s/o making a will

[Elfknitter.#]

Ok, so you want to make a living will/trust....

 

If you are not doing it online with LegalZoom, where do you go?

[TechWife]

An attorney can do it for you. Look for one that specializes in elder law, no matter how young you are. A specialist can help you set things up so that taxes are minimized and can advise you on many aspects of the law and aging. They can also advise you on how to set up a trust fund so that you can retain your home if you enter a nursing home. There are a lot of little details. 

 

Since July of this year, we have consulted my parents' attorney on the following: 

Financial Power of Attorney for each of them

Medical Proxy via an Advance Directive for each of them

An updated will for my  mother

Assistance in finding a rehab facility for my father (they have a social worker on staff)

Assistance in finding an assisted living residence for them, including renegotiating contracts after my father's death

Filing for VA aid & attendance on behalf of my mother so that she could get spouses benefits

Advice on how to manage life insurance proceeds so that they wouldn't disqualify my mom from either the VA benefit or the "extra help" for Medicare Part D (the funds could have disqualified her, even though they were to be used to pay for my father's funeral and she wouldn't have most of it left after that)

Moving my mom's house into a trust fund so that we could use the funds from it's sale to pay for assisted living (we never completed the trust, my mother died before we could get everything signed).

The importance of having a joint checking account so that funds remain available for use after death (their account had both of my parents and myself as equal owners of the account. Without that, the account would have been frozen after my fathers' death until probate was complete (this alone would have required us to probate the will). Now, after my mothers' death, because I am on the account, I can still pay her few outstanding bills and can pay the household bills until the sale of the house). 

They are now probating my mother's will for us (my dad's didn't have to probate because he had no assets). 

 

 

 

Edited December 9, 2016 by TechWife

[gardenmom5]

we went to one that specialized in estates  - and setting up wills/trusts.  -a trust has a subsection that is a will.

they've had experience and know all the areas that need to be covered.  we had previously done a will for my mom, after doing the trust  I realized  the lawyer who drew her previous will (we put her into a trust) was in fact, weak and left holes.

 

interview several - it was free to talk about what they do.  the trust lawyer did a fee which covered multiple meetings until the trust was set up.