Planning In Indiana Indiana

[burd]

My husband and I are both 30 and 28, and we have two boys ages 5 and 1. In terms of careers, we are just starting out and haven't accumulated much. We do, however, have a substantial trust from my in-laws, that we are more or less saving for our kids (unless we go into some sort of financial emergency). I have a small life insurance policy, which I would like to upgrade, and my husband and kids are named beneficiaries. My husband does not currently have a life insurance policy, but we are looking into that for him. When is the right time to make a will? What is the difference between a living will and just a plain will? If we did not get this done right away, would there be danger of our assets not going to our kids if something were to happen to us?

[Betty3]

You really need to talk to an estate planning attorney who you can give
all complete information to & what you want to accomplish.

[Betty3]

Weslie, I will leave your post & link but please do not post just to advertise
your website/employer. (if that is what you were doing) We do not allow
advertisements in posts.

The poster also had other questions & needs to talk to an estate planning
attorney. They may have already since she posted a month ago.

[cbg]

I will leave the post but not the link. If Weslie wants to advertise her link, she can contact the administrators and pay the advertising rates.

[Betty3]

I was going to leave the link *this time* but can see it being deleted. The post
w/o the link doesn't help the poster much. However, I'm not sure it helped the
poster that much even with the link.

[Alice Dodd]

If you have kids, you BOTH need life insurance. Even if you stay at home to take care of the kids, ESPECIALLY if you stay home with the kids - he would need to hire child care, etc.

A living will is different from a living trust. A living relates to medical issues. I living trust is an alternate to a will, and is often preferred to a will, but if you get a living trust, you need a basic will for any property that accidentally wasn't transfered into the living trust. You have to make sure that you transfer your assets into the trust after its created.

Check out Nolo Press and their books on estates, it will good overview of different ways to take care of your assetts and your dependents and heirs. They also have fill-in forms that you can purchase inexpensively if you can't afford an attorney to take care of your needs. However, with your husband's trust, it might be best to hire an attorney to make sure everything is handled properly.

While you're doing all of this, you and your husband should discuss, and put in writing, your directives on whether you want extraordinary measures of you are unable to make medical decisions on your own behalf. Nolo Press had info on that as well.

Congratulations on taking care of this while you are young and before you need it. Many an estate has gone against the wishes of the deceased because they didn't take care of their affairs, out of the belief that they were young and had plenty of time, or that it was too scary to conetmplate their demise.

Personally, I believe in Murphy's law. The earlier you take care of your affairs, the longer you'll live to drive your kids crazy and spend their inheritance.

[Betty3]

I would still talk to an estate planning attorney, if at all possible, to be sure all
that you want to accomplish is done & set up correctly. She/he may also have
additional suggestions/ideas for you to consider. For most people, this is not a
do it yourself project.

Alice gave you some very good information to consider.

Since you posted this a month ago, it's possible you might have already talked to
an attorney.

[Betty3]

Weslie posted again the same post & link - Weslie & posts are now gone.