Re: Speaking of wills

From: "J. Morgan" <jmorgan@ecentral.com>
Subject: Re: Speaking of wills
Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1998 13:26:28 -0600

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>Date: Wed, 05 Aug 1998 22:48:05 -0400
>From: Lisa Bellamy <LISABEE@postoffice.worldnet.att.net>
>Subject: Speaking of wills
>
>My husband and me -- both in our mid-30s -- have two preschoolers and
>are expecting a third child. We've some assets, though not a ton. We
>think it's time we did a will. Anyone have ideas on software that would
>allow us to do our own, customizing it to fit North Carolina law (our
>home state) so that it would be legally recognized should the need
>arise? Any recommendations appreciated.

We're in a similar situation, and what I'd advise is to pay a good
lawyer the few hundred bucks it'll take to draft a will (and
possibly a trust and powers of attorney), and *not* rely on a
do-it-yourself kit.

(Sorry, Nolo. ;-)

Guardianship of your children is probably of primary importance.

My wife and I recently had our wills redone, and created a trust
that will become effective on both of our deaths.  In essence,
if I go, she gets all our stuff, if she goes, I get all our stuff, and if
we both happen to step in front of the same bus, my sister has
guardianship of our kids and control over our assets, which must
be used for the benefit of our kids.

Assets remaining in the trust will be distributed to the children at
age 30.

There are, of course, clauses addressing how much can be spent
and for what reasons, and provisions protecting the trust from
fiduciary irresponsibility, and sections dealing with the unlikely
event that our children should predecease both of us.

The two wills, the trust, two medical powers of attorney (living
wills), and two springing (take effect at death or incapacity)
general powers of attorney ran a shade over $400.

I consider that money well spent.  I think your childrens' welfare
is too important to be left to some piece of software or a
self help book.

Curiously enough, I chose my new .sig line before I phrased
this reply...  :-)


J.
At the bookstore I asked "where's the self-help section?"
The clerk said "if I told you, it would defeat the purpose."






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