Questions About Wills

Updated on January 09, 2007
J.R. asks from McKinney, TX
4 answers

For the last few years I have known that my husband and I need to do a will. We are a middle income family with two small children whose primary assets are our home and retirement accts. Our life insurance policies and retirement accounts have our children named as beneficiaries. I don't want to spend a fortune and don't know if it is necessary to contact a lawyer. I had a friend who was an attorney, but whose experience was not in private law, tell me that the generic, fill in the blank wills, you can find online and in office supply stores will stand up in court. Primarily we just want to ensure that our children are cared for by family and that are assets are used to help care for them should something happen to my husband and I. Any advice would be helpful and if you know an attorney who is reasonable that would be great too. Thanks.

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S.S.

answers from Dallas on

J.

I am a lawyer, and although your friend is correct that a "fill in the blank" will will stand up in court, because you will need to establish a trust for the care of your children. I would not recommend that you go that route. There are a lot of specifics that a form will not pick up. Instead, I would recommend that you consult a lawyer who specializes in wills, trusts and estates. Most lawyers who practice in this area will provide their services at a flat fee. I would recommend Todd Amacher of The Law Offices of Todd Amacher. His number is ###-###-####. Todd used to work at a large firm downtown and is now a solo practitioner.

Best of luck to you.

1 mom found this helpful
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J.L.

answers from Dallas on

Hi J.,

My husband I and too have put off writing our wills. We found a firm, Pre-paid Legal Services, Inc., to help us out. Basically, you pay about $17 per month for any legal help you need (will preparation, fighting traffic violations, asking for advice on legal mumbo-jumbo, etc.). Your whole family is covered under the plan. We are in the process of answering the questionnaire for the lawyers to draw up our wills, so this has REALLY been very helpful to us, as well as not so expensive. We found them through our financial advisor, Jon Bellman. He is very trustworthy and is very helpful. I believe he is a representative for the Pre-paid legal services company. His contact info is: ###-###-#### Tell him Jacqueline Lipe referred you to him.

Hope this helps!
Good luck,
Jacqueline

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E.T.

answers from Dallas on

I agree with the other poster, because you have kids, that complicates matters and there are lots of things you have to specify. It's a bit pricey, but if you consider the alternative, it's worth every penny...

K.M.

answers from Dallas on

J.,

I have heard too many nightmare stories about do-it-yourself and online wills. My husband and I are in the process of having our will done by an Attorney, he has been very helpuful, thought provoking, etc... there are so many things that you need to consider, he has really helped to walk us through these things. His name is Andrew Hawkins with Graves & Hawkins, his number ###-###-####. You should give him a call....if not him, please call another attorney that you can trust.

K.

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