Colorado Estate Planning And Estate Settlement Legal Blog

Hugh Hefner, of Playboy fame, recently passed away. He reportedly had an “iron clad” prenuptial agreement with his third wife that kept his fortune from his young bride. Yet, current reports state that the widow will “be provided for” after the death of her husband.

Is it possible for both reports to be true? 

In recent blog posts, we discussed the importance of talking to your parents about their nursing home and estate planning strategies. This step is critical to making sure your parents have the care they need in their later years and that their assets are transferred according to their wishes.

However, the most significant problem with talking about estate planning and late life care issues is that people don't do it until it's too late. Too many people continue to procrastinate having this conversation. Then, when nursing home care becomes necessary, for example, they are not prepared and they end up losing significant assets as a result.

It may be surprising how people react after the death of a wealthy loved one. There may be those who expect to inherit specific items or assume they have the authority to take control of property, such as a home or ranch despite what is written in a loved one's will.

It is not uncommon for those receiving less than what they were expecting to contest the validity of a will. Like the action suggests, a will contest is a legal proceeding where the testator's (the person creating the will) intent is reviewed to interpret vague or ambiguous terms, or to determine if the will should be invalidated.  A will contest can result property being redistributed.

In a recent post, we discussed why it's important to talk to parents about aging and finances as they approach their later years. That blog also provided some guidance about preparing for those often-difficult conversations.

This blog gives you some pointers for getting the conversation rolling and includes ideas for questions you may wish to ask.