Please slap me now, I'm ashamed to admit we have a house, child, retirement plans, too much personal property, half interest in my late-mother's home, a dim-witted dog, a three-car garage with two cars, and ...no will. My goal for the next three weeks of my break is to get some things done--probably most importantly a will. Should we do it ourselves with a kit? Do we need an attorney? Does our dual citizenship complicate this? I'm willing to throw a couple hundred dollars at this endeavor if need be.
Advice?
Where there's a will...
January 6th, 2012 at 08:11 pm
January 6th, 2012 at 08:32 pm 1325881958
January 6th, 2012 at 08:33 pm 1325882018
In the meantime, an will from an online source would suffice until you get something more official put together. I think Dave Ramsey endorses US Legal Forms.
January 6th, 2012 at 08:46 pm 1325882785
- If your husband has UK property in his name only, it might complicate things. We still need to consult with a UK property lawyer to see what to do about NT's flat in his name. Otherwise, it shouldn't really matter.
- If you have life insurance policies and retirement accounts in one of your names, those are handled outside a will, so make sure the correct person is designated (and sometimes you can designate contingency heirs, like your main heir is your husband, but if you and he die in a crash together, your daughter gets the money instead).
- You may want to consider healthcare directives as well, denoting your wishes in certain gray areas (like whether or not to keep you alive on life-support or for how long).
- If you have tangible assets you want handled outside the will, do up a dated list (could be handwritten) and list them and who you want them to go to. Keep it with your will.
- Burial/cremation wishes aren't included in wills or healthcare directives, so make sure you communicate these to loved ones another way. You could write them out, date them and keep them in the same place as your will.
It wouldn't be a bad idea to consult with an attorney, but since you don't have a super-unusual situation (as far as I know), you could probably do it yourself (using a service, but cheaper than hiring an attorney).
January 6th, 2012 at 08:53 pm 1325883184
If you want it done right, you will need an attorney. If you care at all about what your heirs will go through when you are gone, you need an attorney. All I can say about those will kits is that "They are better than nothing," but even then I don't know if that is really true, because you can end up with unintended consequences.
A good estate plan/will can cost you a few thousand dollars, easy. But this is not the kind of thing to scrimp on. You'd probably want living revocable trusts - trusts makes things infinitely easier for your heirs when you are gone, and helps you avoid many problems.
If you want to know why I have a will, trusts and life insurance, (since my 20s) it's from seeing really bad situations all the time with my clients. I didn't need to be sold to get a trust - I had seen the difference it makes in action - it's night and day.
January 6th, 2012 at 09:02 pm 1325883762
January 6th, 2012 at 09:34 pm 1325885661
With the retirement plans, you also want to check on and if necessary update the beneficiaries. Those are handled separately from the will. For example, if you try and give to your heirs the proceeds of your 401K through the will...not going to happen. It goes entirely to your beneficiaries.
January 6th, 2012 at 11:52 pm 1325893947
January 7th, 2012 at 03:46 am 1325907998
January 7th, 2012 at 05:17 pm 1325956663
January 8th, 2012 at 10:14 pm 1326060861