Leaving my money to family?

[Ktenacious007]

Was going to get a will made but I was thinking... if I got a will and still had 5k in the bank when I die... will my family for sure get it? Will the government take out money for my overdue student loans? Or the fact I'm 20k in credit card debt? I'd pull it out and give it to my family but if I survived my attempt then I would have nothing. So conflicted on what to do.

 

[harkovv]

I am going to pull it out and leave a envelope somewhere in my room for them. I think if you're in debt, government would take out your money and your family will have to refuse inheritance from you not to pay for it. That's how it is in my country, im not sure about other ones.

 

[Wisdom3_1-9]

In the US, federal student loans are forgiven upon death. That's not necessarily true for private student loans, though.

I'm not certain about credit card debt, but normally the executor of your estate (if you have a will) needs to use your assets to pay off your debt before distributing to your beneficiaries.

If your money is in a bank account, you could set up a POD (payable on death) and the money will automatically go to a named loved one, without any legal process needing to take place.

 

[GoodPersonEffed]

If you're in the US, first your executors (usually first of kin unless they reject being executors) will be reimbursed for expenses relating to your death, then any creditors who approach the estate, then inheritors or next of kin get what's left.

One idea to get around your problem is to hide the money and send a delayed email saying where it is, and asking them to hold it for you if you're in a psych facility. If they're not someone you can trust to do this, then I would just leave it in the bank and let them deal with the delays of probate in getting reimbursed for funeral expenses and any other expenses they would have to pay for.

 

[Deleted member 17949]

It does seem like the money could end up getting absorbed by debts and various expenses. I can't say for certain but I wouldn't say getting that money to family is massively reliable.

 

[TAW122]

I've pondered this before too, and originally when I planned to CTB over a year ago in summer 2019 (had things gone poorly then), I was going to write a check and then make sure that I had enough money in my bank account so that my family will get it. That's one such way to transfer the money from one bank account to another.

Yes, also withdrawing large sums of cash would also be another way to get money to one's family, but that may be more suspicious, especially if one is drawing large sums. I suppose one could claim that he/she is going for a big purchase or for vacation/travel purposes.