I need to make a will.....now what?

A veteran SCCA member passed away recently and donated his body to science, no funeral. This interested me greatly. I think it's time I actually made up a will. Mostly for final wishes, also to hand out whatever crap I have at the time. Nothing special, house still owned by the bank I'm sure, couple cars (maybe all paid off by then), IRA that may or may not have anything in it by then...

What do I do now? Do I need a lawyer to make it legit? Can I just download some EZWill4U form and call it a day?

I'm sure there is a form you can download but you will need to get whatever you do notarized, possible with a witness. Without that courts can't prove it was you that expressed your wishes.

Jerry wrote: A veteran SCCA member passed away recently and donated his body to science, no funeral. This interested me greatly.

I would like to donate mine to comedy.

legalzoom.com looks to be the quick and easy way.

Wife and I did one in an hour at the lawyers office. Nothing complicated or fancy. Few hundred bucks. Also covers stuff like who gets to pull the plug or not if need be. (Power of attorney)

"I, being of sound mind and body...spent it all"

A signed piece of paper in your wallet saying "give my body to X and all my possessions to Y" will generally work, as long as no one objects.

It becomes complex with heirs and dependents and such. The more you have, the more complex it tends to become. Especially if there are objections.

We just finished our will, POA, and trust for our kid(s). We went to a local firm that's been around for a long time, probably a medium size place. The bill was $850 but we are probably good until our kid(s) have kids and even then we are still covered.

We spent probably 8 hours separately and together deciding exactly how we wanted our assets distributed, considering the relative dates of our deaths, probable survivors, etc. That included living will directives, powers of attorney, guardians for our kids if they were still minors, trusts for the kids with graduated access to principal when they turned 18 and 25, and other details.

We wrote it up concisely and clearly, then took it to an attorney. He reviewed it, made a couple suggestions, added a little wording, and filed it for the cost of a couple hours' billing. It's not as daunting as it seems.

Make sure the "important" person knows how to handle your body, funeral whatever, because the will may not be brought out until well afterward.

Couple of things...

First you may want to check your work benefits- it's possible that this could be covered. As in a lawyer doing the legwork.

Second- will vs. trust. Depending on the size of your estate, you may want to consider a trust.

Lastly- simplicity- the laws vary state to state- so a simple hand written form that is notarized may be legal, or you may require a specific set of language to cover specific things. You should check before assuming that a simple note will work.

The goal should be to NOT NEED probate court. That costs your estate (read beneficiaries) money. And takes a lot of time. I had a aunt that had a will, yet her estate still needed time in a probate court, which was a major PITA. So what she did was not quite enough for her state.

I guess one more thing- there's a will/trust for your stuff, and a will for you. They are not the same thing. Make sure you do both.

NOHOME wrote: Wife and I did one in an hour at the lawyers office. Nothing complicated or fancy. Few hundred bucks. Also covers stuff like who gets to pull the plug or not if need be. (Power of attorney)

I did this a couple years ago. Find a local attorney who specializes in family law, it's pretty easy and doesn't have to cost very much - I think I spent less than $200.

My parent's will has a paragraph that goes something like this:

"The people and institutions (charities) that are mentioned in this last will and testament are included for specific reasons. Those people, institutions, and other who are omitted were omitted for specific reasons. Any person or entity claiming to be an heir or to have claim to this estate shall receive the total sum of $1.00."

Used to try and keep those outsiders from stinking up the estate.