updating paperwork regularly and dying tidy

I certainly don`t like delving into my paperwork, which is all in files in a suitcase but needs must, especially for online stuff that has no paperwork, like energy bills

I have scribblings in my notebook, sometimes I can hardly decipher them myself

Something I must do this autumn

I think I will get another file, keep paperwork in there specifically for places that would need to be contacted. Banks, energy companies, dvla etc. Pretty good guidelines in that express article and at present I keep lots of details that I can put to one side such as my eye prescription, papers relating to pension and so on. I shall put just the bare details in that new file, telephone numbers and account numbers etc, so everything is at hand and quick to access

We have done our wills , become tenants in common, done the POAs but now querying whether we take the next step to a family trust. any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.

You need to ask your solicitor about creating a trust BB. There are different types, and all depends on your individual circumstances. I would only say, in general, beware of giving money or property to a trust from which you don’t benefit during your lifetime as if you need care in the future it could be seen as deliberate deprivation of assets.

I’ve got the death elements sorted for myself, but since I retired I have to say I can’t stand paperwork, it’s my greatest area of procrastination. I’m currently forcing myself to catch up, I’ve got a list with what I’m calling the EDF column- Estimated Delay Factor. I’m doing 5 things every day, and some of my EDFs are quite embarrassing- up to two years. Oh dear.

BigBertha1

We have done our wills , become tenants in common, done the POAs but now querying whether we take the next step to a family trust. any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.

As Germansheppardmum says BB . Be very careful about trusts. When we knew my DH was terminally ill we allowed our solicitor to put our house into a trust.
Big mistake. It's taken me nearly 4 years to get out of it and a lot of upset and money.
In effect if I wanted to sell, downsize or raise equity from the house I would have needed the permission of all 5 of our children. That did not sit well with me at all. There's a lot more issues around it but won't bore you. Happy to say my third lot of solicitors have been able to get the trust rescinded.

Basically that’s the point of a trust mumski - you give the property to the trustees. You may be one of them but you can’t dispose of the trust property, or raise a mortgage on it, on your own.

Obviously, it’s sensible to have paperwork such as this organised to make it easier for those who will have to sort it out eventually - but I hope you are living your life as fully as possible now?

When my friend's husband died, she had to go to court. All her married life her husband controlled all the finances, he even chose her cars. She never worked and was quite happy to be dependent on him.
He was a very astute business man, but left no will. It was an absolute mess, she found keys to properties he owned, which she knew nothing about.
Nothing was labelled, no passwords left.

I couldn't believe how foolish she had been.

Our wills are made, funerals paid for,all accounts joint and POA's done. I have no wish to leave my family a mess to deal with.

A poster commented recently that her husband carried all their finances in his head. The most dangerous place imaginable.

Germanshepherdsmum

A poster commented recently that her husband carried all their finances in his head. The most dangerous place imaginable.

😱

What if he died suddenly? How can people be so naive?

From the way I understand it, if you have had a family trust for a long time, and one of you needs to go into a care home, then the remaining partner does not have to pay as much in care home fees.

But if one of you dies before going into a care home, then the need for care home fees doesn't arise. However, there are then issues with the money going to the rest of the family and possibly not enough left over for the remaining partner.

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

My aunt and uncle had a trust. After they died it cost my cousin thousands of pounds to get rid of it. She said the only people who benefited were the solicitor and the bank.

Exactly Marydoll - or had a stroke or accident which rendered him permanently unable to communicate. 😱 indeed.

When my father died, my my mother buried her head in the sand and left me, heavily pregnant, with two toddlers to deal with everything. When the family lair was opened, it was full, she told me to sort it. She never asked to the day she died, how I managed to pay for everything.
When she died, I had no idea about the financial mess she was in.
I swore I would never put my family through that.

That is exactly it Marydoll, that is hitting the nail on the head.

Alice75 it is nothing to do with living the best life, most of us already live the best life we can. It is about having empathy and consideration for the people who will have to sort our details after we die

I have an updated will and also POA, executors and an attorney, both done by my solicitor. I should think that they, my AC and my DGC would be grief stricken and relieving some of the burden is quite honestly the last good thing we can do for them

👏👏👏

I have a list of all our bank accounts etc which I keep updated and our daughter knows where it is. We still have accounts etc from our time in business which are kept for 7 years to comply with HMRC and every February I enjoy having a bonfire to destroy the oldest set.
I also have information concerning my deceased parents and was surprised to learn that anything to do with probate should be kept for a minimum of 20 years - fortunately I learnt this before I had burnt anything of theirs!

Living your best life and leaving all your affairs in order can coexist

Not being morbid, just being sensible ,thinking of those you will leave behind and making the process as stress free as possible.

I don’t understand why it is that, when I was till working I was really organised with all of my paperwork but, since I retired it just piles up and I can’t seem to keep on top of it!

We've all documents, bank things etc kept together with little business books. Our Children know all the details.

"Digital wealth" - if only

I don’t even know what a ‘trust fund’ is. I have written a Will, dividing everything, except jewellery, between my three children. My daughter will get most of my jewellery. As a matter of fact, I intend to hand them over to her in the next few weeks.

I’ve got the really important death things sorted, and so have my very elderly parents. But - they also have a large house full of things that are heirlooms, collections, and treasures to them, which they don’t want to part with, and the thought of getting all those things valued, packed and cleared to lots of different places is daunting - more so than the paperwork, which was relatively straightforward.