{"success":true,"data":{"id":"438cc60a-4fc0-4e9d-bef5-f1453ac04e7e","title":"My Parents Just Revealed Their Plan for Their House When They Die. I’m Not Sure About This.","summary":"Where do we go from here?","content":"*   Account[Account](https://slate.com/account)[Sign out](https://slate.com/sign-out)  \n\nMenu Menu\n\n Light \n\n Light  Dark  Auto \n\n Light \n\n Light  Dark  Auto \n\n# My Parents Just Revealed Their Plan for Their House When They Die. I’m Not Sure About This.\n\n Advice by [Kristin Wong](https://slate.com/author/kristin-wong)\n\nPhoto illustration by Slate. Photo by [Jacob Wackerhausen](https://www.gettyimages.com/search/2/image?artistexact=Jacob%20Wackerhausen)/Getty Images Plus.\n\nOnly Slate Plus members can gift Slate stories. [Become a member](https://slate.com/plus?redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fslate.com%2Fadvice%2F2026%2F07%2Fmoney-advice-parents-estate-plan.html%3Fvia%3Drss) to share 10 free articles a month.\n\n_Pay Dirt is Slate’s money advice column._**_Have a question?_**[**_Send it to Kristin and Ilyce here_**](https://forms.gle/icQft75iXrVCaSkaA)**_. (It’s anonymous!)_**\n\n**Dear Pay Dirt,**\n\nMy parents are in their early 70s and finally fully retired after my mom ended her post-first-retirement job. They own their home, though it is a split-level house my dad bought in the 1980s and is already presenting some challenges, mobility-wise. My 20-year-old niece lives with them and plans to while she finishes college.\n\nAfter their annual consultation with their financial advisor, my mom announced they plan to adjust their will so my niece “gets the house” and I “get the money.” Umm…this is new. My parents HATE talking about death or money, so I didn’t immediately ask follow-up questions. They’re in decent health and worked hard to secure modest pensions from their first careers, though obviously there’s uncertainty now that they’re older, moving fully into retirement, and navigating Social Security benefits, mandatory withdrawals from retirement investments, etc. If this is the beginning of a conversation we can have, provided I don’t spook them, what are the absolutely essential questions to ask or topics to introduce?\n\nI’d like to look out for my niece as well (surely inheriting a house, even one that’s paid off, as a 20-year-old would present challenges). I’m sure they want to assume they’ll die peacefully in their sleep, simultaneously, many years from now. But maybe that won’t happen and I need to prompt them to think a bit more strategically?\n\n—New Information\n\n**Dear New Information,**\n\nYou’re smart to get ahead of all of these questions while everyone is healthy and able to make good decisions. Ultimately, this is your parents’ decision and shouldn’t be a “who gets what” conversation as much as a conversation about making sure the plan works well for everyone and you’re all on the same page.\n\nIf they’re comfortable with it, maybe you could ask to be looped into the meetings with their financial advisor. The house situation is worth asking about in more detail, because inheriting a home can come with some real issues, like upkeep, repairs, property taxes, and insurance. Inheriting a house is one of those things that sounds incredibly generous until you get down to the details of dealing with it. What do they expect your niece to do with the house? Are they leaving her any cash to cover maintenance, taxes, or renovations?\n\nIdeally, they should be talking to an estate planning attorney, not just a financial advisor. Because the plan shouldn’t just be about inheritance but who handles what when it comes to things like advance health care directives and aging-in-place plans. For example, do they have a durable power of attorney? Do they have a living will? Who is the executor? Will their assets go through the probate process, or have they structured things to avoid this process? Also, if their money is mostly in retirement accounts, they should know that beneficiary designations on those accounts can override the will, but this is probably (hopefully) something they’ve discussed with the advisor.\n\nYou hinted at long-term care, and this is definitely something you want to consider. Because an inheritance plan can change dramatically if even one parent needs years of assisted living. Ask whether they’ve talked through what happens if one of them needs expensive long-term care, whether they intend to age in place, and whether selling the house might become part of that plan.\n\nAll of this is something that an estate planner will walk them through and, ideally, they’d loop you into the process so you know what to expect. Start the conversation with something like, “I’d really love to make sure your plan works exactly the way you intend it to. Could we talk through the details together so everything is smooth and stress‑free for all of us?” Then, I’d encourage them to meet with an estate attorney and ask if you can be a part of the conversation.\n\nUltimately, the goal isn’t to debate the inheritance but to make sure the plan is realistic, fair, and workable for everyone who’s a part of it.\n\n### Get money advice—submit a question!\n\nPlease keep questions short (<150 words), and don‘t submit the same question to multiple columns. We are unable to edit or remove questions after publication. Use pseudonyms to maintain anonymity. Your submission may be used in other Slate advice columns and may be edited for publication.\n\nThanks! Your question has been submitted.\n\nDear Pay Dirt,* \n\nYour letter signoff \n\nYour pronouns \n\nYour email (optional and confidential—please include if you're open to Pay Dirt following up) \n\nSubmit\n\n**Dear Pay Dirt,**\n\nI have a good problem that I just need some solid advice on what to do with. I am getting a good raise at work which will give me an extra $750 a month (woohoo!).\n\nI currently have a student loan at $37,000 that I pay $400 a month on and is set to be paid off in four years.\n\nI do not have six months of salary saved and would like to. I’m also contributing heavily (10 percent with company matching 4 percent) to my 401(k). I have no other debt.\n\nSo my question is: Do I add that additional money to a savings to build up, then tack on to my student loan? Or tack on to my student loan right away and continue to try and save whatever I can. I basically want to treat this extra money as something I don’t have and squirrel it away.\n\n—Squirrely\n\n## Related From Slate\n\n**Dear Squirrely,**\n\nCongratulations! And you’re right—this is a good problem to have. You’re already on the right track, so the real question is more about preference.\n\nGenerally, the rule of thumb for emergency funds is to have between three and six months of living expenses saved in case of, you know, an emergency. If something goes awry—you lose your job, your car needs some major repairs—having an emergency fund reduces the risk of taking on high interest debt (i.e. putting stuff on a credit card).\n\nThe thing is, three to six months is a huge range, and some think six months is overkill and that three months is perfectly fine, especially if your job is stable and you don’t have other debt. If you already have three or four months of living expenses saved, it’s not unreasonable to consider supercharging your student loan payoff instead. It’s hard to say without knowing what your interest rate is, but even if it’s low, it might be worth paying off the loan so you’re not throwing away extra money each month on interest. In the long-term, this could save you quite a bit, depending on what that rate is. [Plug it into a calculator](https://www.calculator.net/interest-rate-calculator.html) and find out.\n\nOnce you have that number, you can make a better call. Is the savings worth it to you? Or is it paltry compared to the peace of mind you’d get from beefing up your emergency fund? If you do go the savings route, put the money away in a high yield savings account so you can earn a little interest. You might even consider[putting some of it in a certificate of deposit (CD)](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/create-cd-ladder-functions-emergency-190315910.html) if you won’t need the money right away. Another option is to split the difference—direct part of the raise toward your emergency fund and send the rest to the student loan.\n\nOf course, the decision is ultimately yours, and the good news is that either way you choose, you come out ahead.\n\n—Kristin\n\n### Classic Prudie\n\nMy city has a local “buy nothing” group on Facebook. Maybe once a week or so, I’ll make a post about something that I don’t need that I want to give away. So far, it’s been great that stuff I don’t use anymore can be repurposed by someone who can use it. I also like scrolling through the posts to see if anyone is giving away anything that would be useful to me. [But I’ve noticed something fishy.](https://slate.com/human-interest/2022/05/buy-nothing-group-hoarder-dear-prudence-advice.html)\n\n# Never miss new Slate Advice columns\n\nGet the latest from Prudie and our columnists in your inbox each weekday, plus special bonus letters on Saturdays.\n\n Thanks for signing up! 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Please try again, or [manage all your newsletter subscriptions here](https://slate.com/newsletters) . \n\nEmail address:\n\n \n\n- [x]  Send me updates about Slate special offers.  \n\n By signing up, you agree to our [Privacy Policy](https://slate.com/privacy) and [Terms](https://slate.com/terms).","source_name":"Slate","source_url":"https://slate.com/advice/2026/07/money-advice-parents-estate-plan.html?via=rss","url":"https://slate.com/advice/2026/07/money-advice-parents-estate-plan.html?via=rss","author":"Kristin Wong","author_name":"Kristin Wong","published_at":"2026-07-22T13:30:00.000Z","publication_date":"2026-07-22T13:30:00.000Z","image_url":"https://compote.slate.com/images/eb256e68-2532-41bb-a96b-947df3fee080.jpeg?crop=1560%2C1040%2Cx0%2Cy0","category":"world","topic":"world","tags":[],"political_bias":null,"bias_score":null,"confidence_score":null,"credibility_score":null,"factual_quality":null,"reading_time":8,"word_count":1491,"view_count":0,"breaking":false,"breaking_news":false,"ai_analysis":null,"fact_check_status":"unverified","archive_status":"hot","language":null}}