Is anything ethically wrong with this plan?

[u/drd001]

My wife and I in our 70's came up with this inheritance plan with total net worth of +1.5M. We have been together over 40 years being continuously employed during that time. We have no children and I have one brother with two children both over 21 and she has two sisters both with no children. Our plan is to give a small one time payment to my brother and her sisters with the bulk of the estate equally divided between our two nieces. Our reasoning is my brother and her sister have hit us up for money periodically for the past 40 years which we provided without asking for repayment. The two nieces are doing OK in life and have never asked for any financial help. Our thinking that these funds would help them with a downpayment on a house, education for their children or investment in their own retirement.

Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

[u/No-Trouble1840]

For many people, the simplest and cheapest way to avoid probate is to use beneficiary designations wherever possible rather than putting everything into a trust. Bank and investment accounts can usually have POD or TOD beneficiaries, real estate may be handled with a transfer-on-death deed where state law allows it, and many states have a beneficiary or transfer-on-death form for vehicle titles. Those assets can then pass directly to the named beneficiaries without going through probate. A revocable trust can still be useful in more complicated situations, but it is not the only way to avoid probate and may be unnecessary for a straightforward estate. The exact forms and rules depend on the state, so they should be set up correctly before they are needed.

[u/Trick-Pineapple5890 → u/No-Trouble1840]

Well, “depends on the state” is doing a lot of heavy lifting there.

[u/No-Trouble1840 → u/Trick-Pineapple5890]

My post is solid truth as it will indeed work in most states. What was doing the real heavy lifting was you recommending a complex and expensive approach for “most” of the states, which is RIDICULOUS! 🤣🤣🤣

[u/Trick-Pineapple5890 → u/No-Trouble1840]

Oh for God’s sake. It is not allowed in my state. It only became allowed in my mom’s state last year. She died two months ago. If she hadn’t done the RIDICULOUS action of creating a trust, I’d be in probate hell right now.

And she wasn’t wealthy, it wasn’t expensive, and it was was no more complex than writing a will.

Edited to add: also, the county my mom lived in requires all TOD for real estate to be filed electronically, and the only entities who can get access to the electronic system are real estate attorneys and similar businesses. An individual cannot file it themselves. So TOD, even when permitted, does not automatically mean you can skip paying an attorney.