sunday, February 11, 2007 - 4:51 pm
LOL your advice wasn't bad, karuuna.
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Glenn
Member
07-05-2003
| Sunday, February 11, 2007 - 4:53 pm
and once again, I agree with everything Karuuna said and was about to say.
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Landi
Member
07-29-2002
| Sunday, February 11, 2007 - 4:56 pm
glenn is a suck up! lol!
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Karuuna
Board Administrator
08-31-2000
| Sunday, February 11, 2007 - 4:56 pm
LOL, Cnd, jsut a bit off the mark, as was gently pointed out. Hey, I got one thing right tho! Get a specialist. And Glenn, once again, I have no idea what you mean, and that's probably a good thing! LOL
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Glenn
Member
07-05-2003
| Sunday, February 11, 2007 - 5:12 pm
Well, you should know that I wanted to point out that Weinermr was the person in the know about this topic but since he does not know me as well as Karuuna I wasn't sure how he would receive my acknowledgement. Landi, I am not a suck up. I was dealing with my passive aggressive inclination. It can be overwhelming at times.
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Mocha
Member
08-12-2001
| Sunday, February 11, 2007 - 5:21 pm
Looks like Weinermr has the answers. I can check with some people I work with though who handle SSI. I've only worked with the disability part. Rofl landi and Glenn!
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Dogdoc
Member
09-29-2001
| Sunday, February 11, 2007 - 5:41 pm
Grooch, I think I paid the lawyer $150.00 for my will but that also included the living will and organ donation forms.
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Cndeariso
Member
06-28-2004
| Sunday, February 11, 2007 - 5:47 pm
we paid somewhere around $300 for the both of us and that included the living will and durable power of attorney. that would be wonderful of you, mocha!
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Kearie
Member
07-21-2005
| Sunday, February 11, 2007 - 5:52 pm
Awesome Mocha. I would really appreciate that.
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Mocha
Member
08-12-2001
| Sunday, February 11, 2007 - 6:09 pm
No problem.
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Lancecrossfire
Animoderator
07-13-2000
| Sunday, February 11, 2007 - 6:18 pm
Lotta did a simple will over the internet before she had surgery awhile back. Before I had my hip surgery in October, we went to a lawyer specializing in estates to take care of my will and everything else. She had him check her will. It turns out that what she really wanted wasn't covered well in some places, and contradicted what she wanted in other places. It wasn't because it was a bad will from on line--it was because of the way she worded things. (although the way she worded things it seemed like she was saying what she really wanted to happen) If a person has kids, the what seems like a simple statement be complicated. And with various options available, for trusts and such things, letting an estate lawyer know exactly what you want to happen under different situations allows for the greatest chance of you getting exactly that.
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Twiggyish
Member
08-14-2000
| Sunday, February 11, 2007 - 6:31 pm
I think we paid around 300.00 for ours, too.
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Mocha
Member
08-12-2001
| Monday, February 12, 2007 - 8:07 am
Kearie here's the info I got from my friend who works SSI and I'm copying and pasting: If a SSI person receives an inheritance such as cash, property, vehicles, etc then if that person's total resources exceed $2000 then that person is ineligible. We look at assets as of the first moment of the month. The person will be ineligible until the resources are spent down below the $2,000 max. Receipts are required to provide proof of this. If it's in their name even as a co-share it will count as a resource against them.
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Kearie
Member
07-21-2005
| Monday, February 12, 2007 - 12:09 pm
Mocha--- Thank you so very much. Is that the same as disability? Is that called SSI or SSDI? I'm on disability from SSI. I have a question totally unrelated. What's the difference between feeling shame and feeling guilt? Is there a difference?
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Cndeariso
Member
06-28-2004
| Monday, February 12, 2007 - 12:17 pm
according to Webster: guilt - the fact of having committed a breach of conduct shame - a painful emotion caused by consciousness of guilt does that help, kearie? i had no idea what the difference was either.
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Mocha
Member
08-12-2001
| Monday, February 12, 2007 - 12:18 pm
Yw Kearie. SSI and SSDI are the same and it's different from straight disability which is also called Title 2 under the legal code.
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