Page 17 - Ultimate Guide to Estate Planning Third Edition_Neat

Let’s work through an example. Steve and Sally
were married for 15 years. Steve was previously
married and had children with his prior
spouse. Sally was also married and had one
child, now 17, with her prior spouse. Steve
passes away naming Sally the beneficiary of his
$1 million 401(k) account and his life
insurance policy of $1 million, having Sally as
joint tenant on their home worth $500,000 and
joint bank accounts with $100,000 in cash.
Steve also had $150,000 in a securities
account and has personal property, some of
which has high sentimental value, i.e. family
heirlooms-worth $50,000. Steve has no other
assets.

Since Steve did not have a will but had multiple
methods of distributing assets upon his
passing, (i.e. retirement account beneficiaries,

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