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A daughter's father remarries. During the father's marriage, his daughter and daughter's stepmother, and even her stepmother’s children, got along well. They celebrated holidays together and had regular family gatherings. All that changed when daughter's father died.
 

Daughter learned that in her dad’s will, he left all his assets to his wife, trusting her to take care of daughter, his only child. His wife had other plans. She ended up taking all his assets, giving daughter nothing, and decided not to speak to daughter anymore. Daughter was understandably upset and asked if there was anything that could be done. 

Daughter's options were not desirable. She could go to court and challenge her father’s will, with only a small chance of success, and spend lots of money in lawyers and court fees, or she could do nothing. She opted to do nothing because she couldn’t afford to fight. It was such a sad situation and undoubtedly not what her father wanted.

 

A woman lived with her boyfriend for 20 years in his house. She paid half the mortgage for all of those 20 years. He said he would leave her the house in his Will and promised to get his Will done. But since he had no children he wasn’t too worried about his girlfriend being able to stay in the house once he passed. Unfortunately, he never took the time and died without a Will.
 

Under the law, and unbeknownst to her, the house went to his 80 year old sister, as she’s his only living relative. His surviving girlfriend doesn’t have the money to bring a court action for the half of the mortgage that she paid for 20 years, and she can’t afford to buy out the sister. All that could have been prevented with a simple Will. Now she’s out on the street at 55 years old and lost all the money she paid for the home.

 A man didn’t think he had much, so he didn’t believe an estate plan was necessary. Instead, he purchased a life insurance policy, naming his long-term girlfriend as the beneficiary, and added her to the deed to his house. What he didn’t realize was that by adding his girlfriend to the deed rather than leaving it to her in a Will, he was leaving her with an unnecessary tax bill.
 

He died thinking he had taken care of her, but in reality, even though they had been together for many years, his family received  the rest of his assets and his personal belongings under the law. She was devastated, not only because she didn’t receive anything from his estate, but also because she must now pay tax on her home when she sells it. If he had just made a Will and left the house to her in his Will she would not have incurred this tax. 

My colleague's father in law spent $3,000 on a trust plan with an attorney, all with the intent of keeping his family out of court and conflict. However, his attorney never followed up to ensure the trust was properly funded or updated over time, and so it wasn’t.
 

When her father in law died, my colleague and her husband were stuck dealing with her father-in-law’s ex-wife and the probate court, even though her father in law spent money on an attorney and an estate plan just to avoid that result. My colleague was in law school at the time and was certain the attorney had committed malpractice. But she soon found out that it was common practice, even though the $3,000 her father in law spent was a total waste.
 

To this day, if you search “Lewis L. Crosley” in the Florida Dept of Unclaimed Property, you’ll still find his unclaimed assets there, just part of the loss the family experienced when Lew died.