Attorneys will sometimes keep a client’s original will in their file. Years later, a client may want to obtain this will because they have moved or changed attorneys and want to revoke their old will. The best way to obtain your original will from an attorney who has it is to send a request to… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Probate/Estate Administration
How To Find a Lost Will (or at least where to look)
I always recommend that my clients keep their original wills (and other important documents) in a fireproof box in their house, and that they let some family members know where the documents are located, and where the key is (or what the combination is) if the box is locked. This is so that when the… Continue Reading
The Dangers of Do It Yourself, A Cautionary Tale
A colleague recently had a new client come to see them. The man's father had passed away, and the son had found the Will…the Will that his father had purchased online and signed, thinking his wishes would then be honored. Sadly, they won't be. The form Will that the father had filled out had spaces… Continue Reading
Will There Be a Reading of the Will?
I am sometimes asked by my clients if there will be a "reading of the will", and the answer is almost always "no." These days, there is generally no formal gathering at the attorney's office where the will is read to the heirs, no shocking revelations like in the movies. And given that people often… Continue Reading
What are you leaving behind? Thoughts on decluttering as part of planning.
I posted recently about the health effects of clutter on the person living with the clutter. However, the effects of your clutter live on even after your death. This blog, Confessions of a Hoarder, has a post describing the process of trying to declutter an estate after a person’s death. The author describes how her… Continue Reading
Paperless Records can Leave Heirs in the Dark
This article from the Wall Street Journal, Paperless World Can Leave Heirs in the Dark, outlines the dangers of keeping all your records on your computer. With online bank accounts becoming more common, there might not be paper statements of your accounts, and if you don’t leave a record of them, your heirs might never… Continue Reading
When Someone Dies
"I don’t know exactly what it is you do when someone dies" – Edna St. Vincent Millay, Sonnets from an Ungrafted Tree. Like the narrator in Edna’s sonnet, people know that there are things that need to be done when someone dies ,but they don’t know what those things are, or they feel overwhelmed and… Continue Reading