Dear Judy,
When our widowed mother remarried, it was to a guy who never had kids. Our mother always told us to treat our stepfather like a real father. When she knew she was dying, she kept saying, “Take care of your stepfather…Make sure he’s eating right…Visit him often..”
Well my sister and I did all that. [...]
Dear Judy,
I just found out I’m likely to inherit $200,000 from my grandparents. I’d like to be able to share half of that amount with my mother, who needs the money.
Once the money comes to me, will I be able to give my mother $100,000 and share my inheritance equally with her? And if I [...]
Dear Judy,
I reside in California. I am now a widowed ex-spouse with two minor children. Their Dad and I shared custody, they were very close to him as he was very involved in their lives. He committed suicide one evening after the children and I dropped him off at home. It was shocking to everyone. [...]
Almost every week I get an email from someone who’s received bad news, and doesn’t quite know how to tell the kids. That’s bad enough.
But worse, far worse, is dying without taking care of the kids. And by that, I don’t simply mean providing them with enough money to make it through college. I mean [...]
Dear Judy,
I notice you get lots of emails about inheritance and wills, usually from disgruntled heirs or a relative who has her eye on Granny’s diamonds or Persian rugs. So let me tell you and your readers what my Granny did to prevent the feuding, resentment and carping that usually accompanies will-reading.
Our grandmother was really smart. [...]
Dear Judy,
I know you don’t usually deal with bequest issues. But this is important to me. My grandmother died at 85 last month, and left everything she had to the five of us — her grandchildren. We are all adults. I’m the only guy. I get all the money, it turns out. The female grandchildren [...]
Dear Judy,
Our mother is dying of cirrhosis of the liver, and my guess is (and the doctor’s) — she has maybe four or five months left. She looks distended, obviously. She’s pretty lethargic, but when she’s awake, I think she understands most of what we say.
My problem is our stepfather. He’s not a bad man. He stands [...]
Dear Judy,
My 72-year-old aunt has just been diagnosed (re-diagnosed, I guess you could say, because it’s the second occurrence) with breast cancer, and she just informed me she wants me to be the executor of her will. I’m a lawyer so I’m not too surprised by her request.
However, at the same time, my aunt added that I [...]
Dear Judy,
When my own mother died, I gave her good friends all sorts of items that belonged to her: beautiful evening bags from Judith Leibner that cost a fortune, expensive porcelain, $400 Hermes scarves that she either hadn’t ever worn or had worn rarely. That kind of thing.
A good friend of mine just died last month. On [...]
A reader writes in with a pretty common dilemma: her lawyer has told her to write a Will (smart lawyer!). That isn’t the dilemma, however. The reader is single, childless and 55 years old (meaning she should have written a Last Will long before this). She wants to do right by her two nieces whom [...]
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Posted on January 24th, 2009