Timing Is Everything: Assets That Can Go Directly To Heirs When You Die, Assets They Wait For

When you have a significant amount of money to leave to your heirs, how your money is tied up or invested can make a big difference as to when your heirs will get the money you have left behind. While you might want to create a trust that is funded with your assets once you die, you can also name beneficiaries specifically on some of your assets that will then go directly to the beneficiary upon your death without having to be probated in court. You can leave assets in a number of ways, and you can talk to your lawyer about setting up your estate to reflect this.

Assets that Transfer Immediately After You Die

If you have a person taking care of your basic needs, paying your bills, or otherwise helping you from day to day, it may be easier to have a checking account that includes this person's name on it so that they can take care of business for you. You don't have to keep a lot of money in this account, but if you want to give this person some cash when you pass away, a joint bank account is one way to do it. When you have a joint bank account, the money in your account becomes the property of the other person when you die.

When you have a life insurance policy, you name at least one beneficiary. The policy goes directly to any named beneficiaries when you die, and they do not have to wait for your will to be probated to receive their money. You can also have life insurance policies go into a trust, which means the money will go through probate court and be dispersed according to the terms of the trust.

When You Have Reason to Make Heirs Wait for Their Inheritance

Sometimes you have an heir that isn't the most responsible with money. Instead of giving them their entire inheritance at once, you can set up a trust that will disperse the money over a period of time. The parameters of any trust are yours to control, and you can set up a trust to pay for specific bills for a person, to pay out at certain times, or to provide interest payments only. How you dispense the money in a trust is determined by how the trust is set up, so it's important to work with an attorney like David R Webb Attorney or others to set up a trust that works for you.