wills how often rewritten

[bobbee25]

My will was written in 2015, myself - my wife and my son.
My wife passed away.
Is there any reason to spend $500 to have it redone ?


Same with the other 2, durable power of attorney, etc


Some of these lawyers make me hesitate. I wanted to ask whether I need a trust, $250 consultation.

 

[Lewis Clark]

You should review these documents after any major life change, such as the passing of a spouse. If the documents still accurately reflect how you want things to go, then I'd say there is no reason to redo them just for the sake of redoing them.

But major life changes will often change how you want your affairs to be managed, which might require updating those documents.

 

[big-papa]

Ours were done about 12 years ago and getting them updated is on our to-do list this year. We're now retired, both sets of our parents are now deceased and our only kiddo now fully launched. We also want some changes regarding which charities are beneficiaries of our estate. Also time to poll people who previously agreed to be executors/trustees to see if they're still up for it.

Cheers.

 

[Aerides]

Agree you change them when something changes, pretty simple.

And $250 for an hour of a lawyer's time sounds like a good deal.

 

[DrRoy]

We did our wills and trust in 2007. Our sons are now beyond the age where the estate would have been partitioned out to them as they got older, but still meets our intentions of the time. We would like to use perhaps 20% of our estate for some additional purposes, but are still working on exactly we would want to do before we talk to a lawyer.

 

[LateToFIRE]

DW and I are on a 4-5 year cycle for reviewing estate plan with our attorney. I know many on this board are in the the DIY camp when it comes to such things, but having been part of closing out a couple of estates, I can vouch for the fact that using a competent, specialist attorney will make a huge difference to those who have to pick up the pieces after you're gone.

 

[MarieIG]

It depends upon how the will was written and who was/ is your power of attorney.

The price you are quoting is not high.

 

[bobbee25]

The $250 wasn't to do anything but advise on what to do. A new will is $500, they remove my wife and slide my son from third in line to second.

 

[PatrickA5]

Our Wills were done in 2012. We're currently updating with new contingent Executors and other things. We tend to look at it every few years.

OP, just depends on if something needs changing. In my "death book", I've instructed DW to redo everything when I'm gone. Also, I think $500 is a good price. I'm paying the same to have all of our estate documents redone, but there are many lawyers that would want much more than that.

 

[Surewhitey]

We were just looking at this, this week. Thankfully, DD is responsible and kept her copy from 2007. We lost ours probably in the 6 moves since then. Other than the home address, everything is close enough. We'll update soon, but so much of our stuff is accounts with beneficiaries or POD stuff. We only need to update the personal property stuff.

Maybe look at DPA's, POA's & EOL wishes... One kiddo, except she's a step-kid for me, so we need to make this stuff clear so my family doesn't fight the system in place. Shouldn't be a biggie, so we'll likely use some software and get it notarized & give out a few copies to people.

 

[OldShooter]

The issue isn't the time. It is the fact that life happens. Children become adults. People get married and divorced. Intentions change. None of these things happens on a schedule. Except the children I guess. In our case it seems like every three to five years we need to do a tune up. We're in the process of looking at that right now.

 

[SecondCor521]

The other thing that changes over time is estate laws. If you have anything even moderately complicated, those changes in the law might induce changes in your will.

Good attorneys can write a will so that it is responsive to some changes in the laws (such as the exemption amount), but if entirely new features show up a review may be warranted.

My Mom's will was done in 1999 and she passed away in 2016. The estate tax laws that changed in the interim, plus some other things, resulted in us electing to spend $16K in legal fees after her passing to address some of it.

I just redid my will; the previous version was done about 2007. I changed mine to get rid of all the trust stuff doling out money to the kids every 5 years - my kids are now old enough to just get the whole amount at whatever age they are when I die. I also removed some gifting to my universities because I don't think they would utilize the money well.

 

[jebmke]

Well written wills should survive the death of a spouse unless conditions change and wishes change.

If I ask for legal advice from an attorney, I expect to pay for it.

 

[MarieIG]

The $250 wasn't to do anything but advise on what to do. A new will is $500, they remove my wife and slide my son from third in line to second.

It sounds as if the will already provides for the contingency of you being predeceased by your spouse. Of course, I haven't read the will and cannot offer legal advice.

Issues such as divorce, death of a child (with their own children), guardianships of minors, etc. may prioritize the need for a will.

 

[jebmke]

The $250 wasn't to do anything but advise on what to do. A new will is $500, they remove my wife and slide my son from third in line to second.

That doesn't seem excessive (the $250) for a consultation.

 

[OldShooter]

@ bobbee25, what is that $250 or $500 as a percentage of the value of your estate? What is the value of confirming that your intentions are properly implemented after you pass?

 

[CRLLS]

I see many rewrite their wills at some time due to changes in executors, a minor becoming an adult and other reasons. Yet I never see anyone write about simply making a codicil to the original Will. Is there any reason you are choosing a rewrite over a codicil?

 

[PatrickA5]

I see many rewrite their wills at some time due to changes in executors, a minor becoming an adult and other reasons. Yet I never see anyone write about simply making a codicil to the original Will. Is there any reason you are choosing a rewrite over a codicil?

I asked my lawyer that. She said enough has changed that it would be just as easy to write a new Will. I imagine the software they use make it easy to plug in the new stuff and print out the whole new Will, POA, etc. She said the cost would be the same either way ($500).

 

[Sunset]

Well written wills should survive the death of a spouse unless conditions change and wishes change.

....

+1

That is pretty basic of any Will as long as person had contingent beneficiaries. If that is the only life change, I wouldn't bother.

It would be good for OP to re-read the Will to be sure things are covered, especially related to grand children or nieces/nephews.

 

[superdave]

I am in the DIY camp. We generally update ours every 1-2 years ourselves.

My spouse gets joint assets anyway, and if we are both gone, kids are somewhat self sufficient anyway. Never looked at it as a big risk regardless.

 

[Dash man]

DW and I each have a son from previous marriages. We adopted each other’s son to avoid any shenanigans after we’re gone. And no, there’s no need for an ex to be aware if the adult child doesn’t want to say anything.

 

[GravitySucks]

Sorry for your loss.

 

[ncbill]

remove your dead relatives, whether spouse or kids who were named beneficiaries.

my spouse is going through this now.

a childless aunt had left her (aunt's) mother, who died decades prior to the aunt's death, as beneficiary.

aunt's estranged sister is using the inclusion of mom to claim none of the beneficiaries who were born after mom died should inherit...yeah, IDK the reasoning on that either.

aunt's will also just specifies "nieces and nephews" with no named beneficiaries, so many who claim to be have been coming out of the woodwork.

so, lots more time & unnecessary expense charged to the estate to confirm they qualify.

ALWAYS name beneficiaries.

 

[Finance Dave]

I agree with reviewing at any major change, but sounds like your will should still work without changes.

For us (my ages in parens):

• First will (34)
• Update simply due to long time passing and estate becoming much larger (45)
• Update due to owning a couple businesses and a long time passing and estate becoming much larger (54)
• Update after closing down one business (59)
• Currently in process of re-writing (62)...due to wanting to change some beneficiaries and allow for closing the other business we have

Edit: Just FYI when I say "will", I'm not talking about JUST the will but TOTAL estate planning. For us, this means health care proxies, POAs, reviewing beneficiaries, updating password lists and contact info, home inventory, etc....all in our "if I die" binder. Not all of this is "legal" documents but more for the surviving spouse or relatives.

 

[PatrickA5]

Agree with updating Wills when beneficiaries die.

My FIL's 30 year-old Will named his wife as beneficiary and his kids as secondary. The Will spelled out her name in a few places and in other places just said "surviving spouse". You can guess what happened - his first wife died and he remarried late in life. When it came time to probate the Will, we had to have his second wife (who is now the Surviving Spouse) sign something stating that she understood that the original Will was talking about his first wife and not her. Fortunately, she was willing to do that and the probated property went to the kids (which was his intention).

Probably just best to clean up old Wills with new ones when things change.