• Choose who will administrate your will
• Choose where your assets will go
• Choose who will take care of your children

Most state laws do not require that you use a lawyer to prepare your will. You can have your will prepared with your own input by using the paralegal services at LegalDocs Made EZ to create the legal wording that is necessary for a finished legal document that you simply don’t have to worry about.

Take care of your family with a Last Will and Testament.Creating a Will may be one of the most important decisions you will make in your lifetime. It will determine who receives your assets and how much each of your family members will receive. If you do not have a Will, the State where you live will make many of the decisions for your estate. If you have children, the State will also determine who will be their guardian and have custody over them. If you prepare a will, you will make these decisions and name a person you trust to execute your Will.

If you do not have a Will, a Court will decide what becomes of your assets and your children in a Court Probate Action. This Court action is necessary since there are no written instructions left by the deceased. This is called an “intestate” proceeding. This can be very time consuming and expensive for the estate of the deceased.

A probate is a Court Action filed by the party named in the Will by the deceased relatives or persons who are named in the Will. The purpose of filing a probate is to obtain authority from the Court, called a “Testamentary of Letters,” giving the Personal Representative or Executor legal power to carry out the business of gathering and distributing property that is still in the names of those who have passed away and cannot sign for themselves. The Court monitors proper distribution of the estate assets to the heirs named in the Will. If your estate does not exceed $50,000, normally a probate action is not necessary. A Probate is not mandatory in many states.

It is very important for you to choose a person that will have the care of your children after you are deceased. The children will remain with either the surviving mother or father in most cases. However, if the surviving parent is incapacitated or is unable to care for the children, a guardian should be named in your Will over the children.

A general gift leaves a percentage of the net estate to the heirs and divides them to each party in a defined percentage amount. Gifts such as a “diamond ring to my daughter” are specifically named in the Will.