E260 3 Recent Solo Ager Estate Plan Questions

<p>The following are three recent questions from our Solo Ager readers. Thanks for your questions!</p> <p>As a side note before we begin: I’ve noticed that a more popular phrase is “Elder Orphans” rather than “Solo Agers.” I feel like “orphans” sounds like a bit of a downer. Please let us know what you think in the comments.</p> <h2>Can I disinherit with a poor man’s will?</h2> <p><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-41956" src= "https://anthonyspark.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Can-I-disinherit-with-a-poor-mans-will-300x169.jpg" alt="Can I disinherit with a poor man’s will?" width="300" height= "169" /></p> <p>A “poor man’s will” is a slang term for not having an official will, but rather, using your beneficiary designations to patch together an estate plan. You can disinherit people this way, but it probably won’t work out the way you hope.</p> <p>Too often, beneficiary designations do not reflect your final wishes. People often forget who they named as beneficiaries on their accounts. That kind of information doesn’t show up on your monthly statement; you have to call the bank. Another reason is that your account balance is continually changing. Maybe you want to leave your bank account to your nephew, but you like your niece more, so you leave her your larger brokerage account. Then, you leave the other brokerage account to your brother. What if one brokerage account over-performs and the other account tanks? Now your wishes are out of whack.</p> <p>When doing a poor man’s will, you don’t have the structure to run your estate. People like to avoid probate because the process is long, but probate actually gives structure to the process after someone passes away. Structure is important to make sure debts, taxes, and expenses get paid. You could run into the situation where no one knows who is supposed to pay for the funeral. Or maybe the IRS is hunting down all possible heirs to pay the taxes.</p> <p>Without a probate estate, there are no funds to pay an executor. If all the assets have a named benefi