Wills and Last Testament

Go to DaveRamsey.com -- on his website is a link to a do it your self place that includes the filing that is very reasonable. As a matter a fact, my husband and I have been trying to work on the same thing and this is what we plan to do.

Hi S.,

Well, you have inspired me to get started on a will or trust for our family too! We have been married almost 20 years and still don't have a will; when our kids were little, we could never agree on who would be their guardian -- shame on us!

For what this is worth, I used to work in a title office and saw lots of wills come across my desk. There were enormous documents that were so redundant that I felt the attorney was just trying to make as many pages as he or she could, and there were very simple wills that stated what needed to be said in a couple of pages or less. I even saw a number of handwritten wills! These were all admitted into probate court as legal documents.

As I have been thinking about this this morning, I think preparing your own will is an excellent idea! Even if you just use it as a template to take to an attorney, it gets you started. I think I'll start working on a will right away and try to set some money aside each month so we can take our will to an attorney and have his or her opinion/help rewriting it.

Thanks for bringing this subject up!
A.

I am an attorney licensed in Missouri and Kansas. My advice is to pay the money and have it done right. If it is not done properly, it will not be valid. Each state has its own requirements about notarizations, the number of witnesses and attestation clauses. The will kits you buy on line may not match the legal requirements for your state and explain or properly explain how to execute it. And, it would be worse to think you were protected and not be. If you want it done right, go to at attorney.

Sandy,
You can pick these documente up at OfficeMax and take them to your bank and have a notary,
notarize it and that will make it legal and binding. Just wait to sign it until you are in front of the
notarer. My best to you.

well you have gotten alot of advice, I agree with those who said get a lawyer. Either save up or make payments. What we did and we are older and our children are grown, we did a simple will, and then had our house deed, car titles, checking and saving accounts put on a POD (Pay On Death) and we put both our children names on them. That way it belongs to them when were gone, and no probate on those big items, then the simple will just covers other same stuff. But also no one can sue one of our children and then get at our things because its not our childs until we die. Don't know if this will help, but our lawyer helped us know how to do this and he's the one who took care of getting the house deed done. We just took all the car titles to the court house and they sent them in to come back with the POD on them. Then we went to the bank and they changed our accounts to have POD on them. Of course when we buy a different car we just make sure they put the POD on the new title. Hope this helps.

Check the laws in the state before you do anything. Some states do no allow notorized wills.

K. B
mom to 5 including triplets

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HarrisburgPAChat
events and chat within 2 hour radius

There are forms on-line. Just make sure you have 2 witnesses sign and put their addresses on it, and, yes, have it notarized. Also, make sure you have a couple originals - one for yourselves and one for your executor. Then give a copy to someone else that you trust. I work for an attorney and it is very common for people to call the office trying to track down a will for a deceased relative. So, that is why I suggest making sure the copies are there.

There are some free websites that you can get various documents as templates, but some courts do not honor them as easily and it can still be a legal mess when the time comes. but if the cost is an issue, it is certainly better than nothing at all! What will be most important is that you do write down your desires and make sure everyone in your family (who would be involved in your affairs after your death) knows what your desires and intentions are too, that way there is less dispute over how things are handled. If you have a trust, that can be helpful too, b/c the trust can own certain holdings rather than you individually.

In case it's an option for you... we got ours done one year when my hubby's employer offered legal services as one of the items in his benefit pkg, then we canceled the lawyer service the next year (we already got what we needed out of it).

I am so glad you are doing this...very important!

I work for an attorney, and I hired an estate/wills attorney to handle my will. There is nothing more important than making sure everything you want is handled when you are gone, especially if you should die as a young person...you want all the I's dotted and T's crossed. Find an attorney that will work with you on payments if necessary. As one other poster mentioned, there are a lot more things that you don't even think about that an attorney who specializes in these things will know. You and I live in the same city (I'm in MO), so if you're interested I can recommend Mark ____@____.com Mark what a simple will would cost and if you can make payments.

I believe there are less expensive ways to get it done than an attorney, including online programs that are more fill-in-the-blank. We had ours done through an attorney and felt it was worth the investment. We made a lot more decisions than I thought we'd have to based on his advice on what to include.

We've had 2 wills done - one was a "quicky" as we were leaving town in a week and wanted to make sure that our daughter was provided for in case anything happened to both of us. The second one was much more detailed - due to estate planning arising from our desire to protect our life insurance payouts from the tax man. In both cases we had an attorney involved. However, if you're just wanting to specify who gets what in the case of your death it's really just a matter of writing it down and making sure somebody knows there is a document in case of your death. Basically, it depends on what you want to accomplish with your will.

Check with your county court house about the laws in your area. I understand that they can be different. Lots of attorneys will do free 30 miinute consultations. If you are an older individual tryo looking in your area for Senior programs like R.S. V. P, (Retired Senior Volunteer Program), there is a lot of support out there now days for doing just what you are doing.

Love Kansas City, both of them...LOL.

I am an attorney in IL and I cannot stress enough how important it is that you go to an attorney and have it done correctly. Some of the previous posters gave some inaccurate, though well intentioned, advice as to what needs to be done to ensure that it will be valid. Venessa was absolutely correct in her advice. If price is an issue, find an attorney that will work with you on payments, but please don't try to do this yourself with an online kit. The forms you will find online are not tailored to your individual needs and may leave you as unprotected as if you didn't have a will at all. Good luck!

I think it depends on how detailed you want you will to be. I talked with a few people and found out that all a will needs to be is notarized by someone who is a notary and our bank offers that and I talked with the VP of the bank about bringing in a will and having it signed and he said that is okay.

With us, our will needs to show that in the event of my husband and my passing, our children will go to my parents, who would become their legal guardians. Also, we want everything we own to go to our children and have them able to get anything monetary at the time they are 18. I know there are more detailed things you may need but that is the majority of what we want documented/signed for now so I think I'm going to draft that up and have it signed then give my parents a copy and put a copy in our safe. That way we have SOMEthing.

Then I'm going to call a lawyer and see how much they charge. I know legalzoom.com charges a little bit over $100 but that is for one person. They give you a discount on your spouse. So if you call a lawyer, find out how much they would charge creating a will for BOTH of you!

I also found this website and it has examples so that you could possibly create something of your own based on what you find here: http://www.ilrg.com/forms/lastwill.html

Good luck...I need to get on this as well!