Last Will and Testament: Have You?

[Bullhajj]

Have you created a will? I have been thinking about this lately. Actually my wife has been asking me to think about this for years now. I really don't want to. We have a legal plan at my work which I pay for every year so we can get a lawyer to help us write our will. But since I don't want to think about it, we just pay for the service but never get the will. My reluctance to deal with this issue aside, shouldn’t we be able to just purchase software that would help us create a will. Is it really that difficult?

I think my reluctance is about not understanding the value of having a will. Without a lot of money or assets, is there really a reason? I have beneficiaries on my insurance so that it is split up the money between my son (an adult from a previous marriage) and my wife and kids. If my wife and I die, it seems like our assets should go to who ever takes our underage kids (two six year-olds). I suppose this is a good reason to have a will, but I am not even sure if this is really how this is done. It seems like a more reasonable course of action would be to just get one (or more) of our family members to agree to be responsible in the case of an emergency. Is there really a need to document this sort of thing? It seems like it would only be appropriate if you had a large amount of money, lots of heirs or competing claims, or wanted people to do something really wacky with your remains.

So if you have gone through this process of making a will, what did you think of it? How did you do it (read: logistics). My little 800 number lawyer service plan from work seems like an OK course of action, but I wonder if I wouldn’t find out more just using software. Is it like doing your taxes? I couldn’t imagine taking my taxes to H&R Block with software like TurboTax around. Is this sort of the same deal?

Edit: add meaningless poll to try to generate some interest in this thread.
Edit 2: You have tried to enter too many poll options.

[Bullhajj]

These polls only allow 10 options. I had to remove half the people from my damn meaningless poll!

[nutsak]

I'm 23 and have thought about a will. But then i think "who the hell wants a 3 year old PC and a cat?" and then never do it. I might if I get a job and some stuff worth while and even then I'd only be leaving my shit to my girlfriend and my best mate.. I don't have kids so anything I have is purely material.

[Jason McCullough]

We have a legal plan at my work which I pay for every year so we can get a lawyer to help us write our will.

Sucker!

If you have kids, write a will.

[Tim]

I haven't, but should.

I think part of the hesitation is that it really is a stupid thing to "need". Shouldn't it be obvious who will get all my stuff? Hell yes. Unfortunately, the law can apparently be very stupid even in situations like mine. Also very expensive if things aren't laid out in specific terms.

Family members can be stupid too. It's apparently worked out now, but I got to see this in action after my grandmother passed away earlier this year. She'd already distributed cash gifts of most of what she had a few years ago, but had a house full of stuff too.

[Gav]

I had a will drawn up a couple of years back--my wife's getting cancer kicked us both into gear.

The thing I found out is (although, remember that I'm not a lawyer!), if you're just talking about a list of possessions, and who gets it (X gets the rocking chair, Y gets the sofa), you can just write up the list and put it somewhere safe. It's the money that gets tricky, b/c if you want to give some to charities and stuff like that, there's a bunch of tax issues to work through.

Overall, the whole process was pretty painless.

Gav

[Tyjenks]

Damn. I am glad you brought this up. It is not a topic you sit around and think about normally like your job prospects or Auburn's National Title hopes or the possibility of getting your wife to agree to a three way with Ashlee Simpson (She's kinda desperate now. Jessica is out of our league.).

With a house and a kid, I imagine we need something so as not to put a family member in the position of having to handle a whole lotta shit when we go. My father-in-law died at the age of 60 (FUCKING VIOXX!!!) this year and he did not have everything in order and it was a bitch for the family to have to mourn and deal with things even with his wife surviving him.

[Timemaster Tim]

You should get a will done. And do it with a lawyer. It's more expensive than one of those do it yourself kits, but you'll be sure that things are covered off.

Here is a good summary of things that you might consider. It's framed for Ontario, but still worth thinking about.

http://www.thepascoedifference.com/reasons.html

[Duality]

Apparently, two people voted that they will be leaving their penis threads for Elhajj when they die.

[Rywill]

I voted for myself. Although somehow Erik is beating me even though you misspelled his name. Actually, that's probably why he's beating me: everyone reads the list and goes "Asshole, asshole, asshole...hey, who's this guy?"

Go read my "This isn't legal advice" disclaimer from one of the other threads I posted in. I really don't know anything about wills even in California (I took the class pass/fail and went maybe 5 times, then crammed for the bar, then forgot the whole thing), much less in Oregon. Real, competent advice needs to come from a licensed lawyer who has some expertise in this area and in Oregon law. Or even someone who didn't cut Wills & Trusts so much. I know there are other lawyers on this board. REVEAL YOURSELF!

Here's what I learned cramming for the bar: Every state has a premade set of decisions (called "intestacy laws") for those who die without a will. IIRC your assets generally go to your next of kin: wife, kids, siblings, parents, grandparents, etc., in that order. There are all these byzantine ways to figure out who is the closest relative if it gets out farther than that. But if you have a wife, it'll all go to her (I'm not sure how it works if you also have an ex-wife, but I believe the ex gets nothing). If she dies before you or at the same time as you (like in a car crash), it'll get divided evenly among your kids (including an even share for your adult son). That's usually the way it works. If you're okay with something like that, you might not even need a will. I don't have one, for example.

OTOH, if you want to change that--like if you think your adult son can get by with less than an even share because he's grown--you need a will. My guess is that a do-it-yourself kit would probably be fine. All things being equal, an estate lawyer is obviously a better choice, but that's a lot more expensive and probably not worth it if you have a simple situation. My vague recollection from bar review is that making a will is actually not that complicated, as long as you have something that tells you the step-by-step rules. IIRC, you can even just write one out yourself with no witnesses, as long as it's in your own handwriting (for some reason, they call this a "holographic will," as if you're bequeathing the starship Enterprise or something).

However you do it, just make sure people--including people beyond those who might be with you if you die in an accident, like your wife--know that you have a will, and where to find it. And, you know, hopefully you'll never need it. "I promise I will never die."

[Bullhajj]

I voted for myself. Although somehow Erik is beating me even though you misspelled his name.

I should have specified. That's the Norweigin Eric. Leaf Eric or Eric the Great (or whoever) from Iceland (or where ever) who occasionally posts on this board.

Like the prostitute said to the leper, "Thanks for the tip!" :)

[Bullhajj]

Apparently, two people voted that they will be leaving their penis threads for Elhajj when they die.

Which reminds me: I was just reading that when you die, the mortician ties a little sting tightly around your penis so you don't leak and mess up the nice suit. Probably the best argument for a will is to specifically request they not do this to the "little soldier."

[chet]

I am not married, own a house with my girlfriend but it is in my name. So yes i have a will otherwise she would get nothing.

I wanted to have in the will, that if she created a devious plot to have me killed, and if that plot involved a mousetrap style complicated series of events to finish me off, she would get everything even though she had a hand in my death.

The lawyer thought that was a bad idea and wouldn't put it in.

Fucking lawyers.

chet

[Gordon Cameron]

I have no property worth speaking of, and no dependents. So a will is not a priority for me.

[Brian Minsker]

Do the will and have a lawyer handle it rather than using a kit. That way you'll know all the odd bits that your state might require are covered. My wife and I had ours drawn up last year. It's not that big a deal, but you do need to think about a few basic items like who will take care of the kids, setting up trust funds, disposing of property, etc. IANAL, but as I understand it, having a will can make it easier for your family to move forward regarding joint bank accounts and such as well. Doing our two wills required about a one-hour meeting with the lawyer, a 30-minute follow up to review and sign, and a check for $300. Well worth the investment.

[Rywill]

If that's really all it would cost, I reverse my prior recommendation to use a kit and instead recommend you use a lawyer. I had expected it would take more time, and that the time would be more expensive (you couldn't hire me for 90 minutes for $300, for example). If you can actually get a will done for $300, that seems well worth it to me (if you're going to get one done at all).

[Euri]

Yes because I'm gay. We both have will's with very strongly worded language and specific restrictions for both our families, and these are held by a lawyer along with a sum of money that they should use as their fee if one of us dies and we need them.

[chet]

Because you are gay, you get to call your family names from the grave?

I hadn't thought of that, I hope straight people can do that, because I want to add in that someone should call my sister "fucking insane" one last time for me.

Chet

[Lunch of Kong]

I have a standing agreement with a co-worker that if I die, he has to delete all the porn on my computer. He also gets my Dell 2100FP monitor.

[shift6]

I'm 29 with only a few assets and no kids/wife to speak of, but I still had a will done. It's cheap and it isn't something you need to renew unless you have some significant change in your lifestyle or if your beneficiaries start dying off or something. And it saves the people you actually want to receive your estate from having to duke it out in probate with "long lost cousins" that always seem to pop up.

[Sparky]

I am bequeathing all my stuffed Totoros to Tom Chick.

[John Many Jars]

If I were to write a will and name various children in it, that might be construed legally as an admission that those children were mine --- which they aren't, of course, and I've never met or even heard of them or any of their mothers.

[Dirt]

Everything I own and my insurance plan goes to my sister. If my parents survive me, it'll go to them. If they don't, my sister takes the cake and get's to eat it too.

[Duality]

I hope my brother gives me cake when he dies.

[Brian Minsker]

If that's really all it would cost, I reverse my prior recommendation to use a kit and instead recommend you use a lawyer. I had expected it would take more time, and that the time would be more expensive (you couldn't hire me for 90 minutes for $300, for example). If you can actually get a will done for $300, that seems well worth it to me (if you're going to get one done at all).

Well, keep in mind that I live amongst the corn and soybean fields, so the lawyers around here aren't as expensive as those fancy LA ones. Still, I would expect most lawyers to have a fairly reasonable cost for a basic will regardless of location.