Estate Planning (retry without trigger words)

I do shoot people's ashes up in a bowling ball mortar.
So far free of cost. Have shot off a hunter friend and three relatives so far.
All the living relatives are pleased with the results.
4 oz of FG Black powder and a 15 lb ball with fInger holes bored out larger for ashes,gets one a goodly way to the heavens.
Balls are left in a grassy, brushy area of prairie where they land.
Quite unique way to go.
My kids have instructions to send me off likewise.
Wish I has a video to post on this I pad . It is such a Loud boom and concusion it sets off car alarms.


Cool! I have a few relatives I’d like you to launch. Do they have to be dead first?
 
In my 40s, I think it's still statistically 50/50 that the plane will be the instrument of my demise. :D I suspect other health risks will be ascendant soon.

We've made no plans for my death, but it's starting to peek into the back of my mind, having now dealt with my grandfather's (unplanned) estate and mother's (also unplanned) loss of cognition -- it sucks sifting through the detritus of a loved one's assets and household. I don't want to do that to anyone I leave behind.
 
My wife told me that I'm not allowed to die before her, but if I do it has to be in the plane so she doesn't have to deal with it.
 
In my 40s, I think it's still statistically 50/50 that the plane will be the instrument of my demise. :D I suspect other health risks will be ascendant soon.

We've made no plans for my death, but it's starting to peek into the back of my mind, having now dealt with my grandfather's (unplanned) estate and mother's (also unplanned) loss of cognition -- it sucks sifting through the detritus of a loved one's assets and household. I don't want to do that to anyone I leave behind.

Amen to that. I've done that four times - three time with relatives and once to help my mother who was an executrix of a neighbor's estate. Do not put this on your kids.

I've left instructions to have the children take whatever mementos they want, and donate / trash the rest, sell the house. My wife hired a service that does nothing but go into houses and cleans out. Throws away what needs to be, sells everything at auction, and what doesn't sell is donated. They take a percentage of auction for their services.
 
My dad did everything right trying to ease the burden on his heirs. My sister (w/o a will) died before him, then my dad died, then before the estate could close, my sister's husband (also w/o a will) died. What a mess to untangle.
 
My wife told me that I'm not allowed to die before her, but if I do it has to be in the plane so she doesn't have to deal with it.

Get back at her by meeting your maker while sitting in the aircraft in the hangar.
 
I instructed my wife to call the broker we bought her from (the plane, not the wife) and get her sold asap; planes don't like to sit. If we both die at the same time...it was probably in the plane... although I suppose I should write those instructions down somewhere. I do have a document with the location of everything valuable and suggestions for disposing of it (retirement accounts, safe deposit box, guns, etc), but I've neglected to update our since we bought the plane.

I'm also ashamed to admit to not having a will. We got a good start on one a few years ago, but hit a wall on deciding what to do about the kids. Splitting them up vs keeping them together, her parents vs mine, etc. I suggested we buy them a boxcar in the woods, as that seemed to work out okay for those kids in the books.... The reality is at this point there's so many and our parents are so old they'll need to split up and go to their godparents. We just need to write it down. I think our estate will be worth enough that they won't be a financial burden, and I like all their godparents enough to trust them with them, although the one is a bit of a hypochondriac germophobe.

Yeah I need to get that done... thanks for the reminder, unnamed shadowy organization .
Send the kids to my house and leave me a combine or two. Preferably ones that work.
 
I do shoot people's ashes up in a bowling ball mortar.
So far free of cost. Have shot off a hunter friend and three relatives so far.
All the living relatives are pleased with the results.
4 oz of FG Black powder and a 15 lb ball with fInger holes bored out larger for ashes,gets one a goodly way to the heavens.
Balls are left in a grassy, brushy area of prairie where they land.
Quite unique way to go.
My kids have instructions to send me off likewise.
Wish I has a video to post on this I pad . It is such a Loud boom and concusion it sets off car alarms.

Someday, someone's going to be really curious how all of those charred bowling balls built for some dude with really fat fingers ended up in that field...
 
Most of us are not going to fly until we die. Most of us will get sick and spend years shut in at home or in assisted living. Our families won't want to do anything while we are still alive, so our planes will sit for years unflown.

Well, unless we forget to top off the gas, or check the weather, or a few other things... :)

But it is a good point that pilots with planes should have a plan to transfer their aircraft between the time they stop flying and lose the ability to do their own planning.
 
My dad did everything right trying to ease the burden on his heirs. My sister (w/o a will) died before him, then my dad died, then before the estate could close, my sister's husband (also w/o a will) died. What a mess to untangle.

Ha. I can top that one. Twenty years ago, Grandad died and laid claim to half the valuable family farm. The will left his estate to take care of Grandmother, who survived him and was the legal owner of the other half of the farm. Once she passed, Grandfather's estate was to be divided among 3 daughters. Grandmother didn't like any of that and wanted everything to be hers so she could pick and choose who everything went to. And then there were the 2 daughters who were left out of Grandfather's estate and were unhappy. Grandmother ultimately passed (leaving no will, so her estate went to all 5 daughters), but all the while the interest on estate taxes were piling up against Grandfather's estate, so when the land eventually sold, a huge chunk went to taxes. The taxes were in addition to the substantial amount that was spent on various legal fees to placate/muffle/keep the unhappy parties at bay. While all of this was going on, my Mother (one of the heirs to both estates) passed, and my Father (the heir to my Mom's estate) passed. So now, 20 years after my grandfather passed, I'm <still> the executor of all 3 estates (Grandfather, Mom, Dad), none of which have closed, most recently because the local court system took a big pause for COVID, but big picture because they must close sequentially and Grandfather's estate had unfinished business. Today (literally today), I got an e-mail from the attorney who is helping with all 3 estates saying we've moved to the next step on Grandfather's estate, which is the court appointing a guardian ad litem (basically an auditor) to make sure the valuable and complicated estate has been settled properly. Assuming the estate clears that hurdle I get to close it. When it is closed, the stage is set to begin the closing of my Mother's estate , which is (now) 10 years old. Once that one is done, we'll close Dad's estate - he passed a couple of years ago.

After all of the estates close, I'm still the trustee for the trust my Grandfather's estate stipulated for a mentally deficient aunt.

I figure I'll have 30+ years in this thing before the final shoe falls.
 
Someday, someone's going to be really curious how all of those charred bowling balls built for some dude with really fat fingers ended up in that field...

Every year I have bird or Deer hunters stop by the farm house asking about the unusual bowling balls found 700 to 800 yards east of my house . It usually winds up with a play day of bowling balls being shot into the pond or other targets. 10 lb balls float and can be re-used . The 15 lb balls make a nice big splash but remain where planted in the pond.
 
Everything of value we have is in a trust: house, boat, plane, cars, everything. It’s just as easy to set up with your attorney. God-forbid if something happens to us, the kids won’t have to deal with probate or fight over anything.
 
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