One interesting thing about being older and a responsible person, is serving as executor and trustee for various estates and trusts. I did this for a stepmother and now I'm trustee for my mother. I can see why people would want to avoid this, for fear of being sued. I am actually trustee of two different trusts, that may have a conflict of interest. I see a legal problem in how one of these was administered before I became a trustee, and if I do something to correct the mismanagement, it will cost me. I think I will probably get sued either way! And unfortunately, the bigger of the two trusts does not include one of those poison pill provisions that cuts out anybody who sues.
My Dad passed in ‘89 and putting his affairs in order with my Mom still around was pretty smooth. My Mom passed in ‘06 and that meant doing it for real. It was first assigned to one brother, but passed to another better positioned to do so. He had said the bet documentation he ever found was written by a Michigan probate judge who was tired of so many people being clueless to disjointed laws on the topic. The judge wrote it, in essence, to simplify his own job.
