Has anyone set up a living will or living trust for your family/children? I am guilty of being very delinquint on this issue...meant to do it as soon as DD was born, and now with baby #2 arriving in July, I need to get on it. Any suggestions? I know there are websites such as legalzoom.com where I can do it much less expensivly than through an attorney- do you think it's an OK route to take? HELP! DH and I are traveling by plane without DD in 4 days and I am giving myself a nervous breakdown b/c we don't have anything in place should someting happen to us. TIA!
Both my parents and IL's have this set up through lawyers. I think you can do something pretty simple like a packet from a bookstore, but I've definatley heard it's better thru a lawyer. I hear you, though. We said we were going to set something up before DS arrived almost 14 months ago and we're still talking about it.
Big Brother: 2005
Sister: 2008
Little Brother: 2012
I'm so glad you asked this question! We don't have a will (gasp!) and we really need to set up a trust so that if, God forbid, something happened to both of us DD's guardian could get our life insurance money for her without going to court. I'd love to just buy one of the kits online or at Office Depot, but do they go that in depth or can you do a trust with one?
We went to a lawyer when DD was abour 4 months old and updated our wills (DH already had one as he is in the military), got POA's for each other, living wills, etc. We set up a trust for DD within our wills. It was not complicated and is easy to amend- say, for future children, or if we change who we want as guardians (we have the IL's right now, and when BIL is settled down and married, will transfer to him), etc. I feel good knowing it is taken care of, and was done correctly. It wasn't a lot of money to have done- and we have a pretty involved legal/financial situation. So if you have a pretty straightforward situation, it should be even easier and cheaper.
we did our wills, living wills, living trust, set up trust funds etc. through our family attorney when DD was a few weeks old and we're actually changing it this week to add DS. all we have to do is fax her the changes. I can't imagine doing something so important online and DIY. Cost wise, i think it was only around $500 to do it all with our attorney. To us, it's worth it for the peace of mind because for us, there's too much at stake for there to be an error. DIY would just make me nervous.
Last edited by Littlelamb11; 05-09-2006 at 01:04 PM.
Lisa & Corbett 9-30-00
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DH and I got a living trust through our lawyer. We have quite a bit of assets and ours is detailed so it was very important to us to seek the advice of a lawyer. Ours cost significantly more than Littlelamb11.
Please, please go see an attorney for this. I know it stinks to pay $$$ to get words put on a paper but it is your child's future. One mistake could make a big difference. Those "legal form kits" you get at the bookstore may or may not be what you need. Laws vary widely from state to state and even from year to year.
Think of it like this: would you let a neighbor do dental work for you because he knows a little about drilling? Or a person treat your kid because she once worked in a pedatrician's office? No, you would go to a person with highly specialized training who is qualified to do what you need and has done it a hundred times before. Why treat a really important legal matter any differently?
Think of it like this: would you let a neighbor do dental work for you because he knows a little about drilling? Or a person treat your kid because she once worked in a pedatrician's office? No, you would go to a person with highly specialized training who is qualified to do what you need and has done it a hundred times before. Why treat a really important legal matter any differently?
Totally a valid point...
Thanks for all of the advice ladies! We are definately going to go through an attorney in the very near future...however, since we are traveling without DD this Friday, I think I am going to go through legalzoom for the meantime...I figure something is better than nothing. They tailor the paperwork specifically to your state, and are recommended by USA Today, Popular Science and Fortune. It is only a few hundred dollars and I figure it's wirth the money to hold us over until I can get an appt. with an attorney.
If you have a lot of assest I would NOT recommend the DIY route.
Well, we own a house, and have money in various savings accts/bonds etc., but other than that we don't have too much (or at least our assets are pretty straight forward.)...My biggest concern is setting up gardianship and making sure that our assets won't have to go through probate etc.
Living Trust/ Living Will
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