The Joyful Estate Plan

While young people are talking about quiet quitting or the Great Resignation, or even despairing of finding any sources of employment income at all, you are looking forward to putting off retirement for as long as you can.  Your work gives you hope and enables you to share it with others.  No one lasts forever, though.  Even if you work until your final days and then spend your final days saying goodbye to your colleagues and the beneficiaries of your work, there will eventually be nothing left of you on this Earth except your estate and the accomplishments that live on after you.  Florida law enables the testator of a will to leave property to anyone he or she chooses; the probate court will not give your property to your close relatives unless you name them as beneficiaries of your will or unless you do not write a will.  You have every right to leave property to your found family, the colleagues and friends you met through your work.  For help making your will your final professional accomplishment, contact a Tampa estate planning lawyer.

New College Professor Leaves Most of Her Estate to Former Students

Cris Hassold died in 2020 at the age of 89 after teaching art history at New College of Florida for more than 50 years.  She did not have a spouse or children, but she had an extensive found family of faculty colleagues and former students, with whom she stayed in close contact.  Except for when she hosted gatherings at restaurants, she lived well below her means, and she left behind an estate valued at $2.8 million.

Hassold used her will to show her appreciation for the people in her life; the will designated 36 beneficiaries, each of whom received an inheritance ranging from $26,000 to more than $500,000.  Five of the beneficiaries of the will were her blood relatives and lifelong friends she had known since before going into academia, and the others were former students whom she had taught at various points in her career.  She based the amounts on what she knew about the beneficiaries’ financial needs and on the length of her relationship with them.

Some of the former students who received bequests from Hassold’s will are now professors who have built found families of former students of their own.  Some of them consider Hassold one of their closest family members, since they are estranged from their families of origin.  Some spent the money they received from her estate paying down medical debts, and at least one used it to place a down payment on the purchase of a house.  At least one beneficiary did not know that she was a beneficiary of Hassold’s will until she received a check for $100,000 in the mail.

Contact David Toback About Taking a Final Bow

A Central Florida estate planning lawyer can help you draft a will that punctuates your illustrious career with aplomb.  Contact David Toback in Tampa, Florida to set up a consultation.

Source:

people.com/college-professor-left-former-students-the-majority-of-her-estate-11740287