Discard Negatives ??!!!

[Alan Edward Klein]

Unfortunately, as people age, they CHANGE all of that, so that past knowledge becomes out of date! That happened with almost everything that my own mother briefed me about decades ago.
It was a process of discovery, in going thru her house to prep it for sale.
Our own heirs will have a far greater challenge in the discovery/management of our digital lives, and lack of info about logins and passwords, too.

Things do change. I just checked the ID tag in our luggage. My wife's cell number changed and I had to update it. It never ends.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Our heirs will need to contact banks, stock brokerages, life insurance policy companies, Social Secuity...(and on and on) and there might be few clues as to the fact about what we have put into place (especially with the elimination of paper statements), which entitles them to benefits, if we have not declared beneficiaries or our declared beneficiaries have moved or even died before us (and we neglected to update records on file).
They have a reason to care!

And if you live in LinkedIn, they will not remove you unless someone provides them with a Death Certificate. And other social media???

IF you didn't update your beneficiaries and some of them are already dead, it will be too late to change them after you're dead. I:m not a lawyer, but I believe the money will go to the dead beneficiaries' estates. Or maybe it's distributed to living members according to the state where the dead person died. Not sure. Any estate lawyers here?

Which reminds me when my grandmother died and her last remaining daughter cleaned out the house of all grandma's jewelry and good stuff. My mother and the third sister were deceased, but I thought that was still unfair since there were granddaughters who ought to get something. So I asked an attorney about what happens with jewelry and that kind of stuff that's not listed in a will. So he smiled wryly and replied, "Well, the person who gets to the house first, gets the loot."

 

[VinceInMT]

I don’t throw anything away. I have scanned and cataloged all my film. I’ve organized and cataloged all my digital photos. I am in the process of digitizing all my analog recorded media (music, radio broadcasts, etc.). I write up all my travels in several blogs. I keep good notes on the repairs I do to my cars, motorcycles, tape recorders, house, etc. I do none of that so that my heirs can access it. I do it all for me, simply so I can use it and I enjoy doing it all. Isn’t that enough?

As for estate planning, my wife, an accountant, is well versed in that area and has been executor for several estates so has our stuff very organized. If something happened to both of us, the kids have access to all paperwork with everything they need to dispose of the estate.

Of course, I plan to live for at least 3 more decades to hit the triple digit and, so far, so good.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

I don’t throw anything away. I have scanned and cataloged all my film. I’ve organized and cataloged all my digital photos. I am in the process of digitizing all my analog recorded media (music, radio broadcasts, etc.). I write up all my travels in several blogs. I keep good notes on the repairs I do to my cars, motorcycles, tape recorders, house, etc. I do none of that so that my heirs can access it. I do it all for me, simply so I can use it and I enjoy doing it all. Isn’t that enough?

As for estate planning, my wife, an accountant, is well versed in that area and has been executor for several estates so has our stuff very organized. If something happened to both of us, the kids have access to all paperwork with everything they need to dispose of the estate.

Of course, I plan to live for at least 3 more decades to hit the triple digit and, so far, so good.

Live long and spend it all.

 

[Chan Tran]

If I discard the negative it means that I discard the photograph. If I want to keep it I would keep the negative. I can discard everything else like prints and scans but not the negative. The negative is the most important of a photograph. All others can be made from it and over time I may change the way I want to make them.

 

[MattKing]

Any estate lawyers here?

A retired one.
The answer is - it depends on many things such as jurisdictional differences in statutes and regulations and case law, the specific terms of contractual arrangements, and the wording in applicable Wills.
Many of those include wording like: "if they survive".

 

[MattKing]

Which reminds me when my grandmother died and her last remaining daughter cleaned out the house of all grandma's jewelry and good stuff. My mother and the third sister were deceased, but I thought that was still unfair since there were granddaughters who ought to get something. So I asked an attorney about what happens with jewelry and that kind of stuff that's not listed in a will. So he smiled wryly and replied, "Well, the person who gets to the house first, gets the loot."

That is useful practical advice, but technically the grandmother's surviving daughter was either entitled to everything, or someone else was, and your grandmother's daughter stole it.

 

[VinceInMT]

Live long and spend it all.

Exactly. I have no interest or need is leaving anything to my kids. They are already better off financially than I am, which is a good thing. Although I think the youngest wants my cars.

 

[wiltw]

A retired one.
The answer is - it depends on many things such as jurisdictional differences in statutes and regulations and case law, the specific terms of contractual arrangements, and the wording in applicable Wills.
Many of those include wording like: "if they survive".

And when it needs to be determined how the different elements of the estate are to be distributed, Probate can kick in, with large chunks of attorney fees, alloted by the Probate laws, extracted from the estate total value.

 

[foc]

Exactly. I have no interest or need is leaving anything to my kids. They are already better off financially than I am, which is a good thing. Although I think the youngest wants my cars.

I intend to leave a legacy to my son just like my mum and dad did for me. I have ample enough to see me and herself out.

IMO part of being a parent is to enhance the next generation, financially and intellectually.

 

[MattKing]

And when it needs to be determined how the different elements of the estate are to be distributed, Probate can kick in, with large chunks of attorney fees, alloted by the Probate laws, extracted from the estate total value.

Depends on how much is disputed, as well as the rules and practices where the solicitors and/or barristers practice (we don't refer to lawyers as attorneys around here, except when they are fulfilling the roles of an attorney under a power of attorney).
Non-disputed Probate in my jurisdiction means court fees of around 1.4% of the value of an estate. Lawyer's fees can be everything from a few hundred dollars to many thousands, depending on how complex the issues are and how knowledgeable and experienced the executor is.

 

[Brendan Quirk]

If I discard the negative it means that I discard the photograph. If I want to keep it I would keep the negative. I can discard everything else like prints and scans but not the negative. The negative is the most important of a photograph. All others can be made from it and over time I may change the way I want to make them.

Generally, I agree with you. However, I have a few rolls from the 70s where the prints are fine, but the negatives have degraded. Weird, huh?

 

[wiltw]

Depends on how much is disputed, as well as the rules and practices where the solicitors and/or barristers practice (we don't refer to lawyers as attorneys around here, except when they are fulfilling the roles of an attorney under a power of attorney).
Non-disputed Probate in my jurisdiction means court fees of around 1.4% of the value of an estate. Lawyer's fees can be everything from a few hundred dollars to many thousands, depending on how complex the issues are and how knowledgeable and experienced the executor is.

And here in CA when estate >$50k assets outside of a Trust which do not have a beneficiary named:
4% on the first $100,000;
3% on the next $100,000;
2% on the next $800,000;
1% on the next $9,000,000,
and lower percentage up to next $15 Million
and estates easily exceed $1 Million, due to real estate median values above $1.2 Million alone, in many parts of the state...$7.6K on the first million.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Depends on how much is disputed, as well as the rules and practices where the solicitors and/or barristers practice (we don't refer to lawyers as attorneys around here, except when they are fulfilling the roles of an attorney under a power of attorney).
Non-disputed Probate in my jurisdiction means court fees of around 1.4% of the value of an estate. Lawyer's fees can be everything from a few hundred dollars to many thousands, depending on how complex the issues are and how knowledgeable and experienced the executor is.

Having a will written by a knowledgeable lawyer and appropriately registered can save money, time and grief.

 

[gbroadbridge]

If I discard the negative it means that I discard the photograph. If I want to keep it I would keep the negative. I can discard everything else like prints and scans but not the negative. The negative is the most important of a photograph. All others can be made from it and over time I may change the way I want to make them.

Or I sold the photo to someone who wishes it to be the only copy that will ever exist

 

[MattKing]

Having a will written by a knowledgeable lawyer and appropriately registered can save money, time and grief.

In some cases, Wills do affect things like beneficiary designations for life insurance and employee/retiree benefits and other similar assets. In other cases, they do not. That is why lawyers who assist with things like Wills need to be quite nosy about many things in a client's life - otherwise advice can end up being incomplete or impractical or just plain wrong (in the circumstances).

 

[Sirius Glass]

Or I sold the photo to someone who wishes it to be the only copy that will ever exist

That would be their problem. I would tell them to take a hike if they did not trust me.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Having a will written by a knowledgeable lawyer and appropriately registered can save money, time and grief.

In some cases, Wills do affect things like beneficiary designations for life insurance and employee/retiree benefits and other similar assets. In other cases, they do not. That is why lawyers who assist with things like Wills need to be quite nosy about many things in a client's life - otherwise advice can end up being incomplete or impractical or just plain wrong (in the circumstances).

That is why it is a bad idea to just download a will from the internet. That will may not be valid in your State or Provence.

 

[faberryman]

So should I keep or discard my negatives?

 

[Sirius Glass]

So should I keep or discard my negatives?

Keep them. Once thrown out they can never be retrieved or replaced. Maybe in the future you get a better scanner with a higher resolution.

 

[faberryman]

Keep them. Once thrown out they can never be retrieved or replaced. Maybe in the future you get a better scanner with a higher resolution.

Scanner?

 

[bluechromis]

If you get your film developed at my local Walgreen Pharmacy, they will scan them, but never give you back your negatives, even if you ask for them. It's disgusting.

 

[Sirius Glass]

If you get your film developed at my local Walgreen Pharmacy, they will scan them, but never give you back your negatives, even if you ask for them. It's disgusting.

Yet another reason not to go to Walgreens. This has been true for years.

 

[MattKing]

That is why it is a bad idea to just download a will from the internet. That will may not be valid in your State or Provence.

While this is possible, a more important problem arises when the Will form you use and the way you sign it and the way your signature is witnessed is valid in your State or Province or Country is valid, but the result of what you put into it has consequences that you did not understand or intend.
I once helped a client update a Will who had for years been relying on a Will that provided for equal division between her "children". That might have resulted in a greatly unfair result, because one of those "children" was a foster daughter she had raised from an early age, and who was considered as being just as much a member of her family as her other children who were born to her, but was never adopted by her, so technically would not have been treated as one of her "children" under the law.
It was easy to deal with by confirming in her updated Will that that "daughter" was to be treated as one of her "children" for the purposes of the division.

 

[gbroadbridge]

That would be their problem. I would tell them to take a hike if they did not trust me.

Fair enough. You keep your negs, I'm happy to pocket the $10k and trash the neg.