do I need a will, or a trust?

[wethree]

What is the name of your state?
P.a
I have read a lot about wills and trusts, yet I cannot determine if in my situation, which do I need.
my husband and I have a home jointly we have 14 years left on the 60,000 mortgage the home is worth about 90,000 and we may yet move.
we own two cars a 93 and a 98 and a three year old motorcycle .
we have 1000 in a savings only for taxes and insurence for the house, we have a checking for living expences, that figure is always less than 500. we have no life insurence or other money.
I have a 15 year old son, and a 22 year old married daughter.
depending on the age of my kids when and if both of us are deceased, is the issue, I dont want her to have to pay any probate and have to pay taxes on the money she or my son would get from the sale of our home.If it was sold, she may want to live in it. and my son would stay if he was still young.or
If my son is old enough to work,and still living at home, he needs a place to live, she would not throw him out but I want her to have something like a car or furniture, or some cash.
with such small assets, which do I need? a will or trust, and as my kids get older, I will need to change things and if either of us die before the other things will need changed.I dont want my kids to loose our house to government or a bank because they dont know how to get it in thier name.or have to pay money they dont have to do legal paperwork and come out with nothing.
any advice?
wethree

 

[Dandy Don]

A will would suit your particular needs.

You don't really have much in the way of assets to be considered here. You don't officially own the home until the mortgage is fully paid off--the mortgage company is the current owner. Whether or not you do eventually get the house paid off, you can at least express your wishes for what you want done with the house. You need to be discussing with your children what you want to happen if you die before the home is fully paid off--could the children afford to perhaps live in the home and continue making the mortgage payments, or would you want them to sell it to get the mortgage paid off and perhaps profit a little bit from whatever your equity share is?

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])

 

[wethree]

thanks for your response,
I guess if I dint have the house paid off I would want them to sell it,after all they stand to gain 25000 but would they have to pay lawer fees for paperwork to be able to sell a house that is not in either one of thier names, and would they have to pay taxes on the profit?
thats what a living trust would accomplish, the unnessisary expence of, paperwork,probate? for what should be thiers.
wethree

 

[Dandy Don]

You seem to be unnecessarily worried that the fees will be exorbitant, and I don't think that will be the case. l Yes, it would be wise for them to hire a real estate lawyer to make sure the sale is done correctly, and there will be taxes on the profit, but if a profit is made they can afford to pay whatever the taxes are. The house will need to be probated in order to get the legal heirs names transferred to the deed, but that shouldn't cost any more than a couple of hundred dollars--you can contact the county courthouse probate court now to find out what the fee would be for probating an estate for the sale price or profit made on the sale of the home.