Reader Buzz: Wills
October 13th, 2006 @ 12:47 pm by Reader Buzz
Mrs. Bee here.
Yesterday Miss Apple brought up the topic of prenuptial agreements, so today let’s talk about another legal document - the will.
Mr. Bee and I have been talking lately about having wills made. He has some stock to take care of, while I have massive debt to bequeath. 
It’s something that we seriously started considering now that we’re married.
Are you and your significant other planning on creating wills?
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9 Responses to “Reader Buzz: Wills”
yes, but only after we have a child.
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.
Remember, if you’re planning to leave most of everything to your other half to put in a clause in case something happens to you both at the same time, particularly if your parents aren’t on the best of terms. It can possibly save dates in court trying to prove who died first so that the controlling share goes to that family. *bleck*
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.
We will likely hold of on a will until we have kids but we’re definitely doing a living will/health care proxy, etc. We’ve both said to each other that we want the plug pulled if we’re brain dead, and I don’t think our parents would fight it, but you just never know.
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.
Excuse the typo in my last post please.
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.
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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.