Generation Skipping Trust: Fill & Download for Free

My parents, who were good people in life, accumulated an estate worth several million dollars that was distributed to my brothers and I. I had always been expected to execute the will, and although my dad remarried soon before he died, his nice, new wife was happy to let me do the grunt work, which was just that much harder due to the need to have her sign everything.There was an insurance trust, a real estate trust, a survivor trust, several generation skipping trusts, all the retirement accounts, a house to renovate and sell, and the estate books to manage. It took years to arrive at closing of the estate. Along the way I became estranged from one brother who convinced himself that I was cheating him out of his share, even though 95% of the estate was distributed within the first year, in even thirds.If you could ask me, knowing what I know, would I rather have a million bucks and the hassles that went with getting it, or have my dad give the money to charity, I really don’t know what I’d answer.

It's not about Mary and what her rights are; it's about Robert (her father) and what his rights have been, and about Matthew and his rights.The estate is entailed away from Robert in the absence of male heirs. Basically, Robert has a life estate in Downton Abbey but is not the "owner" - his father used some kind of generation-skipping trust that backfired when Robert and Cora failed to have a son.That's why Matthew stood to inherit. He was the heir presumptive. If Cora had not lost the male fetus she was carrying, that fetus would have been Cora and Robert’s son, the heir apparent, and would have cut off Matthew’s claim on the estate.Matthew would have inherited Downton in fee simple, so by marrying him and producing a son, Mary can do the same now.She has become the wife and then the mother of the heirs of Downton, and is also the beneficiary of Matthew's testamentary letter that was found in his office after his death. So Mary and her son George are Matthew's heirs, and Mary is George's guardian.

If you have that kind of money don’t ask on Quora, ask an estate lawyer or private wealth advisor. There are annual gifts, lifetime gifts, direct payment of tuition, generation skipping trusts, life insurance, and all manner of approaches to supporting family members. But seriously, pay an expert to help you with this; don’t listen to us fools on the interwebs.