Weddingbee Blog

YES. I work in fundraising, so I’m pretty familiar with the concept of charitable giving through a will or trust — and knowing about this makes me aware of what the consequences are if you don’t have a will. Everyone should create one, even if you don’t have tons of assets…b/c hopefully you’ll only have more of those as time passes, and you want to make sure the other person gets what’s coming to them, etc.

Wills are important to have because it makes the probate process much easier for everyone involved (i.e., saves time, money and makes your intent clear to your survivors and the court). FI and I will not do wills until we’re married, after which we’ll keep them until we have children and then do them again to include minor trusts and guardianship provisions.

Almost as equally important as a will are health care proxies/living wills/durable powers of attorney. If you become incapacitated at any time, these documents are imperative for doctors, courts and banks to know who can carry out your wishes with respect to finances and health care decisions.

Wills and the other documents mentioned above can be done through simple forms found online (which is great because they are FREE). Going to an attorney is really unnecessary unless you have a good amount of assets (apartment, house, stocks…) or family members who will need care when you are deceased. Although, the cost will probably run about $500 for simple wills, etc. which isn’t that much money I suppose.

Well we don’t have any assests or children so not yet. When we buy a house we will think about it. If we have children we will then.

Perhaps I’m bias (fiance and I are both attorneys), but we had wills well before we were engaged. It’s so easy to get one from an attorney- generally not that expensive and there’s no issue after your gone about who gets what. When people pass away, sometimes the weirdest things become issues– even in families that get along.

I used Pre-Paid Legal Services to do my will (got this done before sky diving) and i will get my prenup done before the wedding. Very affordable.