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A Guide To Making A Will Online Where There is a Will There is a Way Ok, ok, so it is a cliché, but it is so appropriate to this week's subject. Maybe you think you will live forever or maybe you think that if you don't deal with it will go away. Maybe this is on my mind because I moved this week and every muscle in my body is screaming at me to remind me that I have not been 25 for a very long time. Whatever, we are going to talk about personal wills and how you can use your Macintosh and the internet to get a basic will at a very small cost. Do you know that only 1/3 of Americans have a will. Do you know that if you don't have a will the particular laws of your state provide a formula that sets out who is entitled to what. Do you know that if you marry after you have made a will it will automatically be revoked in many states when you marry. Before we go any farther, a couple of qualifiers – the ‘how to' information that follows is primarily for persons living in the US, but citizens of other countries should be able to follow the leads to get information specific to the laws of their own land. I searched for information on will making services for other countries, but I did not find anything. Qualifier number two – if you are listed in the top 10 wealthiest people in the US, if you own properties in several states, if you have 11 children and 35 grandchildren all of whom will fight over your money, if you have children from a previous marriage, or if you have any other situation that makes a basic will an inappropriate solution then just give it up and hire a lawyer. For the rest of us in the vast majority a basic will is enough and wills may be updated, changed, or redone as often as desired. Laws in each state are different (well, duh!). This is particularly true in Louisiana which bases it structure of law on the Napoleonic Code of law. I say this because if you have a will that was made in a state different from the one you live in now, you should update it to reflect the state of your current residence. If you made a will when any of your children were minors, you should update it to reflect the current status. If the status of your property ownership has changed since you made a will you should update it now. Again, requirements differ depending on the state in which you reside, but don't put it off. Just imagine the money in your savings account slowly being eaten up by a faceless executor who charges your account $25 every time they pay a bill for you, and this can go on for months if you own property and have no will. In most states a person must be of legal age to make a will. For most states that means 18. Legal age for making a will is 16 in Louisiana and 14 in Georgia. Some states make provisions for those younger than 18 to have wills if they are married, economically independent or a member of the armed forces. All states require witnesses to the signature of the will maker for the wills to be legal. However, some states will recognize an un-witnessed will if it is handwritten by the author and signed. Many states will not consider a will valid if one or both of the witnesses is also a beneficiary of the estate. There are some things you need to decide before you make a will. The first is who gets what. That's a no-brainer. However, you also need to decide who will be the executor. The executor has to obtain probate of the will, pay any taxes, debts or expenses and keep it all straight until the final distribution to the beneficiaries. If you do not name an executor the court will appoint one. Executor is a thankless job let me tell you. I know three people who have served as executor's of a family members will and all of them have told me that no matter how hard they try someone is always mad at them. So pick someone outside of the family or a family member who is thick-skinned and can take the criticism. Assuming you have now decided that no one is really going to fight over your 1980 Chevy or the $1,000 you have in the bank so a basic will is all you need, let me share with you the sources I found on the internet. www.willdrafter.com offers a service to draft your will for you for $19 so long as you live in the United States in any state but Louisiana. They offer a free trial run that lets you evaluate the service and hyperlinks with each page to provide help if you need it. The first page will ask for your name, address, telephone, e-mail address, marital status, whether or not you have children and how many, whether or not you want to include a trust for children, appoint a guardian for minor children, and how many grandchildren you have. Depending on how many children you have listed, a page will pop up asking for information (name and address) on each child and/or grandchild. The next page will ask you to name your beneficiary and alternate beneficiary and their relationship to you. Following are requests for the executor and alternate executor information and other specific pertinent information necessary for your personal will. Lastly, you get a page that summarizes the information you entered and then the option to pay the fee and receive the finished product, ready for signatures.
www.smartwill.com offers a service to draft your will for $20 so long as you live in the United States in any state but Louisiana. Smartwill states that their service has been created by attorneys and the will created from their on-line program is guaranteed for a full refund. Smartwill also guides you through the process. They also link to a sample will that shows you all the components that can be included. The first page will ask for your name, address, marital status, whether or not you have children and whether you wish to include grandchildren or pets in your will. Next you are asked to list your children along with date of birth. You can enter as many as you need, one entry at a time. After you have listed one you will see all of them listed together at the bottom of the page, along with options for editing or deleting. Next you follow the same structure to list grandchildren or pets. The next information page concerns the beneficiaries of your estate. There is a special note that married persons (unless residents of Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington State, and Wisconsin) should leave their spouse at least 50% of the estate. Those states listed are community property states. As you move through the remaining pages you will be asked to list beneficiaries, special requests, and other things (like trusts) that you have told the program you want included. Lastly, you get a page that summarizes the information you entered and then the option to pay the fee and receive the finished product, ready for signatures. You not only need a will, you also need a Living Will (also called an Advanced Directive Document) and depending on where you live, you may also need a medical power of attorney. A Living Will is a legal document in which a person can specify the types and extent of health care treatment they may prefer if they become terminally ill, and can authorize a proxy (designated decision maker) to make health care decisions on their behalf. A Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care is a legal document which allows another person (agent) to make health care decisions if the person becomes unable to make decisions (incapacitated) as determined by a physician. Written instructions should be included so that future care decisions will be based on your beliefs and preferences. I have worked in the field of disabilities for over 20 years and I can not emphasize enough how important I think it is to retain control of the decisions that are made about you when you are terminally ill. I suggest you do the following to help you decide. Pretend that you are in an accident that will leave you severely handicapped or in a coma, or that you have a terminal illness. Make a list of the 10 things that you would not like to give up or have change. For instance: I don't want to be kept alive with machines, I don't want to linger in a hospital for months, I don't want my family to have to guess what I would want them to do, or I don't want anyone pulling the plug on me. If you do not have medical directives in place then you loose the right to make any of those decisions. I have a living will and I have either included specific directions in writing or discussed specific areas with the person I have given the power to. I chose someone who I know would not act strictly on emotions, but would be able to remember what I want. It is also very important that you choose someone to make the medical decisions who is not the executor of your regular will. Attorneys caution that there could be some legal complications with that. Living will requirements vary from state to state but you do not need to hire an attorney to complete either the Living Will or the Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care. The forms do need to be either witnessed or notarized to be valid. Forms are available through a number of sources, including your states Unit on Aging. You can get detailed information on Living Wills and Durable Powers of Attorney for Health Care at www.senioralternatives.com/livingwills.html . I also found a site that provides forms and information by state as well as for Britain, Canada, and Nova Scotia. It can be seen at www.mindspring.com . Make sure the pertinent parties have copies of all of these documents and you may want to carry a note in your wallet that says you have a Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care and it can be found ……. If you have found other sources or have sources for people outside of the U.S. please let me know and I will pass it on. If you have any tips, hints, or thoughts on these topics, make sure you write me so that I can share your thoughts with other readers. |