<p>What is the cost to get this done correctly?</p>
<p>H and I each just had new wills written, as well as new health care powers of attorney and property powers of attorney. We used someone who specializes in wills and it cost $600. Money well spent for peace of mind.</p>
<p>^^ We had the exact same thing done this year IllinoisMom2006. It cost us $500 but that was half his usual fee. We know him, so he gave us a break on the usual fee. </p>
<p>@Broomfield - yes a will is important but the real question is will a Legal Zoom will suffice in the case where only a simple will is needed. I haven’t seen that question addressed here but that is the original question. I brought up the case of my brother. No wife or kids. Everything will go to my parents and me. It’s a very simple situation. Will Legal Zoom suit his situation?</p>
<p>One thing to consider (and I don’t know the answer) - what will a Legal Zoom will give you that simply writing your will yourself wouldn’t? I expect the answer will be ‘nothing’. Just make sure you cover the basics (executor, successors, who gets what, signed/dated/notarized, copies in the hands of the executor/successors/heirs).</p>
<p>A will isn’t generally a complicated thing - especially when it’s it’s line with the default order of heirs/succession in your state (parents to kids, then parents, then siblings, etc.).</p>
<p>Consulting an attorney will likely eliminate the questions and hopefully will be someone you can discuss topics like Living Trust, Living Will, power of attorney, what names to put on bank accounts (probably the trust), etc.</p>
<p>A Legal Zoom will is probably better than none at all, but I’d still go to a lawyer. We did one years ago when the kids were small, mainly to settle guardianship issues. It really needs to be updated now that they’re 23 & 30. Very simple–everything left to the surviving spouse. If we both go, it goes to the kids. At the time it only cost like $125. Maybe more now, but since wills are determined by each state’s laws, it is better to have an expert handle it. At the very least, it’s a hassle for the survivor, even when there is no problem. </p>
<p>A friend of mine lost several thousand dollars because her H insisted on a do-it-yourself will. She was the executor and he meant for the probate costs to come out of his estate before it was divided. There was something in the wording that was wrong, and those costs ended up coming out of her share. He had 4 kids from previous marriages.</p>
<p>Great info so far, thanks. To answer a couple of questions,</p>
<ol>
<li> State is Connecticut</li>
<li> Estate is <$1M</li>
<li> No minor children involved - S is 19, D is 22.</li>
</ol>
<p>All I ever hear is MIL “You should have a will. I can’t believe you don’t have a will. Did you make a will yet? You know, you NEED to have a will. When are you going to have a will drawn up?” Honestly, I don’t even know why. Does it keep things out of Probate? Does it save on estate taxes for the surviving spouse/kids? House, cars, savings, all in both our names. To play devil’s advocate, why CAN"T (shouldn’t) I just write it down and have it notarized?</p>
<p>Also what if all assets name a beneficiary?</p>
<p>When considering the size of your estate, you also need to consider your home value (where we live, a relatively modest home is generally >$500,000) and proceeds from life insurance, all of which are included in your estate. It may not be as unlikely as you think to hit that $1 million dollar cap. Although the federal estate tax may not kick in at that level, in our state (MD) a fairly hefty estate tax kicks in at $1 million. Although the spouse may not have to pay estate tax, the kids will when the second parent dies…we thought it was time to update our wills and are currently in process. In our high-cost state, a will including durable and medical powers of attorney, giving our kids graduated access to our assets, and an irrevocable trust for our insurance will set us back several thousand dollars. If we lived in a state without an estate tax, it would have been considerably cheaper.</p>
<p>Even if estate taxes aren’t a concern (although you should be concerned about it because it’s on the radar for politicians who want to increase taxes so even if it isn’t a concern now, it could well be shortly), consider this - how will the heir sell the house? If the house isn’t in the heirs’ names, but only in yours, then they probably won’t actually be able to sell it until it goes to probate which could take months. Alternatively you could set it up as part of a living trust with an executor/heirs and then it could be sold right away with no hassles and no court involvement (depending on state laws where you live). How will your heir access your bank accounts?</p>
<p>It’s these kinds of things, plus questions like accessing your bank accounts, paying for you with your own funds should you be unable to if incapacitated, paying for you to be in a skilled nursing facility when you’ve had a stroke and can’t manage your own finances, etc., that a lawyer specializing in estates should raise to you and provide solutions for to you.</p>
<p>At least educate yourself a bit on the internet (search “living trust Connecticut” to start with). There are usually free estate planning seminars given as well - usually by lawyers who want your business but you can still attend free and just not sign up with them. Some organizations (AARP?) and even workplaces have free seminars on estate planning. You can even check with your financial institutions to see what resources they have in this area.</p>
<p>Again, the will itself is the least of it and doesn’t require a lawyer or even legal zoom but there’s more to the picture than just the will.</p>
<p>As far as I know, anything disposed of through a will needs to go through probate. Depending on the state this may be easy or more difficult. It is also a matter of public record. A living trust can avoid probate, but is more expensive to set up and to be worth the while you must transfer all of your assets into the living trust - if there are assets outside the trust those assets will be distributed per your will and will go through probate. </p>
<p>I’m not necessarily a fan of living trusts, though both my parents and my wife’s parents have used them. I think they made more sense when the exemption from Federal estate tax was much lower. It is currently $5 million, scheduled to go down to $1 million in 2013. The Republicans want to eliminate the estate tax, while the Obama administration has proposed moving the exemption amount to something like $3.5 million. It’s hard for me to imagine that the exemption amount would be lowered below the $1 million scheduled for 2013 and beyond. To me it seems that currently living trusts make sense for those with estates over $1 million, those who want complicated estate plans, or those for whom privacy is very important. We have not had living trusts set up.</p>
<p>I am not a lawyer, but I felt that the several hundred dollars (don’t remember the exact amount but more than $500 and less than $1000) we’ve spent to have our wills, powers of attorney, living wills, etc. drawn up was well spent in terms of being more confident that our wishes would be carried out and that our kids would not have to jump through complicated hoops at the same time they lose their parents (us).</p>
<p>^^ Have you considered whatever hoops your kids might need to jump through just to sell your house? Have you figured out if it’s easy or difficult in your state without a living trust? Especially if one still owes on a mortgage especially, but even with real estate taxes/insurance/utilities, a delay of selling the house for a month or two (or 6) can be quite costly. </p>
<p>Have you taken care of things such as giving your kids some kind of authority over your bank accounts (can sometimes be done easily through the bank as long as it’s done before the person’s incapacitated)?</p>
<p>It’s one thing to determine where everything will go but another thing to determine how to get it there fairly quickly and efficiently.</p>
<p>We have never had wills (and DH is an attorney)! After my recent and ongoing health issues, I’d like to get things squared away. We are also in MD and I am concerned about whether we need to retitle life insurance policies so that we (or the kids) don’t get hit with surprises. The other issue that may be contentious is that I want to leave part of my life insurance policy to my kids instead of DH (he would get pretty much everything else). I don’t know enough about how this stuff all works, and it has me concerned.</p>
<p>He and I know a couple of T&E attorneys, but DH is reluctant to think about this stuff. It’s all part of the denial thing. Sigh.</p>
<p>When my Dad was dying I convinced him to do a Living Trust on Legal Zoom(& a will comes with that); it worked well in that we could do it at home and it was easy for them without taking up much of his dwindling energy. A trust essentially gives power of transactions to the trustee allowing you to avoid probate for the assets in the trust. It worked very well, I had no issue with any person or bank or company with whom I dealt as trustee.</p>
<p>If you were concerned about personal issues and potential fights, an attorney might be more important.</p>
<p>I am an estate planning/elder law attorney and your question is one we address all the time. First of all, there is no such thing as a “simple will.” And, the word “just” is usually used by potential clients as a synonym for “simple.” Please re-read posts 13, 15, 18, 19, and 20 above because each contains wise advice. Yes, you can absolutely buy a Will off Legal Zoom, or maybe even in an aisle of your local Staples or Office Max. But no one will know for sure if it is any good until you are dead … and then it’s obviously too late to do anything about it other than to pay more than you would have paid in the first place for someone to fix the mess. While the end result document which an attorney prepares for you may appear to be short and sweet (or, if you prefer, simple), the document is not what you are paying for when you hire an estate planner to work with you on this important project. You are paying for the analysis, the counseling about your assets/goals/concerns/family dynamics/health/choices of fiduciaries/options to achieve your goals (including whether a living trust or some other titling strategy is more appropriate so you can avoid probate), and THEN yes, the preparation of several documents that will be your estate plan. And (no one has mentioned this yet): a lawyer will make sure that all of the formalities of the actual signing are done correctly which can be another mine field of did-it-yourself-and-did-it-wrong opportunity. If none of that convinces you to step away from Legal Zoom, I offer you this: lawyers have lots of malpractice insurance. If when you die it turns out that we did mess up, wouldn’t you rather have the fix being paid by our malpractice carrier rather than your kids’ pockets?</p>
<p>Let me just add that many of the points made above in several posts are wrong–at least in some states. These includes things like whether you can just write it down and get it notarized (not sufficient for a valid will in some states), how insurance proceeds are treated, and more. A state-specific form might avoid some of these problems, but using a lawyer is safer.</p>
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<p>This is an interesting bit of info. Is it possible that MIL/FIL have a significant estate that will go to you/spouse, that she is concerned about?</p>
<p>Unless your budget is extremely tight, I don’t really understand the reluctance to pay for professional advice. Even then, it sort of seems to me a necessary budget line, like buying life insurance. Of course I understand, life insurance is also a luxury many cannot afford.</p>
<p>I want my husband or children to get through the probate process as easily as possible. I don’t expect them to necessarily understand it, especially if they are grieving. I expect the attorney who did the will to guide them. If I end up in the hospital, I expect the attorney to answer any questions they may have about the Living Will, and help if they need to use the Power of Attorney we created.</p>
<p>Maybe I’m just much less competent than most on this board, but I like to have a relationship with someone who actually is an expert at what they do. They ask questions and help me prepare for circumstances I couldn’t have anticipated. I feel the same way about accountants.</p>