DQOTD: does my lawyer need bank account numbers

[badatmath]

Thanks to all of you for trying to help. I will regroup later.

 

[rk911]

Back to the estate planning process I keep getting sidetracked off of - does my lawyer actually need my bank account numbers in order to make a will? Besides the obvious privacy thing, I can tell you absolutely my assets are likely to change and I don't intend to call and pay him more money each time.

I would think total assets and liabilities and beneficiaries are far more important. All my accounts are POD/TOD anyway. It is just my literal brain cannot grasp this form when I have not even met him yet.

I guess I expect to settle a small estate someday without the assistance of a lawyer and don't see why this would be much different. I plan to keep an updated list in my computer so that the future executor can actually find it.

no, the lawyer does not need account numbers. but once the trust has been "born" via your signatures you should re-title your assets to the trust.

 

[badatmath]

no, the lawyer does not need account numbers. but once the trust has been "born" via your signatures you should re-title your assets to the trust.

I don't actually want a trust AT ALL. Just a will, etc.

 

[rk911]

I don't actually want a trust AT ALL. Just a will, etc.

mostly the same answer. the lawyer does not need account numbers.

 

[RobbieB]

Bottom line is you need to know where everything is.

The will is just a distribution form for the assets. If the will is written as "equal or percentages" to the following, then the assets have to be known.

I think the attorney is trying to earn extra dough defining where all the assets are. If you already know this, don't bother.

Sounds like he is preparing to set up a trust in addition to writing a will.

 

[badatmath]

Bottom line is you need to know where everything is.

The will is just a distribution form for the assets. If the will is written as "equal or percentages" to the following, then the assets have to be known.

I think the attorney is trying to earn extra dough defining where all the assets are. If you already know this, don't bother.

Sounds like he is preparing to set up a trust in addition to writing a will.

Yep I feel he is trying to oversell me stuff i do not need. Which is sadly not uncommon these days.

 

[RetMD21]

Yep I feel he is trying to oversell me stuff i do not need. Which is sadly not uncommon these days.

Of course you can ask him why you need something more than just a will. If you don't agree you could just say no or go elsewhere. DW and I procrastinated for years before getting our plan inn place with a RLT in our case.