Making a Will

Updated August 2019

Question: “I saw your post about proofreading your will and it reminded me that my husband and I haven’t done one! Do you have recommendations for doing a simple legal will yourself (online, software, etc.)?”

Top 7 Answers:

5. Lauren Fazio (re: Who gets custody of your kids) — If everything is in place for the preferred guardian, then typically the will is honored. The court will look at things like living accommodations, income, any criminal record, etc. in order to determine whether the preferred caregiver is truly the best choice. A lot of people don’t update their wills, ever, so for example, when the will was written, Person A was in a stable relationship, good income, etc., but 10 years later, that same person is in the middle of a nasty divorce and unemployed. In that case, the court would most likely choose another guardian. Person A can, however, later appeal for custody or sometimes they will be given a certain time period, say 6 months or a year, where the child will go with someone else, and then the case comes up for review again and Person A has the opportunity to be granted custody then.

There are too many pitfalls that could affect the ultimate distribution of your estate to leave it to legal zoom or to do nothing (known as dying intestate.) Leaving your assets per stirpes vs. per capita (google it). If you owned property before marriage and die married with kids but without a will, your property could be owned by your spouse and kids instead of 100% by your spouse. Your spouse would then need a guardian ad litem appointed by the court to protect your child’s interests if your spouse wanted to sell the house. My best advice: talk to a professional.

See all the answers here.

Comments

Carlo says:

October 12, 2014 at 6:21 pm Reply

Wow that was odd. I just wrote an really long
comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t appear.
Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Regardless, just wanted
to say fantastic blog!

Making a Will

Question: “I saw your post about proofreading your will and it reminded me that my husband and I haven’t done one! Do you have recommendations for doing a simple legal will yourself (online, software, etc.)?”

Top 7 Answers:

Read more: Parents, Kids and Wills: On Balance, The Washington Post

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