New Will

[mickeyd]

DW and I need to make new wills as the one's that we currently have are 20 years old and were drawn in another state.


Any ideas on how much a lawyer will charge to draw up 2 simple wills (I leave her all mine and visa versa, kids get what's left 50/50)?

 

[mathjak107]

about 1,000.00 here in new york if real simple and no minor children.Includes durable power of attorney and health care proxy

 

[Martha]

I would say a thousand to two thousand. It could be more if you have significant assets or odd ball assets and you want to plan to minimize the tax bite.

If that is really what you want, you could do it with a will kit. The reason for the lawyer is to determine if this is best for you. There may be probate reasons or tax reasons to do some things a bit differently, either through trusts or how you hold ownership of assets.

 

[mathjak107]

I forget which topic it is where we discussed the will kits but you really do need to be careful as they are okay for getting an idea but wills depending on the state can be highly problematic if even a word is omitted.I dont want to rehash what we already covered but ill give you an example of a simple will omission that was a headache.
   We had refinanced an inherited house.The title company looked at the deed and said they had to stop the closing.WHY?
Because it said i leave my house and all my possessions to my child beth.Well it didnt say only child beth.Bingo it cost me the lawyers fee for myself,the co-op attorny ,the bank lawyer,the title company.What grief that one word ommission cost me.We had to get affidivates from relatives stating there were no other kids.
   We had a lot more issues with wills in my 2nd marriage that i could write a book about.Simple wording ommissions,failing to deal with pre-deceasing issues ,the list goes on and on.My wife and i spent 2200.00 doing our new simple wills and poa and health proxy to make sure it was done right.

 

[LOL!]

A few years ago, in Texas we paid $1200 for two of us to get the big 4:
1. Will
2. Bypass trust
3. Durable power of attorney
4. Health care proxy

They may go by different names in your state. We have minors (kids), so guardians and alternate guardians in case with both kick the bucket.

 

[peggy]

DH and I paid about $500 for the two of our wills (the survivor gets everything, then it goes to a charity we've chosen) here in Las Vegas, about six months ago.

 

[SecondCor521]

Sorry to thread hijack, but what is the legal term for if I have kids and want to say that if one of my kids pre-deceases me, his/her share would go to his/her offspring in equal shares, otherwise to my remaining children?

2Cor521

(Also having to redo his will due to a divorce)

 

[unclemick]

I defer to Martha - but I think it's 'per stripes' or something like that.

heh heh heh - just redid all my stuff at VG a while back.

 

[SecondCor521]

mickeyd,

Thanks, you got it close enough for me to find it -- it's per stirpes, which turns out is Latin for "per branch". I forget all the "sui generis" and "in loco parentis", "sine qua non", "quid pro quo" and all that stuff. Or et cetera, I guess I should say.



2Cor521

 

[astromeria]

Here ya go, SecondCor:
http://www.yuni.com/library/latin.html

 

[SecondCor521]

Cool, astro, thanks!

2Cor521

 

[MJ]

Here in Tucson AZ, a friend recommended a company that does

Will package for $295 individual and $395 married couple. It includes
Last Will
POA
Health Care POA
Living Will

Living Trust package for $695 individual and $795 married couple.

 

[mathjak107]

One thing i learned about wills i will pass on and save your heirs lots of grief. ,USE A GOOD ESTATE ATTORNEY.Using will kits and attorneys who are general practioners but not estate attorneys to save money can work fine but remember this."NOTHING IS A PROBLEM UNTIL ITS A PROBLEM".
As an example here in new york you can do a will kit and execute it yourself,no problem.But heres the rub executing your will.As proper protocal there is a bunch of questions that an attorney will ask in front of the witnesses such as do you know what the will is? are you of sound mind,,are you doing this with careful thought?
In the event the will is challenged by an unhappy heir and these questions were not asked it could be claimed by the court the will isnt valid.Had i done the kit i would have never  known to do this.The witnesses that you choose become very critical as well as their relationship to the deceased.Using someone mentioned in the will,using someone who later could be claimed they were impartial,using someone who is old and may not be around when your will ends up in court.The list goes on and on.
This is a 2nd marriage for me and my wifes ex father inlaw drew up a trust where he specifically said he wasnt leaving anything to some estranged grand children.Well my wifes ex-husband died first and the trust had no provisions for pre-deceasing and so the court looked to my wifes ex-husbands will .Bottom line it was a mess.A 2 year court battle, 100,000 in legal fees and we had to buy out the estranged children from a family business for 400,000 when they were specifically written out of the will.All because the attorney who did the origonal paperwork was a general practioner and not an estate lawyer who would have had provisions for pre-deceasing just as standard fare but since the basically canned form didnt have it we had a very important but simple provision missing..I cant stress enough how important it is in 2nd marriages especially ,see a good estate attorney and dont attempt this on your own with a canned kit.

 

[mathjak107]

mickeyd,

Thanks, you got it close enough for me to find it -- it's per stirpes, which turns out is Latin for "per branch".  I forget all the "sui generis" and "in loco parentis", "sine qua non", "quid pro quo" and all that stuff.  Or et cetera, I guess I should say.



2Cor521

If they used pig latin it would be easier to understand.

 

[astromeria]

Ixnay on the ig-latiinpay!

 

[brewer12345]

Here in Tucson AZ, a friend recommended a company that does

Will package  for $295 individual and $395 married couple. It includes
Last Will
POA
Health Care POA
Living Will

Living Trust package for $695 individual and $795 married couple.

Heck, if you want to go really cheap, sign up with pre Paid Legal for a monthly membership (about 25 clams). They offer a free basic will setup to all their new customers.

 

[Nords]

Heck, if you want to go really cheap, sign up with pre Paid Legal for a monthly membership (about 25 clams).  They offer a free basic will setup to all their new customers.

Hey, c'mon, full disclosure!

Brewer and I are hoping that you prospective PPD clients will drive up their stock price...

 

[brewer12345]

Hey, c'mon, full disclosure! 

Brewer and I are hoping that you prospective PPD clients will drive up their stock price...

Not really, although I am a shareholder. FIREd people don't really fit their demographc and would likely cancel shortly after getting the will.