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I have Family Lawyer software by Intuit and would like to know if I can use
it for wills, power of attorneys and power of health attorneys. My wife's
and my "stipulations" for our wills will be very simple - as will those for
our powers of attorney. Is this an acceptable course of action?
Also, we want our three sons to all have access to these documents - but
they live in different parts of the country. Can they each have an
"original" if they are all notarized? Thanks........
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+++Bobby "O"+++ wrote:
I have Family Lawyer software by Intuit and would like to know if I can use
it for wills, power of attorneys and power of health attorneys. My wife's
and my "stipulations" for our wills will be very simple - as will those for
our powers of attorney. Is this an acceptable course of action?
I'm not familiar with this software, but suggest that if you use it,
have an attorney review what you've done. This is a middle ground. Less
expensive than having the attorney draw the papers up (well, presumably
so) but better than trusting software.
Remember that the statutes governing wills, POA's, etc. vary by State.
Unless you have State specific software AND it is 100% up to date, I
can't see how it can be accurate - although as you assume, your needs
may be so simple that you won't run afoul of anything. Personally, I
can't see bothering with these docs unless you do them right which is
why I suggest an attorney review them.
Also, we want our three sons to all have access to these documents - but
they live in different parts of the country. Can they each have an
"original" if they are all notarized? Thanks........
Sure. No harm, no foul.
-paul
ianal
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Paul Cassel <pcasselplustwo@comcast.net> wrote:
+++Bobby "O"+++ wrote:
I have Family Lawyer software by Intuit and would like to know
if I can use it for wills, power of attorneys and power of
health attorneys. My wife's and my "stipulations" for our
wills will be very simple - as will those for our powers of
attorney. Is this an acceptable course of action?
I'm not familiar with this software, but suggest that if you use
it, have an attorney review what you've done. This is a middle
ground. Less expensive than having the attorney draw the papers
up (well, presumably so) but better than trusting software.
Good idea. I have seen drafting problems with do-it-yourself wills
(and some problems with wills drafted by lawyers who thought they
knew what they were doing but didn't). But the thing that trips
more people up is execution. A will has to be executed in a very
particular way. If that's not done, a probate court could throw it
out.
Also, we want our three sons to all have access to these
documents - but they live in different parts of the country.
Can they each have an "original" if they are all notarized?
Thanks........
Sure. No harm, no foul.
Duplicate originals of wills are allowed, but not recommended.
Send them each a copy with a note telling them where the original
is (but don't put it in a safe deposit box).
Stu
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Paul Cassel <pcasselplustwo@comcast.net> wrote:
Duplicate originals of wills are allowed, but not recommended.
Send them each a copy with a note telling them where the original
is (but don't put it in a safe deposit box).
Why not, provided a survivor has access to the safe deposit box?
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Duplicate originals of wills are allowed, but not recommended.
Send them each a copy with a note telling them where the original
is (but don't put it in a safe deposit box).
Why not, provided a survivor has access to the safe deposit box?
Isn't there a problem with tax authorities blocking access to safe
deposit boxes until the estate taxes are settled? (so a survivor
WON'T have access after the death of the person writing the will,
without a lot of difficulty.) This creates a chicken-or-the-egg
problem. As I understand it, you can break the deadlock, but it
costs lots of lawyer time and hassle the survivors really don't
want to deal with.
Gordon L. Burditt
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"Robert E. Lewis" <rlewis@brazosport.cc.tx.us> wrote:
"Stuart A. Bronstein" <spamtrap@lexregia.com> wrote
Duplicate originals of wills are allowed, but not recommended.
Send them each a copy with a note telling them where the original
is (but don't put it in a safe deposit box).
Why not, provided a survivor has access to the safe deposit box?
If the survivor has access to the box, no problem. I've just seen
too many situations in which nobody new of the box, or if they did
the tax people prohibited anyone to get access until they had a
representative come and witness it being opened. If those aren't
problems, go ahead.
Stu
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If the survivor has access to the box, no problem. I've just seen
too many situations in which nobody new of the box, or if they did
the tax people prohibited anyone to get access until they had a
representative come and witness it being opened. If those aren't
problems, go ahead.
Stu
Would it be a good idea, then, for the survivor to get to the box as soon as
possible after the death and remove the documents? Surely the tax people
would not learn of the death and swoop down on the bank immediately, would
they?
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"Don" <dwzimm@telus.net> wrote:
"Stuart A. Bronstein" <spamtrap@lexregia.com> wrote
Would it be a good idea, then, for the survivor to get to the
box as soon as possible after the death and remove the
documents? Surely the tax people would not learn of the death
and swoop down on the bank immediately, would they?
They don't do that in California any more, so here it's not a
problem as long as someone knows where the documents are and how to
get to them. In other states that restrict access after a box
owner's death, the bank simply may not let you in if they know the
guy died.
One woman I know keeps hers in her freezer.
Stu
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Why not, provided a survivor has access to the safe deposit box?
Because, as soon as the bank learns the owner of the box is dead, it will
often block access to the box until released by probate.
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On 28/2/05 10:50 pm, in article 8s77215pmonf5ftfgrv2274ipjl7uobhnu@4ax.com,
"Stuart A. Bronstein" <spamtrap@lexregia.com> wrote:
If the survivor has access to the box, no problem. I've just seen
too many situations in which nobody new of the box, or if they did
the tax people prohibited anyone to get access until they had a
representative come and witness it being opened. If those aren't
problems, go ahead.
It is generally unwise to have a safe deposit box in the name of an
individual who is susceptible to death. (I.e., most of us.)
It used to be common currency to rent boxes in the name of a corporation.
Franchise taxes are higher than they were then, but if the box contains
valuable stuff, it's still not a bad idea.
Corporations never die. Although I see that the tax instructions now seem to
ask whether the decedent had property or documents in "any" box. One should
never lie about such things, should one?
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"Robert E. Lewis" <rlewis@brazosport.cc.tx.us> wrote...
Because, as soon as the bank learns the owner of the box is dead, it will
often block access to the box until released by probate.
Do banks do this if the safe deposit box is in the names of two people, one
of whom is still alive (for example, in both names of a married couple, or
of the decedent and his next-of-kin/executor/etc.)?
As care-giver to a parent who is suffering dementia, I can say that in that
case it is sometimes a bad idea for the will to be kept where the person who
wrote it -- who may now not understand what it is -- can easily get hold of
it. Also, unless it's kept in a fireproof safe-box at home, I can imagine
situations in which someone dies in a house-fire, and takes the will with
him.
--
Robert
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--
jtc
jtamchay@yahoo.com
We just experienced this situation with the death of my father-in-law
last week.
The morning after his death my husband took my MIL to the bank....the
box is/was in my FIL's name but we have two keys.
We had no difficulty removing anything from the box, we do not know
whether the bank was aware of the death at that time.
However, we made subsequent trips to the bank after the obit was
published and never was there anyone who told us we could not
withdraw anything from the box....
We live in Minnesota
How do you think the bank learns of a death...we think they watch the
obits but who truly knows?
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"jtc" <jtamchay@yahoo.com> wrote:
The morning after his death my husband took my MIL to the
bank....the
box is/was in my FIL's name but we have two keys.
We had no difficulty removing anything from the box, we do not
know whether the bank was aware of the death at that time.
However, we made subsequent trips to the bank after the obit was
published and never was there anyone who told us we could not
withdraw anything from the box....
Bank managers don't go over obits to see which of their customers
die. They're generally notified when someone other than the
account holder wants to take money out.
In some states the tax man wants to be there when the box is opened
to be sure they're getting tax on all of the property in the
estate.
Stu
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Scott Hedrick wrote:
Because, as soon as the bank learns the owner of the box is dead, it will
often block access to the box until released by probate.
NOTE: It depends on your state and perhaps even the bank.
In NJ "we stopped doing that years ago" was what I learned (sadly) recently.
OTOH if in doubt clean out the box while you can (I did).
LB
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