How do we pass our estate to our daughters & protect them from future son-in-laws?

[jaes]

My jurisdiction is: Kansas---Douglas County

The title of this thread sums up the problem: My wife and I come from working class backgrounds. We have worked very hard to get an estate that will approach 1 million $. --After our death, taxes, fees, etc., our two daughters will split what's left of the 1 million. Both daughters, are in their early 20s. Neither are married. --Currently we are updating our wills, we thought of leaving each daughter a lump sum; however, we are leaning toward creating a trust wherein sums of money would be parcelled out over time. --Our main, overriding, concern is how do we protect our money/our daughter's money (after we die) from a future son-in-law? Everyone goes into marriage believing it will last forever; however, the real world, it isn't that way. So, we are back to the main question: How can we protect our money/ our daughter's (after we die) from a son-in-law? ----Can we have the son-in-law sign agreement that he would forego all claim to any and all estate or trust money come from our estate? ---Perhaps he could sign this agreement while he is married to my daughter, before and/or after we die. --His incentive to signing would be that the estate would provided larger sums of periodic payments to our daughter. -----If he didn't sign the agreement, the amounts would be smaller. -----If they got a divorce, my daughter would get larger sums. --Beter yet, is there a less abnoxious way to protect our daughter, without having to have a son-in-law sign an agreement? ---Ok, we need your thoughts. For some readers, 1 million $ may seem a little sum to be worrying about. However, coming from a poor, working class background, ---this amount of money is a fortune. Any help/ideas would be most appreciate. ---jaes.

 

[Duranie]

Generally inheritances are not community and generally cannot be touched in a divorce, unless it gets co-mingled with community property (like buying a house using the money and putting it both of their names). You might want to talk to an estate/probate attorney to see about putting together a trust? Otherwise I am not sure if this property can be protected via a pre-nuptual agreement.

 

[dee_dub]

Even if you put it in trust, your daughter(s) may be able to "collapse the trust" upon reaching a certain age, and receive the whole amount with no strings attached. You should definitely consult an estates attorney.

 

[jaes]

Thanks for fast replies ---I have two more requests:

"Duranie" and "dee_dub" thank you so much for the rapid replies to my post. I have two requests: (1) If anyone has any additional ideas or has sucessfully face an estate problem like the one I outline above, please, please, chime-in. (2) Duranie and dee_dub, both suggest that I contact an estate attorney. ----I live in Lawrence, Kansas, a small town near Topeka and Kansas City, ----how do I go about finding a good estate attorney that could address my problem----do I just ask around? -----Also, when I make my first phone contact with the attorney's office, is it acceptable to very quickly outline the problem and ask if he/she could address it? --You can tell, I do not have knowledge of the law, how to find a good attorney, and/or what is acceptable behavior when looking for legal help. ---Thus, I am posting at The Law forum. ---Again, any advice/suggestions would be much appreciated. ----jaes.

 

[dee_dub]

Find a lawyer the same way you'd find a plumber - friends, neighbours, look for one that advertises doing estate work in the phone book.

The telephone receptionist probably will not be able to address your problem but might be able to indicate whether the lawyer has expertise in your specific area. Go in for an initial consult with the lawyer, that should be free/cheap, and figure out how to address your concerns there.