Stephannie Behrens

Stephannie Behrens
Location
Austin, Texas,
Birthday
December 31
Bio
Hey there everyone. My name is Stephannie and I'm going to be working with Cary Tennis. I'm going to be writing companion pieces to the completely fabulous "Since You Asked" column. Cary is going to continue giving great advice to your questions, and I'm going to be researching some of the topics addressed in either the questions or something he might bring up with his response. It's all a great experiment, and we think it's going to be fun. Because his column covers such a wide array of topics, you can expect that we'll cover a similarly diverse range here.

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MAY 23, 2010 12:54PM

Inexpensive ways to write a basic will

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I will start by giving the disclosure that I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice. 

If you are writing a basic will, it is possible to find an attorney to do so for a relatively minor cost. If hiring a lawyer to write a will is not possible, you can write your own. A simple will can be made using some standardized forms that are reasonably easy to find. In the most basic terms, you are stating who you are and clearly and concisely what you would like to happen to your minor children and to your assets.  It doesn't need to be fancy, but there are a few different components that you want to consider.  I found an excellent guideline and series of steps to write your own will at Free Legal Documents.

As a starting point, I found the following extremely basic will.  This is a bare-bones form, and should serve to clearly assign an executor, identify a guardian for your children and say who will receive any assets of your estate. 

If you are looking for a outline document that relates specifically to your state of residence, you can check out the forms that are available on Public Legal Forms, which is website owned by Internet Legal Research Group.  You can pay $9.95 to download the forms.  But they also show the text of those forms when you click through to each state.  It seems you could simply re-type the basic structure of that form on your own.  I'd also recommend checking out your local library for books on writing your own will.

There are competing opinions on whether writing your own will, and not using a lawyer, is a good idea.  At FreeAdvice.com they make the case that it makes only make sense for people with a very simple estate (meaning no property, few bank accounts and no children) to write their own will.  They strongly suggest that people with children hire an attorney. 

A few other points to consider. 
* You must sign the will in front of at least 2 witnesses (some states require 3) and also have it notarized.  All the advice I've found indicates that these people should not be related to you, nor should they be named as beneficiaries in the will. 
* If you do have minor children, talk to the person or people you would like to designate as guardians for your children.  Find out if they are comfortable taking on the responsibility of potentially raising your children. 
* The same goes for identifying the executor of your estate.  Ask that person if they are willing to take on that task.

But in the end, just write something.  A family member of mine is currently acting as the active executor of an estate, and it is a difficult and tedious process.  I can only imagine how much more difficult it might be if there was no will in place.  

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In Texas, a homemade will is more likely to be respected if its all hand written. You can copy what you find in the forms, but get a legal pad a write it out.