Estate Planning 101

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OK I'm curious about this all. DH and I are youngish with no kids. Is it a bad thing that we don't have a will? I figure if I die, it all goes to him and vice versa. If we both die, our parents would split it equally.

Not necessarily. So, lets say, for instance, you and DH are in a car crash. You die immediately. DH hangs on for a little while but ultimately dies. Depending on your state law, a couple of things could happen. When you die, DH would immediately inherit your money. If he died within a certain time frame, your money would be split between your parents like you said above, but if he lives for your states statutory period.. as little as 5 days, everything would go to his parents and your family would get nothing.

Another scenario. Lets say DH makes a much larger salary than you. But lets say you brought a large inheritance to the marriage. You both die. Depending on the state you are in, it may or may not be an equal split. And it may or may not cause your respective parents to fight over the split.

Finally, lets say you have siblings. Do you want your parents to have the money or do you want a sibling to have the money instead?

Ultimately, yes the courts can work out the split for you. It could take several months for this to play out. Final expenses would have to be paid immediately by someone.

Also, Final decisions would have to be made. How many life saving measures do you and your DH want taken?

So many variables you have to think about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bumping this thread to ask if anyone else have any insights on this. Is a lawyer really necessary or if you use the Willmaker software and make sure the documents are witnesses and notatized, is that adequate?

The cases that make it to court are always the ones that are contentious. Are your families all on good terms, philosophically aligned to you, willing to listen to your predeath wishes, etc? Is there a small enough amount of inheritance that people wont fight over it? Will all interested parties be comfortable with your choice of guardian?

Wills help ensure that post death emotions and personalities cannot mess with what you actually wanted.