Do you have a will? Lots of questions about wills....

[clh2]

Please...Please...Please get a will done. Maybe pick up some life insurance too!

In the town where I live - a few weeks ago - a mom and dad dies in a motorcycle accident. They left 3 kids (one is 17 - going to be a sr in high school, one in middle school and one in elementary). They also did not have any life insurance.

 

[ilovemk76]

Someone I work with lost a 45 yr. old son-in-law recently, he was very wealthy, but had no will. Won't his wife automatically get everything?? I'm confused, some people say that it will have to go to probate, etc, etc. It will end up costing a lot for the family for lawyers, etc. But, I've never known anyone that has had to do this, and I've know lots of people that passed away without wills.

It depends on the state you live in. In my state, the spouse gets everything.

I wonder, and started to worry, because DH and I do not have a will. Of course we're not wealthy either. We still have a mortgage on our home, but it will be paid off in about 5 yrs., that's the only thing we have worth anything. We do have small life insurance policies and 401ks. We both have each other as 1st beneficiary and our DD as secondary beneficiary. So, if one of us passed away, wouldn't the other just automatically get everything??? We wouldn't have to go through probate etc.??? How does that work? We're in Wisconsin by the way.

Now if something happened to both of us, I think that's another story, since DD is only 12.

I would like to get a will made though.
Thanks for any help!!

When you have a minor child it is very important to have a will. In the will you will decide who will be the child's guardian and how the money will be used for that child. A child cannot inherit, so a trust must be set up no or after you pass. The will can decide at what age you child gets all the money. Do you want her to get all of it on her 18th birthday? Do you want her to only get enough to pay for college but wait until 25 to get the rest? You get the idea.

If you and your DH die without a will then the state will decide who becomes your child's guardian.

A simple will can be created for both of you (one will each) for a few hundred dollars. The more complicated the more it will cost.

DH and I both have wills.

 

[MrsToad]

Another vote to get wills made. In Connecticut, without a will, if there are children of both the parents, the surving spouse gets the first $100,000 plus half the remainder, with the children splitting the remaining half. If the surviving spouse is not parent to the children, the spouse gets half and the children split the rest.

 

[dhardawa]

Do not opt for an online will. Law changes regularly and differs greatly from state to state. A do-it-yourself will has no guarentee of legality and no one to consult if you have questions. This matter is too important to do yourself!
With a minor child, I would strongly encourage you have a trust drawn up. They are not just for the wealthy. If you own a home, have life insurance, have minor children, want a POA, or medical directive a Trust is what you need. A will is better than nothing, but in many states, a will still needs to go through probate and still can be contested. A trust has much more strength.

I can't agree more! I actually looked at online wills and also kits you could buy and do on the computer. When I met with my estate planning attorney, it because obvious very quickly that there was no way either of those two options were going to touch what I really wanted for my kids and estate.

 

[tlh0726]

Make sure you think long and hard who you name as executor of your will.
This person is going to be doing alot of work that is also time consuming and having to take the brunt of the unhappy people.
My MIL past away in Jan 2010 and my mother in Jan 2011. Learned alot of what to do and not to do to our own children.

Best advice my mother took from us when she redid her will in 2005 is she had her lawyer named as executor when both DH and myself refused her.
I did not have to deal with legal matters along with dealing with her death.
No fights between my brother or myself, lawyer had to be the "bad" guy.


Another thing to discuss while with a lawyer is Power of Attorney and Living Wills

 

[ceecee]

You need a will and a trust set up for your daughter, which will say who you would want her guardians to be if something happened to both of you and the $ to help with her expenses.