Creating your Will
Make the right plans now by preparing your will with an experienced will lawyer in New York. No matter the financial or medical situation you are, it would be great if you seek a legal hand to handle such an important document.
Do you really need a Will Lawyer? The answer depends on your situation. It may not be difficult to create a basic will with some do it yourself materials. Although, this may just contain simple things like passing a home, small business or investment to loved ones. However, this sort of fast track and do it yourself Will may be subjected to probate, contest and consequently an invalid will.
You may want to Consider one or more of the following cases and see if you fit into these categories; you own and manage one or more businesses, you have minor children or you don’t have any children, you have a disabled family member, or you have one or more health issues, you are married, divorced or in a second marriage etc. These situations requires you make appropriate plans, and prepare a valid Will.
Planning now for the future with a Will lawyer would never be regretted. One wrong document or inclusion or signatory could mean or signal a whole different thing and may lead to loss and probate of your properties with the beneficiary or trustee not getting it.
When to consult a Will Lawyer New York
Some situations other than creating a Will may require that you see a professional will lawyer, rather than handling them by yourself.
You may want to talk to a Will lawyer New York if:
- You have questions about how to draft and prepare your will or you require other options to share, protect your estate, properties and also beneficiaries of such.
- You expect to leave a very large amount of assets that may be subjected to excessive estate tax.
- You have complex family situations, probably one than one marriages, and children from different spouses.
- Rather than just drafting an ordinary will, you want to make more complex plans. For instance, placing your house in a trust to your spouse until he or she dies and then passing it to your children from a different spouse or marriage.
- You own a business and you have questions as to the rights of surviving owners or your ownership shares.
- Requiring guardianship or conservatorship for a beneficiaries.
- You need advice and help to make other estate plan documents like power of attorney, living trust and advance medical directives.
- You must make arrangement for a long term care of a beneficiary. For example setting up a trust for an incapacitated child.
- You have fears that your Will may be contested on grounds of inappropriate inclusions, fraud or claims that you were unduly influenced or that you were forced to sign the Will.
- You wish to disinherit a spouse or any other expected beneficiary of your property. It is usually not possible to do this, however, a Will lawyer in New York can explain your spouse’s rights.
If you decided to see a lawyer, why not seek out and contact with an experienced, knowledgeable will lawyer New York today.
What happens to your estate when you died without a valid Will?
When one dies without a will or the will is declared invalid, the estate left by the deceased becomes “intestate”, that is, will be administered in accordance with the intestacy laws effective in New York. Here, the court would have to appoint an executor/administrator who will carry out the distribution of property as well as other fiduciary duties.
In the absence of a valid last will in New York, the intestacy laws states that all your estate would go to your spouse if you had no children. If you had only children, your estate would go to the children. If you’re survived by a spouse as well as children, then your spouse receives half of your property, while the rest falls to your children. If you’re survived by neither spouse nor children, then your estate and properties would be shared to your surviving next of kin as judged by the state laws in New York.
