How to make a will inexpensively?

[diamond]

Hi all,

The recent thread on insurance by Kim started me thinking about a will. We need to get a will prepared, but cannot afford an attorney right now at all. Are there other ways you can make a will which is legal? I am thinking that any will is better than no will at all. What did you guys do? how did you go about that? any suggestions for making wills inexpensively? ty

[bostonsmama]

I don't know if it's completely legal, but my dad drew up a prenup w/ his wife on Legalzoom.com a few years ago and had a notary public witness the signatures. He may have also taken it to his local (really cheap) attorney to look over, but as far we know it's pretty valid.

We're military, so we have JAG (free legal counsel to draft wills, legal documents, etc), but I was told by them that we couldn't just draft a letter and have a notary public witness DH's signature. They literally said it would have no legal bearing in court. However, I did read that in our state, a hand-written letter (with signature and notary public seal) would work to at least get a probate hearing going in the event of death....and could be used as evidence in court. So, since DH was deploying in less than a week (dumb to wait, yes), we just did that. When DD gets here, we'll make the real one (but you have to schedule it months out).

What you can do in the meantime is make sure all your accounts (bank, investments, mortgage, loans, utilities even) have survivorship designated. For instance, DH made sure that my name is listed on all his individual & that I'm authorized to make withdrawals, transfers, inquiries, payments in his absence--and that esp w/ savings, upon submission of a death certificate, the money would go to me.

Can you start a savings acct for attorney fees?

[codex57]

What state are you in? Certain states are used to dealing with people with no wills so there's actually a statute that spells out how things get divided. In CA, the surviving spouse gets a portion and the kids get a portion.

The main thing is what if an accident wipes out both parents? If you've got minor children, it's worth it to make any kind of will just to spell out who you want to take care of your kids. Otherwise, a judge decides.

Those online kits are better than nothing I guess. In CA, you can handwrite it on a paper napkin and still have it be legal as long as a few things are on the paper.

[diamond]

I live in maryland. ty

[katydid1971]

There is very good will software out there that will do what you need (leave what you want to who you want and make sure the right people are gaurdian's of your kids). If you don't have complicated estates it will work in all 50 states. DH and I used it, it was very easy, it asked questions about who gets what and what percentage if things get split up. We took it to a notery to sign it and everything together cost less than $100. We looked at legal zoom but they were more. The brand we used was Quicken WillMaker it also had power of attorney and living wills and other legal forms like that. I bought it at Costco for about $50 (a couple years ago). It should do everything you want done.

[codex57]

If you're gonna use a form kit, I'd just search "legal forms" online and then check prices that way. A little hard to believe legalzoom wants $100. Might as well go to an attorney.

[bigpassport]

Any will is not necessarily better than no will at all. In my area there are many attorneys who do wills for $99. There may be attorneys who do it for less. Many estate planning attorneys do a free consultation. Why not go for a free consultation to find out how wills, trusts, powers of attorney, etc. work? You can always say no thank you to advanced planning and just get a $99 will. The problem with do it yourself wills is that you don't know what you don't know.

[dcmom2b3]

I live in maryland. ty

Here's (http://www.probonomd.org/current.html) a list of Maryland pro bono organizations, some do estate work. You might check them out.