Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

A Living Trust

A Living Trust

Last week we had a bad storm… Sixty mile an hour straight line winds. There are trees blown down all over the place. There were three ways out of the Farm and all three roads were blocked by fallen trees. It took all morning to just clear the roads so things could get moving once more.

Then we went 36 hours with no electricity. The food defrosted in the freezer and most of it had to be disposed of. The lesson learned is to have a generator to plug into the refrigerator and freezer. It was quite a soaking we got and for the next three days that followed. I saw a cartoon of two dinosaurs on a little peak watching Noah’s Arc float off… The caption read…. “Wasn’t there something important we had scheduled for today?“ I can’t complain…we always need rain in this part of the country.

My parents set up a living trust before they passed away. I don’t know what possessed them to do that….My dad didn’t trust anybody… Why anyone would establish a living trust when they don’t trust anybody is totally beyond me. Then he made me the trustee… My older brother would normally be appointed such a task but my father appointed me. I think the reason he did was because I lived next door and didn’t need his money. Linda and I are not exactly loaded, but we were able to tell my Dad he could take his money and shove it when he got belligerent and threatened to disinherit us.

They say you are never a hero in your home town and that holds true for when your parents insist on moving in next door to you. Familiarity must breed contempt because the more Linda and I tried to please them the more futile our efforts became. I mean we still loved them and took care of them but they became obsessively compulsive and jealous of our friends and became angry when we did things on our own that didn’t include them. It was a sobering and not so pleasant experience.

Like I said my Father set up this document call a living Trust and I must say it turned out to be very useful. When my Dad’s Parkinson’s disease became increasing debilitating and my mother’s mental illness began asserting itself, the trust enabled Linda and I to step in and become caregivers without going through the probate type process of having a judge appoint us guardians. All it took was two physicians to declare them incapable of managing their affairs and we became empowered under provisions of the Trust to become their caregivers.

For those who have never faced such a situation let me say that things have to get pretty bad before this happens. A crisis has to take place where it is demonstrated that they have reached a point where they are no longer capable of managing their lives. As you can imagine nobody wants to ever admit that such a time has come and having a living trust makes the process easier.

While my Dad and mother were in the hospital that time had come. The first doctor came in and asked my father what the day was, where he was born and what street he lived on. Dad could not answer the questions. The second doctor asked Dad what his wife’s name was and he couldn’t remember that either. Once the doctors signed the certificate contained in the trust, that my parents were no longer competent to manage their affairs, control of their estate passed to the trustee, myself, who became the executor. There was no need for a lawyer or a judge to become involved and when my parents passed away no need for a probate process. I was impressed with how seamless the document made things and set one up for Linda and I.

Now the point is that if you want to set up a Living Trust it is important that you trust the person you appoint as trustee. If you don’t trust anybody then let the probate process work. Let the courts appoint a guardian and get involved in settling the estate. Sure the lawyers and judges will get a big chunk but by then, you’ll be dead and beyond caring. On the other hand if there is somebody you trust, by all means set one up. It will certainly make matters much easier for your loved ones to cope with an extremely difficult situation.