Our boys are teens and we still don't have a will. We're pretty much always broke,which takes some of the urgency off the financial side of it. The real barrier is that we don't have a good option for someone to take the kids.

We don't but have been meaning to for years. Everyone already knows who gets DD, it's just not written down yet.

We have a living will. Pretty standard, easy to set up.

I don't. I expect to live forever.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I made one online but haven't had anyone sign it. Who did you get to sign your will? It seems awkward to ask someone, or does the lawyer sign it?

I believe you get it notarized and have one witness? Husband was my witness. If not married I’d ask a good friend.

Please don’t do this. Here are so many nuances to an individual states requirements. You could be making things worse than not having one at all.

Anonymous wrote:The other thing is to avoid probate. Even if you give stuff away now, you'll always have some property or cash left the day you die. Do you want that stuck in probate court? A will avoids this, since it's clear what is to be done with all your assets.

This is not true. A will does not avoid probate. A trust can avoid probate, in some cases. Even if there is a will, an estate of any size must still go through the probate court, and how long that takes depends on the jurisdiction.

We need to do our will and guardianship for the kids. I’m embarrassed to say it is long overdue. Anybody have an attorney to recommend in Rockville/Bethesda who isn’t super expensive??

Anonymous wrote:I made one online but haven't had anyone sign it. Who did you get to sign your will? It seems awkward to ask someone, or does the lawyer sign it?

I believe you get it notarized and have one witness? Husband was my witness. If not married I’d ask a good friend.

The other thing is to avoid probate. Even if you give stuff away now, you'll always have some property or cash left the day you die. Do you want that stuck in probate court? A will avoids this, since it's clear what is to be done with all your assets.

We have a will and trust and also living wills. I don't know why you wouldn't. Not expensive to set up and we prefer making those decisions ourselves and in advance.

I made one online but haven't had anyone sign it. Who did you get to sign your will? It seems awkward to ask someone, or does the lawyer sign it?

If property is inherited, the receiver gets a new cost basis which is usually beneficial. If it's given during your lifetime, they have to use your cost basis. Dh's mom gave him land. Her cost basis is about $80k. It's currently worth about $500k. If we ever sell it, we'll have a lot of taxes to deal with that we wouldn't have if she had held on to it.

Inheriting Is better tax-wise than be given usually.

We have wills and (unfunded) trusts set up. We had wills before but set up trusts because we have one kid who is significantly younger than siblings so needs different support if we both die before college grad. We have big possibility of significant windfall so while pretty simple set up as we divide among kids we wanted advice on how to do

Don't tear up your will. My dad had a will, but he also had set up "transfer on death" documents for his brokerage accounts, and put his house in my sister and my names, retaining life rights for himself. There are many different ways to handle the transfer of property upon your death, and it can vary a lot depending on individual circumstances, but a will is incredibly fundamental and not a step that people who are preparing for this eventuality should skip.

Why or why not?

I am asking since I was under the impression that everyone with a family had one or both. As I age, it seems that friends and family who have passed have actually diviied up belongings and money before they die? Should I tear up my will/trust and hand out my belongings and/or money as I age? I am more of a planner, so this is not something that would normally occur to me. (This would include signing property over to someone else). I imagine most posters have a will and/or trust in place? Is this more to make sure certain people do not get anything (than for certain people to receive certain things?) Thoughts and experiences?