[toss1]

And these are two fine examples of why if you have anything at all, you want to put as much of it as possible in a trust. Properly constructed and administered, this will avoid all of the above sort of nonsense related to estate probate processes, properly avoid many taxes and processes, keep it all non-public (probate in inherently public), and greatly reduce the burden on your family/successors. Find a GOOD Trust & Estates attny (not just a rando hanging out a shingle, of which there are many), having an LLM degree in T&E is a good sign. Is not necessarily that expensive, and if you have any significant house equity, etc., and especially that with children, it's a very good idea.

[withinboredom]

After watching it all play out, I’d find it hard to have convinced this person to do that. They grew up in a world where debt wasn’t a thing that could send you to poverty, rather a useful tool. When they inherited the land, there wasn’t much, if any debt. Today, most people have debt as a means of survival vs. a tool. This makes setting up a trust harder in their eyes because they might need the assets for more debt.

No idea how any of this works, just 2am shower thoughts.

[toss1]

Yup, convincing people of how it really works is often an insurmountable obstacle, especially when, as you pointed out, the world has massively changed within a lifetime (heck, even trying to figure out how it all works for ourselves is hard enough)...