This is how my Aunt and Uncle did it.

They put my name on the accounts, and I took care of their expenses from it when they got too old to handle it.

It also made it easy when they passed.

They had no children.

No issue until parents pass away...

Then it’s Patty and Berts...and I would expect a joint account.

Trust in marriage in ALL THINGS...even money.

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Originally posted by slosig:

quote:

Originally posted by 1s1k:
Once Patty’s parents die then whatever they leave to Patty as described in their will becomes Patty’s and Berts but not before.

Depends on state law and how the money is handled. In at least some states, if the money is left to Patty as her sole and separate property and Patty does not commingle it with “their money” or community property, then it remains Patty’s sole and separate property and Bert has no right to any of it.

That's the way it is in Ohio........thank goodness.

No, they've only been married 7 years. Very common arrangement. IMO trusts should stay in the family...….meaning, if Patty died, the trust should go to her child, not burt.

Nope. I would not give it a second thought.

No problem at all.

It isn’t Patty and Bert's money, it is Patty's parents money.

bendable keeps getting the same answer because of where the question is being asked. 99.9% of the folks here HAVE morals.

Ask the same question to a different set of people and I'd guess it would be closer to a 50/50 split on the answers.

I wouldn’t care, it’s their family’s money.
If hubby is focused on this point, he should seek counseling
As this is what tears families apart.

Would Patty be twisted out of shape over it? No.

Would Bert be twisted out of shape over it? If he is, he is a jerk. His jerkness is why the account is not accessible to him in the first place.

When Patti inherits, I hope she keeps the money in an individual account, not a joint account. Inherited money is not joint property unless it moves into a joint account.

$1.5m plus the duplex = 200 acres of prime Iowa farmland plus outbuildings. Grant did real well for himself.

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Grant did real well for himself.

Patty's two other sibling's got the same deal

Nope.

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Originally posted by bendable:

quote:

Grant did real well for himself.

Patty's two other sibling's got the same deal

My primary concern would be about the money being left in checking accounts. Anyone who has one of their checks could get money from the account via ACH, as I understand it. Also FDIC doesn’t insure to that amount.
At the very least spreading the money around to savings accounts in several institutions would take care of that issue.

My parents-in-law set up their “estate planning” methods on their own, some of which worked well, others did not. Worked out OK in the end because my wife and her older brother are honest.
IMO for that kind of money at the very least a visit to an estate planning attorney to discuss options would likely lead to a much better chance of parents’ wishes being carried out and much less chance of family quarrels among the heirs. However, the parents at least sold the family farm and turned it into cash.

A little off the topic of the original question - and I don't know the law in other states - but in PA a joint account can have unplanned inheritance tax ramifications if the child dies before the parent.

And I'm mentioning this only because it's so common for parents to add a child as joint account owner.

For PA inheritance tax purposes, if Patty would die before her father, the father would owe inheritance tax on 50% of the value of the joint account, even if the account was funded 100% by him! In essence, he'd pay inheritance tax on 50% of his own money as PA assumes he inherited one-half of the account value at the date of death.

We were advised to use Power of Attorney to avoid this surprise. Note that I have no idea how a Trust would factor into this scenario.

Just offering this as an FYI.