It depends.

Wills make the probate process WAYYY easier and cheaper. What the hell is probate? you may be wondering. I wrote a blog on it you can read here.

But to recap quickly, Probate is the court that EVERYONE goes through when they die. You die, and your assets are brought to probate.

But Jake, that’s not true, I heard I can avoid probate with a trust? Kind of, but not really. I wrote a blog about that too here.

To recap again quickly, some of your ASSETS can avoid probate without a trust… But EVERYONE who dies goes through probate regardless. So you may put all your assets into a trust to avoid probate… but what ever is left in your estate will still go through probate… Even if you only have $1 left that wasn’t in a trust… See what I’m saying? Even if you had $0 left, EVERYONE goes through probate.

Anyway, back to wills.

A will makes probate easier, quicker, and gives you more control over what happens to your assets after you die.

But how?

1) A will nominates an executor or personal representative

Well, for one, you can nominate the “Executor (CT language)” or “Personal representative (MA language often abbreviated as ‘PR’)” of your estate when you die.

The reason I say “Nominate” is because it’s really up to the probate court as to who can serve as your executor, or personal representative. If the person you nominate is dead, the court will apoint someone else… The judge ultimately makes the call but 99.999999% of the time the court will honor your nomination.

So what does an executor or a ‘PR’ do?

Once your estate is in probate court, they collect all your assets, pay off your debts, and then make distributions to your “beneficiaries” i.e. people you wrote in your will or if you don’t have a will, your closest relatives. You can read more about what happens if you die without a will here.

So why is it beneficial to you to nominate an executor or PR? Because you have the opporortunity to appoint someone trustworthy. You don’t want Joe Shmo or some state appointed attorney representing you. You want someone you trust who has a close relationship with you.

So there’s benefit one.

2) A will waives the “bond” requirement

Probate courts will require a bond sometimes to ensure that your executor doesn’t run away with your money. Bonds are pricey and annoying. In a will you can waive the bond requirement and streamline the probate process (and save money)

3) A will gives what you want to who you want

It goes without saying that your will can dsitribute your assets how you want them to be distributed. If you hate one of your kids because he’s a total asshole, then you can disinherit him. And if you want to give a little something to your church, you can do that too.

4) If you’re leaving assets to non-relatives, a will is essential

Lets say you don’t have a lot of family and you want your stuff to go to your friends. Or, lets say you hate your family and you want your stuff to go to your friends. OR, lets say you’re giving assets to your friends AND your family.

Without a will, the court will automatically dsitribute your assets to your closest relatives, and there’s nothing your friends can do about it.

Well, in rare and hard to argue situations there are come concepts in law that give “standing” to non relatives left out of the will. Like the “quantum meruit” argument for example.

This comes up often when a caretaker for an elderly person is left out of the will. “quantum meruit” means they can say that because they took care of an old person, they deserve money for their services. Just a law tidbit for your information.

Anyway, you don’t have to worry as much about any funky legal arguments or weird relatives coming out of the woodwork if you have a will.

5) A will is a strong legal document

A signed will with 2 witnesses is presumed in law to be kosher.

So if you have a validly executed will, you already have the higher ground to anyone who is going to contest it. Unlike other legal documents like prenups for example, a will is presumed IN LAW to be good. So this cuts out any relatives of people coming out of the woodwork with bogus arguments.

Be careful though, in order to enjoy this presumption in law you need a validly executed will… And there are times if a will isn’t validly executed or if there’s some funny business, it will actually be presumed to be invalid.

For example,

A classic case of a will presumed to be invalid is undue influence.

In Connecticut if you:

1. Write the presons will
2. Disinherit blood relatives
3. List yourself as a beneficiary in the will
4. Serve as a witness
5. And/Or have a close lawyer friend of yours approve it…

The will is presumed to be invalid.

NEVER draft someone’s will. This is why you should have an experienced attorney review your assets and draft your wills. This is why I advise against getting an online will. Read more about that here

I charge in the same ballpark as those online services and my plans come with healthcare proxies and powers of attorneys as well.

If you need a will or if you’ve been in a car accident call or email me

207 550 5604

Dresslerjake@gmail.com