What is a Will and its Preparations?

A Will is a legal document stating the desires of a person with regard to the nature of property after the person’s death.  A Will can protect your assets and help minimize the chances of a contest over your estate. If you die without one, your assets may not be distributed as you may want them to be. You may use a Will for the following purposes.

· Provide for your family

· Specify whom you would like to receive your property

· State your funeral and burial instructions

· Create a trust for minor children

· Disinherit a person(s)

· Name a guardian for minor children

A Living Will is a legal document expressing the desires of a person with regard to medical decisions in the event that the person is incapacitated and unable to act on his/her own behalf.

Legal requirements for the creation of a will are as follows:

Any person over the age of 18 can draft his/her own will without the help of an attorney. Additional requirements may vary depending on the jurisdiction but every will must contain the following:

• The author must clearly identify himself as the maker of the will and that a will is being made; this is commonly called “publication” of the will and is typically satisfied by the words “last will and testament” on the face of the document.
• The author must declare that he cancels all previously-made wills and codicils.  Otherwise a previous made will revokes earlier wills and codicils only to the extent that they are inconsistent. However, if a following will is completely inconsistent with a previous one, it will be considered completely revoked by implication.
• The author must demonstrate that he has the capacity to dispose of his property and does so freely and willingly.
• The author must sign and date the will usually in the presence of at least two witnesses (persons who are not beneficiaries).
• The author’s signature must be placed at the end of the will. If this is not followed, any text following the signature will be ignored or the entire will may be invalidated if what comes after the signature is so material that ignoring it would defeat the person’s intentions.

After the author has died, a proceeding will take place in court to determine the validity of the will. If the Will is ruled invalid then the inheritance will occur under the laws of intestacy, as if a will were never drafted. You may find other information and resources by your local library or courthouse as well as the internet for your specific state. Every state may vary in its own way.

A Will is a matter of crucial importance and is able to be done yourself by simply going to www.createawill.com. We offer state specific downloadable forms and kit to not only save you money but time and peace of mind as well.

Tags: downloadable forms and kit, Last Will and Testament, laws of intestacy, legal requirements, Living Will, medical decisions, Preparations of a Will, protect your assets, will and codicils

This entry was posted on Monday, May 24th, 2010 at 2:22 pm and is filed under Last Will and Testament, Living Will, Preparations of a Will, Protecting your Family, Will Forms. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.