Investopedia lists seven reasons to review or revise your will as follows:
- New Children, Friends or Relatives Enter the Picture
- You Move
- You've Come Into Money
- You Get Divorced
- Your Spouse Passes Away
- You've Had a Change of Heart
- You Want to Account for Charitable Giving
Let this serve as my regular reminder to everyone reading this: you need an updated will. So if you don't have a will, you need one. And if you have an old one that's out-of-date (for whatever reason), you need to get it updated.
I don't have any of the situations listed above in my life, but our will is getting a bit old (couple years) and a few things have changed (for instance, the people we named as guardians for our kids moved and we aren't as in touch with them any longer), so we'll need a review soon.
How about you? Do you have a will (and the other basic estate/life planning documents)? Is it up-to-date?
Your children reach the age of 18.
Posted by: Matt | August 01, 2011 at 07:01 AM
I don't have a will. Don't have children, or a spouse.
Not sure how seriously I should take this as a 'problem'.
Posted by: MattJ | August 01, 2011 at 02:12 PM
In my experience, making a will is a set and forget exercise. It should be something you put in your diary to review it every couple of years or so. this may save your estate from a lot of pain and expense later on.
Posted by: simplewealthguy | August 02, 2011 at 02:09 AM
I do not have a will. I have little enough estate that it would not go through probate. In MO my kids would, by law, divide equally whatever I have. This also happened when my husband died.
The only quirk I had was the bank lock box. It cost me $65 to get into it because of a legal paper I needed. My husband had the lock box from his mother's estate and had his older brother's name on it with him. His older brother had died 6 months before my husband and he forgot to change it. Was not a problem as he had been dying of cancer and I could do that work myself.
My 503b and life insurance are set up as 50% each for son & daughter. Seems I'm set unless I win the lottery and that is unlikely as I usually forget to buy a ticket. The same thing with inheriting a fortune.
Posted by: Georgia | August 02, 2011 at 12:36 PM
So if one is single, with no kids, and just needs a basic will to ensure their estate goes to parents/siblings, is there an inexpensive way to set one up? The requirements likely vary state-by-state, but can anyone recommend general resources? (I personally am interested in Washington state requirements.)
Posted by: Sarah N | August 02, 2011 at 05:41 PM