- Dave

Congratulations on getting your estate planning taken care of. But, why no Trust?

@moneygrubbinglawyer NO, never store a Will in your safe deposit box. It makes it very difficult for your family to access your safe deposit box after you die, if your Will is locked inside. We need your Will to access the box.

@Kevin L. Legalzoom can be a good start. Here’s my thoughts about whether the documents work: http://tinyurl.com/6k6wfk

@Shelley the more specifics you have re the way you want your kids raised, the more important that you make the decision. As things stand now, the decision as to who raises your kids would be left up to a judge to decide if something happened to you. If you are having trouble deciding, I have an article at http://www.choosetherightguardian.com that will walk you through a simple process that should help. If you still can’t decide, let me know.

Living wills usually only address a few very specific end-of-life medical treatments and generally place the decision authority with a physician (often the attending, whom you’ve probably never met before)

With a health care POA _you_ choose who makes medical decisions for you, so they can specify what you _would_ want as well as what you _don’t_ want in terms of medical treatment.

Not having a will doesn’t mean that you won’t die, or that the right people will magically pop up. If you can only make the least bad choice at the moment, that’s still better than not making a choice at all.

Financially, if my husband and I would both die, wouldn’t our money automatically be split between our children? Or if just one of us died, wouldn’t the assets go to our spouse automatically?

Another thing that is important to mention is that some states are community property states, and the way property is divided if the person does not have a will can get even more complicated. If I’m not mistaken these are the community property states: Nevada, California, Texas, Washington, Arizona, Idaho, Wisconsin, New Mexico, and Louisiana.

Another thing, Louisiana has really funky wills. If you live there I don’t recommend doing your own will. Go to an attorney to have them do it to make sure it is legally valid.

Here’s the low down on the documents I personally have provided.

The Will (last will and testament) is the document in which you designate who will inherit your property (real property and personal property) (”real” property being homes/land) and where you designate who you want to be the guardian of your children.

If you don’t designate a guardian and then you die, your child will go to the other biological parent (if living). If they aren’t living then a court would likely have to make a determination of who would be the guardian in the best interests of the children. This can get ugly, so just decide in advance and make sure that person is okay with your decision.

A living will is the document in which you let your family know your intent on what to do in the event you become incapacitated and terminally ill. If you become incapacitated and terminally ill and you want to be removed from life support in that situation, you need one of these documents. It resolves any dispute on what your intent is and it will allow your family to peacefully follow through with your wishes. (In some states this is called an Advance medical directive.) You will give this document to your family member and they can decide to give it to the medical care provider if necessary.

A durable power of attorney for health care is a power of attorney where you give someone else the authority to make health care decisions on your behalf if you are unable to make them yourself. It is different from the living will (although in some states everything is included in one document and not two, it depends on what software you use). Without this document, in most states your spouse (or parent, if you are not married) has this authority by law. Even though your spouse has this authority anyway, it’s a good idea to get this document because you can designate an alternate person - in the event you and your spouse are both in a car accident, unconscious, or whatever. You want to keep it updated with current phone numbers and give a copy to your family members in case of emergencies.

A springing general power of attorney is a power of attorney just like a regular power of attorney that you use to designate a person to take care of certain things for you in the event you become incapacitated (but obviously still living, like in a coma or something similar, no longer capable of making decisions for yourself) but it doesn’t become effective until you are in fact incapacitated. This is a good document to have IN CASE. It will make it easier for your family in the event anything happens, so they can pay your bills, sell property in your name, etc. (whatever you want to give them authority to do - although for financial transactions you will likely need a Special power of attorney because most financial institutions will not accept general powers of attorney- check with your financial institution for what they require).

Your life insurance is completely separate from your will. Whoever you have named as your beneficiary on your life insurance beneficiary form is the person who will get the life insurance. MAKE SURE THIS IS KEPT UP TO DATE!! I have heard stories of many military members who have gotten divorced, gone on to have new families, and forgotten to update this, then when they die everything goes to the ex-spouse and nothing to the new children.

It is a good idea to check your documents at least once a year to make sure they are accurate and up to date.

These documents are VERY important if you have children from a prior marriage or if your spouse has children from a prior marriage.

Here is one that I’d recommend (disclosure: I work for the company that provides this service): http://www.lawdepot.com/contracts/last-will-and-testament/

We also provide information about the importance of having a will, and when you need to look at updating your will (there are a variety of life events that can make updating your will necessary). You can check some of that information out here: http://wiki.lawdepot.com/wiki/The_Importance_of_a_Last_Will_and_Testament

Has anyone had any experience using it? What do you think?

-Charlotte

Has anyone used it? Was it good enough?

-Charlotte

Having the lawyer hold the will came about (I suspect) because many people didn’t have a secure place to put it. That’s changed in the last 50 years, but then so did the lawyer’s reason for holding it- it became a marketing decision. If I’m holding the will, most people will return to me to have their will updated. My personal philosophy is that if people were satisfied with my services they’ll return because of that satisfaction. If they weren’t satisfied the last thing I want is an unsatisfied client returning with the possibility of making them even more unsatisfied.

Will storage in a safe deposit box earns a mixed recommendation from me. For a husband/wife situation it’s not a bad idea so long as both are alive and both on the box. Once one dies, however, the tendency is to not put someone else on the box. As a result, when Mom finally passes there’s no one with authority to get into the box to get the will and you have to get a court order to drill the box. That’s a pain in the backside.

Lastly, a word on trusts. Trusts are a wonderful thing for many people. But they’re not suited for everyone. The general rule that I use for advising people on whether they should have a trust is: The older you are, the more stable your assets, and the greater your wealth, the more likely you are to benefit from a trust. For the average 25 year old who has a spouse, checking account, modest 401k, two cars and a dog, unless they’re really ill, really wealthy or have some very specific estate planning objectives, they probably would not benefit from a trust and putting the client into one might well be more cumbersome than beneficial to the client.

I intend to make copies of the will (it needs updating!), and BCs and such to give to my parents. I have their documents as well.

We really need to update our will, but the cost seems so high! I think we’ll update it cheaply and save up for a good lawyer to help right a through will.

What other documents do people recommend? I’m a bit clueless in that area.

For important document storage, I suggest a fire proof safe for the home. It is easily accesible and pretty secure.

I am still in my 20s but I am also thinking about wills. I do have a personal pension — can I include that in a will?

We found the $350 well worth it, just to get it done.

Remember you’re creating a will to so that your legacy can be distributed as you wish. You are also creating a will to make things easier for your benificiaries. So make it easy for them, make sure they know where your will is.

If your will doesn’t contain a list of your assets then I would recommend that you create a booklet that lists all assets, insurance and liabilities. I have had countless executor’s in my office asking if the deceased had an account with my bank.