I think that creating a will or updating an existing one should be a high priority for a lottery winner. I also think creating family trusts are a good idea. I think I'd rather any decisions about my medical care be in the hands of someone who wouldn't benefit from "pulling the plug" on me. I wouldn't want to exist as a "vegetable" but I'd also like to be given a chance to recover.

Here in California, the State is encouraging the use of Trusts and not Wills. The cost of probate keeps rising. The benefits of privacy and speed of a trust are worth the cost. Probate is public and slow.
Your beneficiaries or trustees will benefit and those could be family members. Will they pull the plug on you?
At this time I have a Do not resuscitate order on me.

If you want to bequeath specific items of real property...a car, house, a family heirloom to someone, a pour-over will is essential. Unless you are a person of notoriety, then "public" shouldn't matter and you'd have to define "slow" for me to agree w/ that or not. My folk's estate was done in a relatively short time, just a couple of months, maybe just six weeks. Anything requiring legal representation is going to cost you, even a trust...and a trust is several times more expensive to create than a will and sometimes not even necessary.

A trust IS harder to contest than a will, so if your bequests are "uneven in value" among your heirs, then there's that if someone wants to challenge your will, but there are also a multitude of ways to avoid probate w/out having to resort to a trust. It's different from state-to-state, so there's no "one size fits all' procedure to follow.

Would my family pull the plug? I don't know, I like to think they wouldn't if there was any chance of recovery, no matter how slim. If they have the chance to benefit from you dying, who knows what someone might do?

A pour-over will also works with a trust. The larger the Estate than the need for a Trust increases. By then you could afford a Trust.
I agree that California is different than Texas or any other State.
Sometimes a person is worth more dead than alive.

I remember reading that up to a certain value of an estate, there is no need for probate in California. I don't recall the figure, but it was for relatively modest estates, nothing like a multi-million dollar lottery winner's estate would probably be. (unless you are David Lee Edwards, Billy Bob Harrell, et al.)

If I didn't have enough money to warrant a trust, then there would be no need for one. <wink>

You can transfer property such as house, cars, etc. into a trust, but I can see where it could cause more problems than it's worth. (two beneficiaries of the trust wanting your Ferrari, for example or the home, hence the need for a specific pour-over will) You also have to record a new deed for a home when transferring it to the trust. I'm not sure if that applies to other types of property.

You can also avoid probate on different property in several ways, but it varies from state-to-state. You can sometimes use a "transfer-on-death" deed for homes and cars and sometimes even bank accounts to avoid probate.

Just MHO, but I think (from what I have read) there are advantages and disadvantages to a trust, same as for revocable and irrevocable trusts. It's certainly something I will seek advice about.

I just went and looked at a bookmark I had in a folder I had forgotten about until just now. It tells about the "probate shortcuts" available in ea. state. CA has a more "transfer-on-death" shortcuts, for a car and securities, but TX doesn't, only for bank accounts and a home. (which CA also has)

The good thing about that type of designation is that the property remains yours until death; the beneficiary can't touch it (even the bank account) until you die and you are also able to use it as you see fit, sell the house, drain the bank acct., etc.

Thank You mikeintexas. Being poor in America has its advantages. But almost everyone dreams of riches. That will bring on responsibilities.
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