Just prepared my will online

Marie5656

Marie5656

Well-known Member
Location
Batavia, NY
Since I am now alone, my brother has insisted I do a will. I went to an online site called Free Will. It is an online form that there is no fee for, and they walk you through the process. I think this is best for someone like me, with not a lot of assets, or things to distribute. Mine was pretty simple, everything goes to one person.
Also allows a part for my final wishes for funeral etc. Since my niece is my executor, will see the will, that will work. We have already discussed what I want (cremation, no service) .
I just have to go and get it witnessed and notarized. And I am good to go (pun intended).
It does have a place to designate a distribution to charity.
 

Marie5656 said:
Since I am now alone, my brother has insisted I do a will. I went to an online site called Free Will. It is an online form that there is no fee for, and they walk you through the process. I think this is best for someone like me, with not a lot of assets, or things to distribute. Mine was pretty simple, everything goes to one person.
Also allows a part for my final wishes for funeral etc. Since my niece is my executor, will see the will, that will work. We have already discussed what I want (cremation, no service) .
I just have to go and get it witnessed and notarized. And I am good to go (pun intended).
It does have a place to designate a distribution to charity.
Click to expand...
after hitting two badley worded wills in my life time , both being very costly to us , i only want my paper work done by a top notch estate attorney ... nothing is a problem , ever , until it's a problem for the heirs ... both wills had serious omissions in wording .
 
Marie5656 said:
Since I am now alone, my brother has insisted I do a will. I went to an online site called Free Will. It is an online form that there is no fee for, and they walk you through the process. I think this is best for someone like me, with not a lot of assets, or things to distribute. Mine was pretty simple, everything goes to one person.
Also allows a part for my final wishes for funeral etc. Since my niece is my executor, will see the will, that will work. We have already discussed what I want (cremation, no service) .
I just have to go and get it witnessed and notarized. And I am good to go (pun intended).
It does have a place to designate a distribution to charity.
Click to expand...
Marie5656 said:
Since I am now alone, my brother has insisted I do a will. I went to an online site called Free Will. It is an online form that there is no fee

Thanks, really needed that info. will get on today
Click to expand...
 

Two different will needs. One with minimum assets, one with specific needs.

Either should address what you want. We sat with the attorney to go over the language in our wills changing the wording we didn't like. Having a clear understanding of what you want the will to do is crucial to signing the final version.
 
Having a clear understanding of what you want with proper verbiage and paper work for your state is what is needed ...as the judge told us , the intent of the will and trust is quite clear ..but the court can’t fill in missing words or verbiage or rewrite history....so just knowing what you want as an end game is not good enough ....you need someone with experience to know when the wording is 100% correct ... when we went looking for an estate attorney I put them to the test ....I brought the two documents we knew had errors and asked him what he thought ....he picked up on the omissions right away unlike the general practitioners who did these documents...by the way these were two different people that had issues with documentation deemed defective. The common denominator is they both were done with canned documents by general practitioners not estate attorneys knowledgeable specifically in the ways of the state
 
Well, filing out the will was the easy part. Trying to get it notarized is nuts. I went to my bank. Seems, bank notaries cannot notarize a will. Go to a lawyer they said...any lawyer will do it for you just walk in and ask. NOPE. I found a lawyers office a couple miles from my bank. Went in and asked. NOPE. He said since he does not know me, he was not willing to have someone notarize it for me.
The only lawyer I know professionally is in another town. It was suggested I call him and see if he will refer me to a local lawyer office. Darn.
 
Marie5656 said:
Well, filing out the will was the easy part. Trying to get it notarized is nuts. I went to my bank. Seems, bank notaries cannot notarize a will. Go to a lawyer they said...any lawyer will do it for you just walk in and ask. NOPE. I found a lawyers office a couple miles from my bank. Went in and asked. NOPE. He said since he does not know me, he was not willing to have someone notarize it for me.
The only lawyer I know professionally is in another town. It was suggested I call him and see if he will refer me to a local lawyer office. Darn.
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Before we had all the issues with the defective documents I thought I would use willmaker and then pay an attorney to proof it out and sign off on it ...nope not one would have a thing to do with a document not fully created and worded by them
 
I found out that NY State law says a notary cannot sign a will without a lawyer present. I just contacted a lawyer I know socially to find out if she will help me. If not, I guess I will have to research other ways to do it
 
Marie5656 said:
I found out that NY State law says a notary cannot sign a will without a lawyer present. I just contacted a lawyer I know socially to find out if she will help me. If not, I guess I will have to research other ways to do it
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We are in New York ....when we signed our wills we were asked a lot of questions in front of the witnesses at the attorneys office ....things like do we know what a will is ? Are we on any medications? Did anyone receive outside influence in any decisions or were they feeling pressured ? These are all important steps taken by a competent attorney
 
Any notary can notarize your will. It does not need to be a lawyer. You will have to present your ID and a picture drivers license is enough for me to notarize for someone. I keep my notary mainly because my daughter's pharmacy needs one to notarize their annual DEA inventory document. I notarize for friends and family, mainly just the people I know. I don't advertise and I don't charge them. Last I heard a notary here in Texas could charge $6.00 a signature but it might be different now. I always needed to keep my notary commission as my employment always needed one. They would pay my bond and any other fees I had to keep it.
 
terry123 said:
Any notary can notarize your will. It does not need to be a lawyer. You will have to present your ID and a picture drivers license is enough for me to notarize for someone. I keep my notary mainly because my daughter's pharmacy needs one to notarize their annual DEA inventory document. I notarize for friends and family, mainly just the people I know. I don't advertise and I don't charge them. Last I heard a notary here in Texas could charge $6.00 a signature but it might be different now. I always needed to keep my notary commission as my employment always needed one. They would pay my bond and any other fees I had to keep it.
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There is more to it then just signing when you see an estate attorney in ny ...there are certain protocols and questions asked if you see my post above...these can be very important questions in second marriages with children on both sides
 
Marie5656 said:
I found out that NY State law says a notary cannot sign a will without a lawyer present. I just contacted a lawyer I know socially to find out if she will help me. If not, I guess I will have to research other ways to do it
Click to expand...
Please let us know how you resolve this.

I made a new will a couple of years ago and couldn't coordinate the witnesses and notary without a big hassle so I just filed it away.

The other problem I have is deciding on who to name as executor.

Maybe if I wait long enough the problem will resolve itself! ;)
 
@Aunt Bea. One thing I know is that the witnesses do not have to be personally known to you, and that they cannot be named in the will. So, if you go to a lawyers office, you can have the Notary there, and then two people from the office be your witnesses. I have an email out to a lawyer know, and waiting to hear from her.
 
To be honest I think people need to do these important documents correctly and as accurately as you can using the right people not some canned form which you have no idea what errors are lurking ...if you think the price of doing this by a proper attorney is expensive wait until you see what free can cost heirs
 
Whatever my heirs get is gravy but every situation is different.

My will doesn't amount to much, most of my investments and cash will pass to beneficiaries named on the accounts and not be part of my estate.
 
Aunt Bea said:
Whatever my heirs get is gravy but every situation is different.

My will doesn't amount to much, most of my investments and cash will pass to beneficiaries named on the accounts and not be part of my estate.
Click to expand...
Same here ... but today you never know if your death will be part of a medical malpractice suit , a wrongful death suit ,an accident settlement ,etc .....so just because there may be little to deal with now does not mean that is how it will end up ....my sons best friends in-laws went out to celebrate their 40th anniversary and a drunk driver killed them both ......so stuff happens that can suddenly see the estate having to deal with money where there was none
 
mathjak107 said:
To be honest I think people need to do these important documents correctly and as accurately as you can using the right people not some canned form which you have no idea what errors are lurking ...if you think the price of doing this by a proper attorney is expensive wait until you see what free can cost heirs
Click to expand...

The first time I saw the handwritten piece of paper that my father thought would work you could have knocked me over with a feather. I was passing through on leave from the Navy, but I extended my time in El Paso and dragged him down to a real attorney and had it done right. The cost for all the documents he needed ($700) was dirt cheap compared to the grief I would have had if I had not forced the issue.
And forget about executing the will yourself. I really needed that lawyer to help me execute that will. The process is far more complex than I imagined.
Getting a will done correctly is not an area where you try to save a few bucks. Do it right and save your heirs from major heartache.
 
Everything I have has a pay on death attachment. Already told girls to get what they want now as I am down sizing to what I truly want. Already had will, power of attorney and medical power of attorneys down and they both have copies. Originals are in safety deposit box with both of them having access to keys. One daughter wants the Agatha Christie books. The other wants the Gibran books and other spiritual books. Others are being boxed, listed on free cycle and given away. I will not throw away books. Those not taken will be donated to Salvation Army as they will do a pick up if you schedule one and tell them how many bags of clothes you have, how many boxes of books. Already had one pick up and collecting boxes for another. Eight now I am using my china and crystal and enjoying them. Cremation paperwork done and paid for. I am done.
 
Marie5656 said:
Since I am now alone, my brother has insisted I do a will. I went to an online site called Free Will. It is an online form that there is no fee for, and they walk you through the process. I think this is best for someone like me, with not a lot of assets, or things to distribute. Mine was pretty simple, everything goes to one person.
Also allows a part for my final wishes for funeral etc. Since my niece is my executor, will see the will, that will work. We have already discussed what I want (cremation, no service) .
I just have to go and get it witnessed and notarized. And I am good to go (pun intended).
It does have a place to designate a distribution to charity.
Click to expand...

When it comes to legal advice I'm a firm believer that you get what you pay for. My mother's estate went smooth as silk because she engaged a good estate lawyer to write her will and trust. DH and I used the same attorney to draw up ours. Money well spent, IMHO.
 
StarSong said:
When it comes to legal advice I'm a firm believer that you get what you pay for. My mother's estate went smooth as silk because she engaged a good estate lawyer to write her will and trust. DH and I used the same attorney to draw up ours. Money well spent, IMHO.
Click to expand...
What cracks me up is when people go we did it ourselves , no problem...like what the heck is going to go badly with a document while you are alive
 
mathjak107 said:
after hitting two badley worded wills in my life time , both being very costly to us , i only want my paper work done by a top notch estate attorney ... nothing is a problem , ever , until it's a problem for the heirs ... both wills had serious omissions in wording .
Click to expand...
I'm with you. And we did not do a will --- we set up a revocable trust.
 
A few years back I drew up my will and had it notorized at the bank (I'm in Philadelphia). I will in all likelihood leave very little for my two daughters to squabble over, but I wanted something in writing anyway. I wanted to emulate my mother - she had everything in order, in a file, so that when she passed away my brother and I did not have to worry about a thing.
 


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