wills

You should write your Will. Everybody needs a legal Last Will and Testament, and there is no advantage in postponing until you are older..

Named Executor of a Will: Now What?

After an individual’s death, his or her assets will be gathered, business affairs settled, debts paid, necessary tax returns filed, and assets distributed as the deceased individual directed in their will. This distribution of assets will be conducted on behalf of the decedent by a person acting in a fiduciary capacity, either as the executor (in some states called a personal representative) or as a trustee, depending upon how the decedent held his or her property.

Executor of Will

The executor plays a very important role after the testator (the deceased will maker) dies as they have a number of duties including the task of tracking down assets, paying creditors, and making sure beneficiaries named in the will receive property to which they are entitled. Being an executor is not a simple role and should not be taken on without serious consideration. To help you gain an informed perspective on the duties of an executor, we have outlined some general information and frequently asked questions that all executors should consider.

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How to Choose a Legal Guardian for Your Children

When we decide to sit down and write a Will we obviously think about our valuable possessions, property and savings, but more importantly than all of that, you might need to consider a legal guardian for your children.

Legal Guardian for Your Children - How to Choose

Two-thirds of American parents haven’t chosen a legal guardian, but whether your children are infants or teenagers, they are the ones that will benefit from careful parental attention to guardianship. The nomination of a legal guardian is a straightforward aspect of any family’s estate plan but you will want to give a full consideration of all potential guardians before jumping into a decision.

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Online Will services – comparing LegalZoom with USLegalWills

Everything written in this article is correct as of August 29th 2018. Prices, services and review ratings change. We will attempt to update this post if there are material differences to the information presented here.

Comparing LegalZoom with USLegalWills.com – Executive Summary

Looking for an alternative to LegalZoom for writing your Will?

You may not have time to read this complete article, so here are the key points;

  1. Both LegalZoom and USLegalWills.com have been offering Will writing services for nearly 20 years now. The longevity of both companies is an important consideration when choosing an online Will service provider.
  2. In terms of the core Will writing service, USLegalWills.com has more options and more flexibility. It includes features like Pet Trusts, Lifetime interests trusts, a specific section on charitable bequests and Mirror Wills. There are no features in the LegalZoom service not available at USLegalWills.com
  3. USLegalWills.com is AT LEAST half the price of LegalZoom. When you take into consideration additional features like updates over time, USLegalWills.com is a fraction of the cost of LegalZoom (unlimited updates to all of your documents for 10 years is $34.95 at USLegalWills.com, at LegalZoom updates cost you $29.95 every single time you want to make a change!). There are also no ongoing subscriptions at USLegalWills.com and never any need to cancel a recurring payment.
  4. USLegalWills.com specializes in estate planning documents which means that customer service know estate planning, and the additional tools on the website are all geared towards estate planning. LegalZoom also specialize in business incorporation, trademarks and intellectual property service.
  5. USLegalWills.com have created a suite of services to support your Will. These include naming a keyholder to access your documents after you are gone, documenting your assets for your Executor through the MyLifeLocker service, uploading files to a digital vault for your loved ones, even writing messages to be distributed after you have passed away. LegalZoom only offer the downloaded documents and nothing else.
  6. Why is LegalZoom bigger? because they took a different corporate strategy in raising $800M of venture capital investment over the last few years. This gives the company a massive advertising budget. USLegalWills.com is privately held. This means that it is not driven by profitability and returns to investors, so we offer a fair service for a fair price. But this also means that we do not have $800M to spend on marketing!

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Clients need a Will? Affiliate opportunities at USLegalWills.com

Addressing the Will writing gap for your clients

Do you work in an industry that promotes Will writing for your clients? Maybe you are in finance, or insurance, or the funeral industry. Perhaps you work for a charity that promotes the idea of planned giving in one’s estate plan. Maybe you just work in the area of financial literacy, or you work with seniors planning their retirement. There are countless industries that understand the importance of Will writing. But often we find that professionals meet with their clients to discuss the value of a Last Will and Testament. The client agrees, and promises to get their estate planning in order. Only to meet up again a year later and nothing has changed. At USLegalWills.com we have an affiliate program that can help you, and your client.

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Want to contest a Will? How can a Will be challenged?

Feeling left out? Can you contest a Will?

My uncle promised me his car, but he’s died and the Will says nothing about the car. Do I have a right to it? How can I contest a Will?

This happens a lot. Somebody dies, the Will is published for all to see, and it doesn’t quite meet the expectations of family and loved ones. Sometimes there is a suspicion that something strange has been going on. There’s a sense that somebody worked on the individual, persuaded them to make some changes and updates, and all of a sudden the estate that was going to the children, is now going to the new person who has just appeared on the scene.

So what rights do you have? Can you contest a Will if it seems that something strange has been going on? Or if that promised item is not included in the Will?

Maybe you are ready to write your Will, but you want to leave some people out. How can you be sure that after you have written your Will it will not be challenged?

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