What should be included in a will? – Carpenter & Lewis PLLC

This Transcript was auto-populated
Transcript:
00:03
So, one of the things we’re asked is, “What should I include in my will?” And essentially, a will is instructions for what happens to your stuff when you pass away. And there’s three or four different things that really should always be included. One is a list of the

00:18
stuff that you have, right? So, that you can dictate where that stuff goes and who those beneficiaries are. That’s the second thing, your beneficiaries, who you want it to go to. The third thing would be who’s going to carry that out for you? Who’s going to be your personal

00:32
representative? Who’s going to be the executive whose responsibility it is to take the will to the probate court, go through the probate process and properly transfer your assets and pay off debts? The last thing that we always help clients consider is if they have a minor

00:45
child, then they want to really think about having a guardianship provision in their will so that if something happens to them, they’ve got a guardian in place that can take care of their child until they become adults. One of the things that we also ask clients to consider is

00:59
if they have a minor child to have a guardianship provision in their will, which would determine who the guardian would be for any minor children until that child became 18. These are the types of things that that we’re asked all the time and that myself or other attorneys in our office would discuss

01:15
with clients when they want to talk about doing a will. Obviously, every state is different, but there are legal requirements that have to be met as far as execution for a will. These are the things that we discuss with clients when we talk about wheels.