Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

Re: hand written will

A will has no effect if and when you are incapacitated. The will will be valid if it qualifies as a holographic will in this State. You may wish to educate yourself some. You should probably use a living trust and other death and disability planning documents. Whether you can do this on your own or need attorney assistance has to do primarily with the nature and extent of your assets. Most people with a net worth of less than one million dollars ($1MM) can. Read my book, "Create Your Legacy & Save the American Middle Class. How You Can Protect Your Family and Loved Ones in the Event of Death or Disability (Without Paying Legal Fees) and Win their Gratitude and Admiration." It explains all you need to know in simple, plain English. You can go to www.yourlivinglegacy.info for more information on this and obtain a download of the book. If you do decide its best to handle all of this without a lawyer, I offer online my Legacy Trust Package which includes a complete planning package, in simple English and valid in every State. The book is $19.95. The do it yourself trust package if you choose to use it is only $79.95.

Re: hand written will

If you do a handwritten Will, remember that everything on the page must be in your handwriting, even the date, title of the document, etc. You will need to name an executor to carry out your desires, including being cremated, and provide funds for the executor to do what you want. So as to reduce the costs, you probably would also want to have bond waived. At such a low amount of assets [life insurance policy not part of your estate as passes immediately to beneficiary], your estate will not have to go through probate. There will also be no estate tax. If you want someone to dispose of your ashes, leave them some money to do it without cost to them. If you want certain items to go to certain people, put that in your Will. Also, consider whether you want to spend the $50,000 on yourself or leave it to other people.

What Mr,. Roth meant by saying the Will would not work if you are incapacited is that the Will only covers what happens when you die. Your need to prepare powers f attorney and a health directive for when you are incapcated.

Unlike most questioned posted,you appear to have provided us with all the information we needed and in a straigth forward manner.

Re: hand written will

If you name someone else (not yourself or your estate) as the life insurance beneficiary, you have no other assets, you feel it is unlikely that your heirs are going to challenge it, then you are probably just fine with a will. I would recommend looking at the California Statutory will that you can download from the State Bar Association. This is better then just a holographic (handwritten) will.

http://calbar.ca.gov/state/calbar/calbar_generic.jsp?cid=10180&id=1401

If that link does not go through do a search on google for "california statutory will" and click the first link, the Cal Bar link.

Hope that helps.