Quicken Willmaker - how many have used it - or would you recommend another software for wills/trusts? (inherit, states)
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One chance? I know many people who have "revisited" their wills and trusts when circumstances in their lives change.
once you die there are no do overs when heirs have problems nor does your intent matter if the will or trust is deemed defective .
we went through a defective trust and it cost us a fortune in legal fees.
don't think none of this matters because the estate has little money . your death can be the result of a wrongful death suit , an accident or malpractice suit
Doing your own financial planning, selling your own house, making your own will all depends on your own situation. Ultimately one needs to educate oneself and it is not hard if your situation is not complex or complicated. There is very little that is mysterious in making a will and the language now used is plain English and not legalese. Just make sure you know the laws that applies in your state. Go to you state website and it is all there.
Many things are not probated anymore and you can set up your nvestment instruction to cover that. House is probated in our state but not in others. Tax laws change.
Precision in language is important. The software allows you to edit what you want and we did add things that made our intentions more complete. Other than that it quite well covers all important stuff. Try it out.
You may decide to see an attorney after all and that is fine. But getting a will done by an attorney is not always fail proof. One of our friend who started with us while investigating making a will, decided to go to one of the best attorneys in town. He has been with her for 3 years now and he's shelled out 1000 s of bucks. His will is still not complete.
Another friend who got one drawn by a very expensive law firm in the city found upon her widowhood that she has no access to the trust they created with her husband. She is now spending 1000's of dollars trying to fix it and she is ready to tear her hair out.
Be very wary of trusts and know exactly what you are getting into and WHY. We decided not to have a trust because it works for our situation.
we paid here in nyc 4800.00 for 2 wills -2 disclaimer trusts , health proxy's and new power of attorneys with gifting affidavits . the bulk of it were the 2 disclaimer trusts
not one attorney we tried would sign off on any will by checking it over that they did not create and have full power over the wording
I am the same way with my Professional Engineer License. I get tired of the requests stating "You're a PE, just stamp these drawings for the deck I designed myself and I will buy you a six-pack of beer" (or burger lunch, or similar low cost gratuity).
If I didn't design it, verifying all State & Local Building Codes, all local zoning ordinances, and all structural calculations, I don't affix my seal!
just based on the 2 hitches we hit with wills done by general practitioners not estate attorney's we would never attempt our own , nor would we use anyone but an estate attorney that is highly regarded .
That's the big kicker! Can you give us some guidance on how to find a competent estate attorney? Especially when moving to a new state/city where you don't know anybody except the realtor who sold you a house.
usually the bigger guys with the largest client base tend to write articles for local papers , speak at organizations and just seem to keep themselves on the radar more .
ours writes very informative columns for some newspapers on elder law and estate planning so we gave him a try. he is one of nyc's best in my opinion
Last edited by mathjak107; 12-29-2016 at 01:12 PM..
... No children so that saves us a lot of work....
... We absolutely know what we want to do and how we want to do it.
For you, in your case, I think you should DIY.
In the past 10 years, I have dealt with 3 relatives dying and the probates were HORRIBLE. The lawyers only compounded the process.
But in perspective I do understand why they were so bad. One was my parents, they both had wills but those wills contradicted each other. They both included long lists of assets, but the wills were so old that none of those assets existed any longer.
The third was my SIL; she owned property in multiple states, she died in a different state, and her will was out-dated.
For most people I would suggest seeking advice from a lawyer and doing it every decade, and every time you move.
I am throwing this idea out to the various posters, what do folks think about using a paralegal ?
things should be reviewed even when grand children or marriages happen .
we totally forgot that our wills were made before we had grand kids . if one of the kids wasn't here their blood line would have been skipped instead of going to their children and just went to the other kids
our attorney realized it when he reviewed our older wills . .
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