I gotta get one or the other (or both). I have two kids.
My local google search is bringing up plenty of “Estate Attorney” ones.
Done.
We did ours through an attorney friend who specialized in these things, because they were less stressful than court stuff and clients and all that. He could see his kids grow up and be part of all that.
Between the time we first set everything up and when we finally signed all the documents, he had died. Heart issues, as he was a pretty big guy.
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Yes you should. We also have what they call up here a ‘living will’. Something about if they’re incapacitated we can each take control of the other’s decisions.
The way I’ve heard it said is to ask if you want to decide where your money goes after you die, or if you want the gov’t to decide for you.
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Do you have kids?
Yes to both really then. We ended up using a law firm connected to my wife (she is a lawyer).
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Estate attorneys specialize in that sort of thing.
Do you need one? A lot depends on whether you have any complex situations to account for or address . . . or if there aspects of your assets that you need protected in a special way (e.g., qualifying for Medicaid requires your accessible assets to be pretty stinking low, so an irrevocable trust can help protect assets that would otherwise be either disqualifying or going to the government).
We need to get a will properly set up so our taken-in adult child is fine in our death.
Right now, our life insurances would pay out to her and she’d reasonably be fine. But we would like to set it up so Godkid formally gets our house, and then have some limited payout to siblings who could use the money.
All we need to do is get a notary and a couple witnesses, for the basic concepts anyway.
We’re in the process of setting this up now. We ran through the details with a lawyer last week and we finalize everything pretty soon. We mainly want to make sure the kids don’t have to hassle with all that stuff when the time comes.
Everything said so far has been reasonable and korrect and I concur and all that.
I’m in the same boat, and I may be in a similar situation to you family-wise.
I don’t know what I want to happen to my nickles and dimes. I am not convinced leaving big bucks to my adult children would be good for them. Even though I’ve never discussed their potential inheritances with them, I believe they still expect it. I know one would blow through the money. I think one would bank the money and never spend it. I think the 3rd would potentially end up delegating it to their significant other.
I currently live in Illinois and there are estate taxes to worry about. Your state may vary. But it’s one of the reasons I want to leave Illinois.
It’s basic, but it’s a decent $12 to spend to help you start to think through some stuff. Don’t let the long title fool you. It’s written for non-actuarial types and you’ll be able to read the whole thing in an hour or two. Definitely worth the price of a hamburger. You could have a lawyer explain all the basics to you, but you’ll probably pay at least $300 for the 1 hour lesson.
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I know one would blow through the money.
Designate an annuity for that person? But that comes with some costs, and I don’t know how things are set up if that can happen so easily.
We have an archaic will from 25 years ago that still suffices. We consulted with a lawyer who wasn’t sure if we had enough assets to justify a trust. In the end we paid him $300+ and decided not to update things. In the end half goes to each kid. I imagine in the future we will need to be more serious with it and are probably behaving badly by not having more stuff in place.
The house and car would go through probate, but every account worth having has the beneficiaries listed and the split should be completed within three months. Then the kids will need to enlist a professional because they can’t be bothered. My son has his $100K in his checking account earning pennies every month 
We’ve had a will in place since after we had twins. (I think we got it done for free through work.) It’s evolved over the years, I think the current version is our 4th. The major things we’ve added over time are a Healthcare POA and a Financial POA, because of what I experienced with my dad. At a minimum, I recommend everyone have that; the first extra I’d add is whatever you can do to have assets transfer without the estate needing to go through probate, or minimize what has to go through probate, in case timing and availability of assets could be an issue for any beneficiaries.
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Yep, I am my mom’s Financial POA and my sister does the Healthcare side. Mom’s house automatically goes to me at which point I will sell it and distribute the proceeds as I know she would have liked, speeding up the process by avoiding probate.
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You want to avoid this. You really really want to avoid this. Having been an executor of my grandmother’s will and trust, you want to avoid court and lawyers and hassles. Or at least your beneficiaries want you to set it up so that they are not hassled with it.
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This is pretty much it. After-death pettiness and/or micro-managing is not for me.
If one wants to buy the other out, so be it.
And, the current situation is that this only kicks in of both my wife and I die nearly simultaneously (i.e., not long enough for the survivor to find a lawyer and change it). And when we go on long trips using the same transportation option, the P increases.
You know what’s better? Having a will so there is no debate.
My younger brother, the executor of my mom’s estate, told me and my sister that my mom told him on her near-death bed that she wanted her car to go to his son. We told him to buy it from the estate, since it was part of the assets to be distributed equally (my older brother’s three children were also equal heirs of my older brother’s share, as per the will). Offered him a reduced price for it. He’s still bitter that we didn’t believe him. I said I don’t care if she said it or not; there were no witnesses (mainly me or my sister), and what else might she have said on her near-death bed?
(He also owed my mother a lot of money, which legally was also an asset of the estate. Mom kept written notes of how much was owed. First thing he did when she died was find them and try to keep them from us, as “he was embarrassed.” I knew the written notes existed and searched for them and couldn’t find them. We knew he had borrowed from her, because I had also borrowed from her back when I needed a car and when my two kids were in college and we didn’t qualify for financial aid, so yay “parent of student” loans! He borrowed a lot more, cuz two kids, lost his job, lost his house, lives with his in-laws, etc. Took him several months to give them up. When he did, I scanned them and sent the pdf to the other heirs, so they know what was rightfully theirs. But, go ahead, be bitter with me because I didn’t believe you.)
Anyway, I did some math, pro bono, so that all the heirs were made whole. Guess who’s the favorite uncle now.
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Lending out money to family…never ends well.
Gifting is the way to go (within reason).
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If your employer offers a legal plan, sign up for it in 2027 and get it done next year. $40 bucks a month pre-tax will get you about $1500 in documents.
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This is what we did. It’s like $100/yr and covers everything except some kind of filing fees.
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We finally did this last year. My parents died about a month apart. They had an old will which they’d intended to update (they wanted one brother to receive a bigger share, which was understandable, but we had to figure out how that played out), and everything was a nightmare for my oldest brother to deal with. Probate took several years to settle. I didn’t want my kids to deal with that mess, as well as all the predatory “get your inheritance now” loans.
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I completely agree but there is zero concern between my sister and I (and mom) about things, and we already went thru my dad’s estate. Plus my mom does have a will and she entrusted me to deal with the house piece outside of it - to be split among the grandkids if the money isn’t needed for her. The investment accounts will go 50/50 to my sister and I according to the beneficiary list. Easy peasy.
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Wills still have to go through probate court. Trusts do not. That’s the benefit of having a trust.
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