House is in her name as well as mine. She is the first beneficiary of all of my accounts and insurance with our minor child the designee of all remainders of any sort. The cars are all in her name. All checking and savings accounts are joint or exclusively in her name. Still, we do have a 13 year old, so I have probably been neglectful in not having one.
Lets say I have determined this will be a good idea, or that some form of estate planning will be a good idea. As I look for an attorney to handle this what do I look for? Do I need a firm with expertise in wills, and trust and estate planning, together with tax expertise and maybe a financial planner/CPA, or can a solo practitioner with a very focused practice handle this?
Also, do I benefit in my time with the attorney I eventually hire if I go through the exercise of finding an online will form and filling it out to sort of organize my papers and my thinking, and if so what is a good site for this?
Finally, does my wife want me dead for the holidays?
I might be an attorney, or not. I'm certainly not a potential attorney in your state. I have not stayed at a Holiday Inn Express because, really, who does? Only people that want to quote the commercial and those people aren't worth talking to. Your results may vary. Consult your local legal community. It's entirely possible that I am making all of this up. It might not even be me typing right now.With that out of the way, initially, each state has certain inheritance and estate tax laws that are important to know. Some states are draconian. Some aren't. So to the overall question, yes, talk to an attorney.
Does it need to be a specific attorney - there is no good answer here. If you go to someone who specializes in estate planning and does nothing else they will have a ton of resources at their disposal that other attorney's might not have, but at least in my state estate planning is not that complicated, so a solo could certainly do it without trouble if they have a brain in their head. I have found in my experience that attorneys who do the "we only do estate planning" usually charge far more than they should for what the average person needs or even wants.
But you certainly want someone with experience no matter what. You don't necessarily need someone who also has or does CPA stuff unless you have a massively complicated plan or investment package. And it doesn't sound like you do. Stay away from online will forms like they are death. You will need to know the following information in order to give the attorney an idea of what works best for you:
Real property - value and liens
IRA/401K pension, annuity type accounts - current balance and title information
Bank accounts - current balances and title information
Cars - current value and title information
Personal items of worth (jewelry, furs, collections, antiques) - value, insurance coverage if any
Current health insurance setup/coverage
Last years tax return - if its consistent with prior years only 1 is necessary, if it's not bring prior year(s) that show a better long term picture
Life Insurance policies - dec page, beneficiary information/ term coverage limits
If you or she were married prior a copy of the divorce decree and marital settlement agreement.
If you ever filed bankruptcy in the past a copy of the petition
Names addresses and brith dates of spouse, children, parents if alive, brothers and sisters, grandchildren if any, and then anyone else that might take under your will or you want to take under your will.
List of liabilities (mortage, credit cards, car loans, long term debts, etc.)
From there you need to know who you want to get everything. Your wife first, most likely, then your kids. If the kids aren't of age, you will need to set up a trust and/or gaurdianship in the will or as a separate document depending on your state. Who is the trustee and/or guardian? Backups are good
Depending on your age and your health you might want to consider talking to an attorney that has experience in MediCaid planning to ensure that everything is set up not run afoul of MediCaid.
That is basically all you need for the will. There are usually two other documents of important. The Living Will and the Durable Power of Attorney. The Living Will that I might possible write for clients if I did that sort of thing is actually three documents in one - its a DNR, its a medical power of attorney, and its a living will with a declaration of your wishes should you become incapacitated. These document is sometimes more important than a Last Will and Testament depending on the circumstances. The Durable Power of Attorney is the POA that gives someone the ability to do business for you - buy and sell property, talk to utility companies, deposit and withdraw money from the bank. They are good have as well.
From there, depending on your estate what you ened depends on what you want. There are trusts, pour over wills, special needs trusts and wills, and a myriad of other documents. When you talk to the attorney and tell him or her what you want they should be able to tell you what works best for your needs. Each have their own benefitis and detriments.
That is what I would say if I was an attorney who writes about 50-100 wills a year. I guess. You know, if I was an attorney.
