A MOBILE LAW FIRM VISITING CLIENTS AT THEIR LOCATION IN THE GREATER PHOENIX METRO AREA. HANDLING LEGAL MATTERS IN ESTATE PLANNING, PROBATE, AND ELDER LAW FOR OVER 30 YEARS.
Wills
The most common reason to
make a will is to decide who will get your property when you die. Without a
will (or other plan, like a living trust), your state laws
determine how your property will be distributed—usually to your closest relatives,
like your spouse, children or parents.
After you die, someone needs to execute your
estate. You can use your will to name a personal representative to take on this
task. Without a will, a court will appoint someone if necessary.
A will is the only place to nominate a
guardian to care for your children. If you die without a will, a court will
decide who should care for your kids. If
you have a specific person in mind you may need to have a will.
You can use your will to name a trusted
caretaker for your pet. You can also leave money to that person to help him or
her care for your pet. You can also have a pet trust so that the money allotted
for your pet will transfer with the pet if ownership of the pet changes. Also,
the trustee of the pet trust must keep an account of expenditures so that money
is only used for the care of the pet.
You need a will even if
you have a living trust and don’t need to name guardians for children or pets. Called a backup will, it provides a catch-all
for any property that isn’t taken care of by your living trust or other estate
planning device. It will take care of
any property that was not transferred into your living trust: acquired after your living trust was executed
and not transferred into trust, transferred incorrectly to your living trust,
or just forgotten about.