Making out a will

[iahawkhunter]

Are there any "pre-work" or a checklist that people here would recommend prior to meeting with a lawyer to draft up a will? My wife and I are looking to get one set up soon, and since we've never dealt with anything we may have a lot of questions and a lot that we just don't know. It'd be nice to be prepared so we could be efficient in meeting with the lawyer.

For us it was mainly a series of questions like this, to handle several layers of "what if" scenarios:

• If you each die at separate times, who gets what
• If you and your spouse die at the same time, who gets what and who takes care of any kids (and a 2nd & 3rd choice in the event that the preferred choice(s) can't do it)
• If you have kids, and you, your spouse, and your kids die at the same time, who gets what
• If you have kids, and your whole family and the kids' intended guardians die at the same time, who gets what

Our wills included setting up a trust to receive assets if both my wife and I die, and part of the terms included how kids get access to those resources. Common options are a lump sum at a certain age or to portion it out into 2-3 pieces as they reach certain ages to avoid giving everything to an 18-year-old.

 

[isufbcurt]

For us it was mainly a series of questions like this, to handle several layers of "what if" scenarios:

• If you each die at separate times, who gets what - ISUFBCURT GETS EVERYTHING
• If you and your spouse die at the same time, who gets what and who takes care of any kids (and a 2nd & 3rd choice in the event that the preferred choice(s) can't do it) - ISUFBCURT GETS EVERYTHING and kids go to a relative yet to be determined
• If you have kids, and you, your spouse, and your kids die at the same time, who gets what - NATURALLY ISUFBCURT
• If you have kids, and your whole family and the kids' intended guardians die at the same time, who gets what - ONCE AGAIN ISUFBCURT

Our wills included setting up a trust to receive assets if both my wife and I die, and part of the terms included how kids get access to those resources. Common options are a lump sum at a certain age or to portion it out into 2-3 pieces as they reach certain ages to avoid giving everything to an 18-year-old.

I just saved you a lot of time and thinking

 

[casey1973]

We had a great experience working with Tim.

Unfortunately I didn't.