Having had a few members of my family die over the past year and a half, I have realized my wife and I need to make wills.
I have heard of online will programs like Willmaker Plus and Willmaker. Are things like this a terrible idea? Has anyone do this or should I just find a lawyer? I don't think it will need to be a terribly complicated will as far as assets we have the house, retirement accounts, bank accounts and then just the stuff we own. Also no kids.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Last summer a basic will was $100 at my local family attorney's office. Took us about 15 minutes to write down that everything goes to my kid, or my friends kids should something happen to both of us.
Not sure what the online services charge, but for the price, might as well go see a real attorney so you can ask questions and decide if you should do a trust as well.
If you have any heirs, a trust might be a better option, or a will within a trust. After becoming a dad recently, this has been on my radar, so I've been doing some research, but we need to make some critical decisions first.
Considering the importance of the document, I think it's worth a couple hundred bucks to talk with an experienced attorney and make sure things are setup exactly as you want them to be.
We added "basic legal services" as an option in my (or DW's) benefits package for 1 year. During that year we used it to have a will drawn up by a local attorney. We basically wrote it, he advised us about some technical / legal details, and then his office redrafted it and did all the filing and paperwork. That should be $300 or so, and well worth it.
Duke said:We added "basic legal services" as an option in my (or DW's) benefits package for 1 year. During that year we used it to have a will drawn up by a local attorney. We basically wrote it, he advised us about some technical / legal details, and then his office redrafted it and did all the filing and paperwork. That should be $300 or so, and well worth it.
This is what I would do as well.
When my grandfather (mom's side) passed away, even with a strong will, POA, etc, it turned into a nightmare because of arguing siblings and took a couple of years to get settled in the courts.
When I do simple Wills 4 married couples without children, I try to structure them and set up their other property such that upon one parties death , property goes to the other by operation of law so you don't have to probate an estate. For example say you have separate bank accounts or retirement accounts. I have those titled usually with joint ownership or pay on death title. That why there is no need to probate an estate when the first one dies. Your home is likely titled as a joint tenancy with right of survivorship which will save you from probating a will to transfer ownership to the surviving spouse. Many factors to consider. It's well worth your time to spend two or three hundred dollars to a young lawyer to set up a simple will. Also consider preparing living wills, medical directive, and Declaration of intent and medical power of Attorneys at this time.
My will, after appointing an executor, says that my estate must be liquidated and the results divided equaly among named heirs.
With changing circumstances you will change the will as desired.
Keep it simple.
It may be required to be witnessed by an attorney to be legal.
Find a lawyer.
Seriously. Legalzoom counts as a lawyer, but it's actually likely to be more expensive than just finding a local guy from what I've heard.
Ovid's right (being a lawyer himself). You'll likely want the whole magilla - advance directive, medical and financial POA to spouse, maybe a beneficiary deed to your kids if you have real estate. Some of that is not hard to do yourself - but if you go to a good estate planning lawyer, he'll basically have it all set up already with blanks to be filled in, and you're good to go. Likely not expensive.
For a pair of spouses to do all this with relatively simple wills? You're likely looking at around a grand, maybe $1,500.00. YMMV. I've been consistently surprised at how much basic legal services can vary in price from one part of the country to another.
Trusts are a whole 'nother animal though, and they can get expensive in a hurry depending on what you're trying to do. They also take quite a bit of legwork on your side to move your assets into them.
In reply to psteav :
With no children, unless your estate is in the $6 million or over range unlikely you need to fool with trusts. For normal estates about the only time I've used trusts is to set up educational trust for children, usually nieces and nephews. Don't overcomplicate it.
With what you're looking for I can't imagine it being much more than $500 if that much total, including medical power of attorney, Declaration of intent, etcetera.
I was told by a friend who is an estate lawyer that this one is best left to pros in most states. He said that too many times he has seen DIY wills get chucked when it came to executing it because of some legal term involving adequate credibility. Long story short, if an heir feels saucy and wants more from the deal, it's a lot easier to jack with things because of Ts that aren't crossed on a DIY will.
Trish and I went to We The People and got Wills, Medical Proxies etc. for about $400. They told us the on-line folks take your $50 or $100 and send you a list of lawyers.
YMMV.
RevRico said:Last summer a basic will was $100 at my local family attorney's office. Took us about 15 minutes to write down that everything goes to my kid, or my friends kids should something happen to both of us.
Not sure what the online services charge, but for the price, might as well go see a real attorney so you can ask questions and decide if you should do a trust as well.
This is what I did. It really doesn't cost that much and you're assured it's done correctly.
Ok i am looking into lawyers now.
Not sure of the OPs situation but my family has rarely used a lawyer. So I don't have any collective trusted experience with a firm.
Is there any key source to reference if a lawyer is better than the other? Or is it just Yelp/Angie's/Google/etc ratings?
We did what Ovid suggested. All major assets are jointly owned. All accounts are jointly owned.
The wills were drawn up, including living wills and such. The cost was right at $350 ten years ago. It's probably double that now.
I had mine done a few years ago, I think it was only $150. My financial advisor recommended a nice attorney who does nothing but family law and works out of her house so her costs were pretty low. It pays to look around, I would imagine there are similar attorneys in the OP's area.
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