For years we had a do-it-yourself will that we got somewhere on the internet. We thought it was fine, given that we're easy: We've only been married once (to each other), our children belong to the two of us biologically, and we don't have any unusual circumstances. We want what most people do: If one of us dies, the surviving spouse gets 100% of everything. When the second spouse dies, everything is divided between the children.
Recently we had a "real will" made, and I realized just how inadequate our old documents had been.
We did ours through the credit union, and it cost $250 for the two of us to have three documents each:
- A will for him, a will for me
- A power of attorney for him, a power of attorney for me
- A medical power of attorney for him, a medical power of attorney for me
The lawyer with whom we worked asked us a number of questions we couldn't answer -- and not answering was bad. He prompted us to think about unusual situations, which was good. We talked in great length about what we'd want to happen to our money and property if we died TODAY, while our kids are still in the "young adult" stage -- he suggested that we put a portion of the money into a trust until the kids were 30 or so, and he talked about how to do that. He talked about what would happen if BOTH we AND the kids were to die -- we'd want everything divided amongst our nieces of nephew, but we'd never considered that possibility before. He talked about beneficiaries vs. a person named in the will, and -- at his suggestion -- we made the children beneficiaries on our bank accounts. He told us to be sure to give copies of our Medical Power of Attorney to our doctors. And he brought up a number of other items that we had just never considered.
I feel quite secure with the paperwork we have drawn up now, and we NEVER have to do it again. It's written so that a surviving spouse wouldn't NEED to re-do the paperwork. For example, the paperwork goes into what we want to happen if one of our children predeceases us and leaves children, etc., etc., etc. In reality, the BEST OPTION is that we should re-do the paperwork when we experience a "life change" . . . and, for us, the next "life change" would probably be grandchildren, and that's probably some time away. The only thing that would FORCE us to redo our paperwork would be death and remarriage -- if a new spouse were involved, it would really have to be redone (for the protection of our children).
My advice: Go ahead and do it. I thought my price was good, and yours is better! You'll feel more secure once it's done.
However, since you're required to pay BY THE YEAR, I'd say pay it this year . . . do the wills, and then don't renew this benefit next year.
