Do It Yourself Wills

[Schachteles]

I think I've met a few lawyers where I'd be more comfortable with legalzoom.com than trusting them.

It really depends upon your circumstances. Most of the "major" do it yourself providers offer State Specific language and specific instructions regarding execution. What they do not offer is the ability to personalize or vary from their framework without possibly leading yourself into trouble.

You need to decide for yourself whether or not your needs are complicated enough to dictate. If you own a house, a couple bank accounts, and are leaving everything to one beneficiary, I think most of the diy options will be just fine if you follow their directions exactly. Beyond that, spend a couple hundred bucks and find a good expert.

Another thing whenever possible - for every account possible make sure you designate a Transfer On Death beneficiary outside of the Will. Most brokerage accounts, retirement accounts, many savings accounts and other funds allow this. On Fidelity, you can fill it out online and change it as often as you like without having to pay a lawyer to update.

And know if you name beneficiaries on these accounts, then it doesn't go through probate should that happen. My FIL passed away 5 weeks ago and my DH was named a beneficiary on his retirement, we got the paperwork about a week ago and should have our first payment within a couple days...

 

[skjuls]

We had our will done after we had kids for under $500. But recently, we visited an estate attorney who specializes in special needs. We need to have an iron clad will to protect our two sons who have autism. In order for them to receive any kind of government financial assistance, they can not have more than $2K in their names.

If you have any special circumstances, please see a qualified attorney to do your will. A good tax attorney will also help you to shelter as much money from the government so that your heirs will be able to use that money. We all think we don't have much, but we often have more in our estates than we realize.

I will have to do this as well!! I am also going to create a special needs trust to take of my son who has autism.

 

[Karlzmom]

New York notary here. We have nothing to do with wills whatsoever. In New York, the will needs to be prepped by an lawyer.

Then again, legally New York is a backwards state that still tries sixteen year-olds as adults, and doesn't have a no-fault divorce law. I'm sure it's a conspiracy involving the state bar association.

I know another poster comment on the 16-year-old-as-an-adult issue, so I'll skip that, but the issue of no-fault divorce is interesting. It seems that is not such a bad idea. Before you protest, consider where "no fault" exists that the parties will fight tooth and nail to "win" the bigger settlement, more custody, etc. In short, because the court won't say who's "fault" it is, the parties have to determine it using the minimal power they have to make the other one miserable! If the issue of "fault" is there, maybe a person will think twice before infidelity or other actions contrary to marriage, knowing from the outset they will stand to lose. In CA, the only "fault" that hits you in the divorce is abuse. Anything short of that, you can still come out ahead.

 

[Karlzmom]

I think I've met a few lawyers where I'd be more comfortable with legalzoom.com than trusting them.
.

That's funny How do you know what kind of yokkel drafted the papers for legalzoom? [visualizing the attorney, working in the basement to avoid daylight....etc, etc. etc. ]

 

[RitaE]

That's funny How do you know what kind of yokkel drafted the papers for legalzoom? [visualizing the attorney, working in the basement to avoid daylight....etc, etc. etc. ]

nope, it was Robert Shapiro and he wears a suit and everything. I've seen the commercial.

 

[sbell111]

The answer to this question, like most, is 'it depends'. For instance, when I was single, I could have scribbled my intentions on the back of a napkin, had it notorized, and it would have been rock solid. I suspect that I could still write my own will in my current situation, but there's no need since wills are not very expensive to have drawn up.

 

[minkydog]

We had our will done after we had kids for under $500. But recently, we visited an estate attorney who specializes in special needs. We need to have an iron clad will to protect our two sons who have autism. In order for them to receive any kind of government financial assistance, they can not have more than $2K in their names.

If you have any special circumstances, please see a qualified attorney to do your will. A good tax attorney will also help you to shelter as much money from the government so that your heirs will be able to use that money. We all think we don't have much, but we often have more in our estates than we realize.

Absolutely correct! And do you know what happens if our special needs kids do "accidentally" inherit something? They lose their Medicaid and SSI(if they have it) and they must "spend down" the money until they are low enough to qualify. We have made sure to let family members know that there is a Special Needs Trust account set up for Christian and that he is NEVER to inherit anything directly--we will happily give them the information they need to allow them to leave something for Christian safely.

Your attorney can set up the trust when you do your wills(remember, you both need a will.) Once the trust is in place it's a simple matter of going to the bank or institution you want to use and funding it. It took us about an hour and now it's done!

I thought the hardest part was choosing a guardian. In fact, we ended up choosing two guardians, one for our normal DD15 and another for our severely mentally handicapped DS13. DS is a pleasant child, but he will need ongoing care for the rest of his life--not a project that everyone wants or is equipped to take on. One thing our attorney said to help us make a decision was "If you were killed in a wreck this afternoon who would you want to take the kids, other than Childrens Services." Well, that certainly makes your thoughts clear!

 

[DVC Sadie]

Ah, a voice of reason! I can't believe that people will trust something as important as a will to a box program. Would someone use a computer program to perform surgery? How about just to fix their car? Re-pipe their house? When you consider all the potential problems a will can have, and the vast amounts of money that can be wasted probating a will I just don't get it. (Yes, I'm a lawyer. No, I don't do anything in the civil arena - instead I call a lawyer!)

We worked too hard and too long to see our estate handled by anyone (or anything) who was not licensed to do wills.

Estate attorneys and CPA Know all of the ins and outs and can help show us what is needed to avoid as many taxes as legally possible when we die. I am more than willing to pay for their expertise so our beneficiares do not have to do anything before our estate is settled. They also helped us set up charitable trusts and trusts for individual beneficiaries.

 

[lisajl]

A friend of mine was killed in a freak accident this year. After that, I told my DH..we are doing our wills and doing them now.

We have three kids and it is very important where they go, if DH and I are taken out at the same time.

We contacted a local attorney, recommended by another friend.
It was $150. They will keep a copy of our wills at their office and we have a copy.

It was so easy and I know it was done right. Spend a little more and have a lawyer draw it up.

 

[mommy2allyandaveri]

We chose to use Legalzoom . com and we chose to do a living trust, very similar to a will but even with a will your love ones will still have to go through probate.

It was very simple, they answered all my questions. We also included a deed of trust in our package so we could put the house in the trusts name. We were able to leave the kids with who we wanted with as detailed instructions as we wanted as well as what to do with all of our assets and life insurance.

I am SO glad we did this, a lot less hassle for who ever has to deal with our estate should something happen to us.

The whole package cost about $500

 

[m&m's mom]

Please listen to what the other posters have said about state laws. Some states have laws that are very different from others and these pre-packaged things will be invalid. Find a reasonably-priced attorney ($800 seems high for a simple will). Especially if you have children.

I noticed you are from Texas.
FYI- Texas does not consider online will as valid. A person who lives a mile from me murdered her whole family and then herself (bad reaction to a medicine- huge understatement). This happened almost exactly a year ago and they still cannot do anything w/ the house, cars etc, because they are tied up in legal quagmire since the DH had an online will.