What if I change my mind!?

Life happens.

Circumstances change.

Today you may be married with small children.

In the blink of an eye, those children may be married with their own babies and you may be looking at funding long-term care.

The estate plan that is 100% aligned with your life as a young family when you are 35 may well need adjusting by the time you retire in your 60s.

THAT IS A-OK!

Before we begin, a bit of a vocabulary lesson:

Codicil: an addition or supplement that explains, modifies, or revokes a will or part of one.

Revoke: put an end to the validity or operation of a previously executed Will or Trust.  

Should you find yourself needing to change your end-of-life wishes you have 3 basic options.  (But as you'll see, only two are very wise).

Option 1:  Revoke your existing Will or Trust.  Period.

Pro: Likely the cheapest option.  

Con: Leaves you at the whims of intestate succession and offers no medicaid planning. Essentially reverts your planning to before you ever executed a will or Trust.  

Option 2: Execute a Codicil or Amend your Trust

Pro: Still cheaper than Option 3.  Aligns your estate plan with your current wishes. 

Con: Since you now have two valid documents, if not done well, this can lead to confusion.  How exactly do these (the initial Will and the new Codicil) work together?  Exactly which portions of the initial will are now valid and which have been overridden?  Confused?  Exactly! 

Option 3: Revoke previous Will or Trust and redraft

Pro: Eliminates confusion inherent in having two operating documents.

Con: Most expensive due to time necessary for complete redrafting - this is mostly at issue with a Trust.  Redrafting a will isn't as significant of an undertaking.  

Conclusion - Option 1 is almost never going to be a wise decision.  The pro v. con calculus between options 2 and three really depends on the specifics of your case and whether we are dealing with a Trust or a Will.  Contact your friendly-neighborhood-attorney to discuss the specifics of your case! 

Can't I write my own will?

One of the joys of living in 2015 (and counting) is the easy availability of free information on the internet.  Never before have YOU the consumer had such an ability to do-it-yourself.  Options include:

Form-books, LegalZoom, Software programs, as your friendly local lawyers blog!

And for some people these should work just fine.  For instance, if you are married to your first spouse, have a relatively small estate (no tax concerns), and only joint biological typically developing responsible children (that's quite a few adjectives right!) who you want to inherent everything, the forms are likely for you.

Maybe.

And here's the challenge - I wouldn't know without talking through your assets and family situation with you.  (remember the bottom of my website .... "This is my Blog. This is not my Office. If you need legal advise, come to the latter."  )


And for the cost of a few hours of an attorneys time to discuss your situation and advise you on whether you really NEED them to draft your will the attorney could just as easily have it drafted.

Now, that disclaimer aside here are some situations where you probably should not consider going the do-it-yourself route:

1. You or your spouse have been married more than once.
2. You or your spouse have children from a previous marriage or outside of wedlock
3. You have minor children and don't want them to receive a lump sum payment when they turn 18.
4. You have minor children and don't want their other parent having access to and control of the children's inheritance.
5. You have desired beneficiaries that are in debt.
6. You have natural beneficiaries who might fight to get access to part of your estate.
7. You have desired beneficiaries that are developmentally challenged.
8. You want to disinherit a child/children.
9. You don't know 100% that any of the above situations will not be the case at some point in the future.

Intestate Succession

If you die without a will or without transferring ownership of your assets into a trust then state statute will define who now owns your assets.  This generally means the following with certain exceptions (the marital home etc):

1. Your "legitimate" children get everything.  (love your step-children as your own?  Doesn't matter to the court, if you die intestate they don't take ... until perhaps #8)
2. Your spouse of greater than three years gets everything.  Your spouse of less than 3 years gets 50% of your estate
3. Your parents get everything (or the remaining 50%)
4. Your brothers and sisters get everything that would have gone to your parents were they living (and their descendants).
5. Your surviving grandparents, uncles, and aunts (and their descendants).
6. Your surviving great-grandparents, great-uncles and great-aunts (and their descendants).
7. Your spouse of less than three years - the other half they don't receive under #2 
8. The heirs of your last previous spouse that predeceased you
9. Lastly - if none of the above exist, your estate goes to the county in which you live.  

Sound confusing!?  It IS!  So, if you like this plan - no need for a will .... except that also, your estate will likely be required to put up a "bond" to protect against an executor of your estate absconding with the assets.  This increases the cost of probating an intestate estate.  Most wills include a provision to waive the requirement of bond.