My mom left small amounts of cash to her grandchildren and everything else was equally divided into three for me and my siblings. She had my sister and I on her bank account (so we could pay her bills when she was unable and inherit anything remaining when she passed) and all three of us were listed as joint tenants on her home so when she passed, there was really no estate to deal with. The three of us packed up her home, divided up her possessions (basically we took turns choosing and item until everything of value was gone…the rest we donated) with only a few things having been decided by her ahead of time. We did it in two days with no arguments. The one benefit of my mom getting a terminal diagnosis is that she had time to finalize her plans so that made it really, really easy on us. I am eternally grateful that all I had to deal with was the loss of her and nothing else. The more you can prepare ahead of time, the better. Great discussions to have with your kids KML.
