Will kit - would anyone be able to help with a suggestion?

[syracusa]

We have two children ... and some friends have recently reminded us that it would be good for us to have extra life insurance, a will, etc. This topic usually makes me sick, sick, sick but I understand we need to treat it rationally and matter-of-factly, so here I am. I am not sure where to start. We don't want to go through a lawyer with the will as we heard the are some DIY kits that you can then notarized. Would anyone be able to suggest such a kit and how to start ?

Thank you so, so much in advance.

[feh]

We have two children ... and some friends have recently reminded us that it would be good for us to have extra life insurance, a will, etc. This topic usually makes me sick, sick, sick but I understand we need to treat it rationally and matter-of-factly, so here I am. I am not sure where to start. We don't want to go through a lawyer with the will as we heard the are some DIY kits that you can then notarized. Would anyone be able to suggest such a kit and how to start ?

Thank you so, so much in advance.

I think whether this is a DIY project or best left to a professional depends on your specific situation...assets involved, whether a trust is needed, etc.

We paid the money for a pro, because we wanted a trust for our child.

[ua_guy]

A good starting place, and a website that I've recommended before. This site blurs out one of the words in the url, that you'll need to type in.

www (dot) getyour****together (dot) org

where **** is a naughty word for brown stuff that goes in the toilet. The woman that created the website needs to change the URL at some point, but it's a catchy slogan for what most of us need to do. It outlines the story of her husband unexpectedly dying, and the ensuing mess she had to tackle in the days, months, years afterwards with regards to finances, legal stuff, and everything else. She makes good recommendations for where to start, and how to start getting things in order in case the unspeakable ever happens.

[snafu]

I think almost any Will Kit with forms on-line is a good place to Start. I suggest also printing off an Advance Care Directive, [formerly called A Living Will] and Power of Attorney for both you and husband. Please don't procrastinate on this task, it really isn't as uncomfortable as you might imagine and forces you to fully understand your current circumstances. There is a ton of information on-line and you need to check any details pertinent to your state.

The thing is this process needs to be written in two tenses...current and future expectations. For example, you may state your current residence and add words like 'or specifics of current domicile' as you may move over the span of 20 plus years. One of the most important factors is to name each other as benefactors of whatever bank accounts, Retirement Plans, Investment Accounts, etc. Even more important is to name individuals to be Guardians of your children. You certainly don't want them to be left to the legal system's custody. If you name your parents, you'll want a secondary name as this is a long term document.

Finally, you will need to name an Executor/Executrix of your estate. That's the person that pays the bills and disburses the money. It needs to be someone who lives in your state, best to live in your city. My brothers were the worst money managers I knew so we ended up naming a friend who is an accountant and specified he was to be paid his fee. We 'requested' our personal effects, except those our DKs specifically wanted, be sold at auction to save the hassle.

We filled-in our info on one of the on-line kits and took it to a lawyer to review and notarize our signatures. After, I realized that any legal assistant, legal clerk or law student would do as I had the impression the clerk did the actual work. If you choose to use a lawyer, ask in advance who does the actual review and suggest changes. If your employer has a lawyer on staff, I'm certain that would suffice unless there was something different or a religious aspect that had potential for disagreements.

It's important to keep a copy off-site with someone you trust. My late dad had his copy in a bank's safe deposit box and it took us weeks to get all the paperwork completed to get access. We were all upset, there were a lot of expenses and dad's assets were 'frozen.' The documents in dad's desk instructed us to see his [named] lawyer. What dad didn't know was that the fellow had died and the practice was sold! We had no idea what funeral details he expected...nearly chaos.

Again, I plead, please get this task done now, with the facts at hand or easy to get.

[97guns]

might depend on where you are in your lives and what kind of assets you have, if you are still building assets then drawing up a living trust with an attorney probably is not a good option as you will have to keep amending it as assets grow

i am only familiar with living trusts for a will but i do know they can be drawn up poorly, my aunt had a big mess with hers and one of my cousins ripped off my other 3 cousins

[youngblud]

Legal zoom is what we used. Very well done system and will save you $

[MakeAStash]

Suze Orman's site offer's a semi-DIY will and trust kit.