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Do Your Wills

December 19th, 2007 at 03:21 pm

Well I have a love of reality TV. Don't ask me why. IT's my vice I guess. Hehe.

But I was watching "Real Housewives of Orange county" last night. There is always something interesting related to personal finance though; on the show. Seems to be.

BUT there is one family on the show that used to be insanely rich and then lost most of it. The parents divorced. I guess growing up the dad told his kids that they would never have to work. Then, he remarried, and suddenly died with no will. His wife apparently got everything.

One of the kids was very bitter. Who could blame her. I think she is 20; she was going to be taken care of, and now she has nothing.

The other one sucked it up and was working and taking care of herself. I think she was a little misguided as she sais, "I don't care if I have to work 4 jobs; I will maintain this lifestyle." But I have to hand it to her, she sucked it up and did what she had to do for herself. She will probably fare much better.

It just struck me as sad though. Very, very very sad. A simple will and who knows, maybe they never would have had to work again.

Sure they are spoiled kids and all that. But their dad really let them down. I can just imagine how we would feel knowing his wife didn't give them a dime. Obviously was not his wishes.

Well, if you remarry and you want your kids to see a dime. You better get your will done. ASAP. That is my PSA for the day.

As for them, in the long run. What doesn't kill them will make them stronger. It will make them stronger/nicer/better people. In the meantime it will be a hard road though. I am sure. But yeah. More along the lines of not counting on inheritances... Dangerous ground for many reasons.

6 Responses to “Do Your Wills”

  1. Joan.of.the.Arch Says:
    1198078449

    Dumb Dad. Why did he even think his future ability to die with wealth to pass on was guaranteed? Do you suppose he liked seeing his kids dependent and unable to function? Made him feel powerful to tell his kids that? I think that in most families with wealth, the parents still want to see their children grow up to be competent, accomplished adults.

    Anyway, yeah, I still need a will.

  2. Broken Arrow Says:
    1198087342

    "Dumb Dad."

    Hehehe. I was thinking that too.

    Besides, why would you tell your spoiled kids that? They're spoiled! Even WITH a will in place, (which I agree is still a good idea) I don't know if it's actually doing the kids any favors.

    By the way, I know nothing about the wife. Maybe she's just as spoiled and callous about the kids, which is terrible. Or maybe she knows better and is "teaching" the kids to learn to take care of themselves before she actually shares her father's fortune with them. In which case, I think that's a very good thing!

    I have always made it clear to my kids that they're going to have to learn to take care of themselves. It's not that I help whenever I can and when it makes sense to, but I think to fool your children into thinking that "you'll never to work", for example, is extremely bad parenting.

  3. luxliving Says:
    1198087955

    Hubster has an aunt who is totally exclusive of her husband's first children and it hacks me no end. The nerve. He had them before he had her. Get real lady.

  4. monkeymama Says:
    1198100443

    The wife lost everything with him. She knows better. But he has continually undercut her parenting with cash and new cars and telling the kids not to work, etc., etc. She's just kind of like, well, now they will learn. she's been through it so they have a good role model in her. Good point. She can't (doesn't have the means to) spoil the kids so they are on their own.

  5. fern Says:
    1198101854

    Yeah, i think that giving someone money never really helped them build character, a strong value system or a kind and loving nature. All those traits come, in my opinion, from experiencing hardships. For most of us, it's just a part of life. And it's a good thing, cus it teaches what's really important.

  6. mackybethsmommy Says:
    1198108639

    Wills are important not just because of money. If you pass away and you don't have a will all of you possesions even small sentimental ones pass to your spouse. If there is no spouse then your estate will go into probate and the state will decide who gets what or if they are going to auction of the estate and devide the money. When my father-in-law passed away in July there was no will. Thank God my husband's step-mother loves her step-children and gave them each a momento of their father. It would have been very sad to see my hubby not have anything to from his father. He wound up getting a very rare and expensive gun his dad had told my MIL he wanted DH to have. It meant more than any amount of money he could have been left. First thing I bought for my MIL after the funeral was a living will kit and an estate kit. I never want to go through having to decide whether to "keep someone alive" with life support or not and wonder if we did the right thing again. I sure as heck don't want to see what they worked for all their life sold off into small pieces.

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