Everyone knows they need a will, but most people don't get around to ever creating one. In fact, 85 percent of American adults don't have one (truth be told, I haven't drafted one for myself or Mark yet). That's no excuse for any of us. If you have children and not many assets, a simple will can dictate at least who will be the caretakers of your children should you and your spouse die. Most legal documents should be drafted by an attorney, but if that isn't going to happen for you now, you can create one yourself. Make sure you date it and have a few disinterested parties witness your signature (if they receive any sort of gift in your will they are not disinterested). If even that seems too hard, write something out on a blank piece of paper in your handwriting, date it and sign it. In Utah that is sufficient.
In a few years when we start to acquire more assets, it is more critical to get a trust to protect those assets. That's a much more lengthy post that I don't want to get into tonight, but it's also something that should NEVER be done without an attorney. We have a case where some people created multiple trusts without an attorney and more than a decade after they passed away their children are still fighting to figure out what part of the trusts are valid. The assets are basically gone, but they are still fighting and it has destroyed their family. Less effective.
Final consideration: a lot of families are torn apart when the parents die and the siblings fight over who gets what. There are several creative ways to avoid many of these fights. One that I heard of today was a family who gave each of the children monopoly money and allowed them to bid on items with the money. One son really only cared about one item so he bid his full amount on it and walked away happy with it. When all of the money was gone (and all of the items people really cared about had been "bought") they divided the rest if anyone wanted it as a bonus to them. There are other options, the best of which is to have your parent designate items in advance, if that doesn't happen think of something that is fair and easy to implement.
I'll post more later about some of the other documents, but for today, start thinking about it and talk to your spouse then put something in writing.
Funny that I've been thinking about wills lately. PS, I'm adding your blog to mine and visiting WAY more often! I miss you TONS! Love you sis.
ReplyDeleteWe've talked about making up a will mainly to designate someone to take Ashton if, heaven forbid, we aren't around to. It's really important, but for some reason we just haven't gotten around to it yet. I like your idea of creating one yourself temporarily so that there is a least something in case of an emergency like that.
ReplyDeleteIt's really sad that people have gotten so caught up in 'stuff'. I think it's not always easy to keep perspective, but I would hope if I was in that situation I would just let it go because it's really not worth breaking up a family over.
teehee. my parents are planning a big trip, so my dad was talking about their will to me, & i was giving him my expert legal advice :)
ReplyDeletei miss having my own personal in-house counsel.
This has been in the back of my mind for ages! I really want to have something in place to protect our babies if Marc and I were ever to be taken. I didn't realize we could do one ourselves. Thank you for sharing your expertise! (Do you happen to know if the DIY signed and witnessed will is legal in Idaho too?)
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