PSA: Dying intestate is a P.I.T.A.- take care of your “final arrangements”.

[Dannyalcatraz]

Went looking- the new term for HEW Trusts is HEMS Trusts. HEMS = Health, Education, Maintenance & Support. Here’s an excerpt from a little guide I found.

Examples of HEMS ​

Health, Education, Maintenance and Support are rather broad categories, but what do they include, exactly? The exact items included can vary by state, but here are examples of HEMS that are commonly included.

Examples of Health

Some basic examples in the Health category include:

• Routine health care
• Hospital care
• Emergency medical treatment
• Psychiatric or psychological care
• Prescription drugs
• Dental
• Vision

The following may also be considered included in this category:

• Elective procedures like LASIK or cosmetic surgery
• Alternative medicine treatments
• Gym, sports club, or spa memberships
• Health supplements

Examples of Education

This category commonly includes:

• Tuition for all levels of schooling from grammar to graduate, professional, or technical school or training
• Continuing education expenses
• Expenses for school-related programs, such as Study Abroad in college
• Support during schooling years, even during summers and other breaks

Examples of Maintenance and Support

“Maintenance” and “support” are one and the same. Commonly included in this category:

• Mortgage or rent payments
• Property taxes
• Premiums for health, life, and property insurance
• Travel and vacation expenses
• Charitable giving

This category is the least clearly defined. It’s typically interpreted to include distributions that help maintain the beneficiary’s standard of living. Distributions to cover expenses that are solely for the beneficiary’s happiness rather than support do not fall under this category.

Tangent: I’ve been a proponent of including HEW/HEMS Trusts in a variety of contracts & other agreements that could result in windfalls, especially when the benefits could fall to minors. My primary area of advocating them was in sports and entertainment contracts, where youths can often become millionaires years before the age of majority. My pitch was along the lines of it meaning you may not have a mansion and a supercar next year, but you and your family will ALWAYS have a house and vehicles for the rest of your lives.

My secondary area of advocacy was for lottery winners.

 

[Lanefan]

Pardon some cynicism here but someone has to say it: the OP is a lawyer; and while no doubt speaking from the best of intentions, still as such has a vested interest (for self or for other lawyers) in getting people to do up wills, as to the best of my knowledge a binding will cannot be done up without involving a lawyer somewhere along the line - and lawyers don't usually work for free.

Now if a binding will could be done without a lawyer's involvement (or said involvement was taken as a no-charge public duty) and thus at zero cost, I'd be in full agreement with the OP. As it sits, though, the costs of doing up a will (I've looked into it) represent money I neither have nor would wish to spend.

Disclaimer: I'm in Canada; things might work differently in other countries.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

Pardon some cynicism here but someone has to say it: the OP is a lawyer; and while no doubt speaking from the best of intentions, still as such has a vested interest (for self or for other lawyers) in getting people to do up wills, as to the best of my knowledge a binding will cannot be done up without involving a lawyer somewhere along the line - and lawyers don't usually work for free.

Generally in common law jurisdictions (basically the Angloshere) a will just needs to be signed by a testator (of adult age and with the necessary mental capacity) and a witness. The witness need not be a lawyer. In many common law jurisdictions a handwritten will does not require a witness. However the witness is not just something courts made up to make wills fail, it's about verifying that the will is authentic, and part of what you get from a lawyer's service is a professional who will attest to the documents authenticity. I can't speak for the requirements of civil law jurisdictions on this front, they love notaries a lot more than the common law ones. My understanding is that your country of Canada does not generally require professionally prepared wills, though I can not speak to all jurisdictions within Canada, or to how well non-professionally prepared wills generally hold up in a Canadian court.

Check the requirements in your jurisdiction, and hire a lawyer if you can afford one. There are many form wills online, and these are often appropriate to the average person's needs, but make sure they are created specifically for your jurisdiction. If you choose to not use an attorney then it is harder to be certain that your intentions will actually be written in a way a court will recognize, and the main skill lawyers have in terms of drafting wills is practice in making things clear and unambiguous to a court of law, including under unforeseen circumstances.

Once again I'll reiterate what I said in a prior post that just making clear your intentions to family while you're still alive helps verify the authenticity of a will consistent with those intentions, and makes the will more likely to go unchallenged by family, whether it was created with the assistance of a lawyer or not.

I am not an attorney, but I am an American law school graduate who briefly worked as a lawyer in a practice that never dealt with any wills. Impute on me whatever biases from that background you must.

 

[Mad_Jack]

I am not an attorney, but I am an American law school graduate who briefly worked as a lawyer in a practice that never dealt with any wills. Impute on me whatever biases from that background you must.

So... you're a recovering lawyer?

 

[Ryujin]

Pardon some cynicism here but someone has to say it: the OP is a lawyer; and while no doubt speaking from the best of intentions, still as such has a vested interest (for self or for other lawyers) in getting people to do up wills, as to the best of my knowledge a binding will cannot be done up without involving a lawyer somewhere along the line - and lawyers don't usually work for free.

Now if a binding will could be done without a lawyer's involvement (or said involvement was taken as a no-charge public duty) and thus at zero cost, I'd be in full agreement with the OP. As it sits, though, the costs of doing up a will (I've looked into it) represent money I neither have nor would wish to spend.

Disclaimer: I'm in Canada; things might work differently in other countries.

In Canada it can be as simple as making your wishes clearly known. It's still best to have a lawyer involved, at some point, as clarity has degrees.

Dying Saskatchewan farmer’s will goes down in history | Globalnews.ca

The story of a Saskatchewan farmer and the infamous tractor fender will told by the last surviving witness.

globalnews.ca

 

[Benjamin Olson]

So... you're a recovering lawyer?

I used to make that exact joke a lot. But at this point it's been 10 years, so hopefully I'm mostly recovered.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Pardon some cynicism here but someone has to say it: the OP is a lawyer; and while no doubt speaking from the best of intentions, still as such has a vested interest (for self or for other lawyers) in getting people to do up wills, as to the best of my knowledge a binding will cannot be done up without involving a lawyer somewhere along the line - and lawyers don't usually work for free.

A good concern to raise. FWIW, Wills/estate planning/probate are areas I only get involved with as a last resort. It’s not my primary area of practice. Personally, I’ve turned down more work in that arena than I’ve done.

AFAIK, while using an attorney to draft a will is advised- especially if you have complex legal issues to deal with- it isn’t REQUIRED in any American jurisdiction I know of. All that’s required is a testator with testamentary intent and the capacity to commit it to a permanent form. My W&E prof used to say that the most dangerous thing in that area was a client behind a closed door with a pen and notepad because holographic (“written in your own handwriting”) wills are 100% legal in Texas. The shortest will in Texas history was holographic: “Mom takes all.” (Sadly, written in the dirt by a dying young man trapped under a rolled-over tractor.)

There are pitfalls to DIY, though. While a holographic will is legal, it MUST be written entirely in your own handwriting. You can’t use a fill-in-the-blank forms you’d find in office supply stores or online, because Texas probate courts will ONLY look at the handwritten parts.

If you want to DIY, the best advice I can give is:

1) be patient and do your research before writing your actual will.

2) Brainstorm with those you trust, just to make sure you don’t forget something.

3) take notes, but make clear (on every page, if you’re using physical paper) that they’re just notes, not your actual will.

4) check with any law schools in your vicinity to see if they have any student legal clinics, and if so, do they do anything regarding wills. Most law clinics are greatly discounted or 100% pro bono (free), and the students have faculty & volunteer supervision .

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Clarifying “holographic” in Texas law: while it means “in your own handwriting”, in practice, it means that the document must all be committed to permanent form in one way. All the words on the page must be put there by you.

So, as mentioned, if you get a fill in the blank will, the court will only look at the handwritten parts. This is true even if the will is 99%+ handwritten- anything typed in will be ignored.

But if you decide to type up your will because-like me- your handwriting is atrocious- that’s 100% OK as well. Just make sure its ALL typewritten.

 

[Mad_Jack]

Clarifying “holographic” in Texas law:

You mean we don't get to push the red button and see the deceased pop up Princess Leia-style and say, "If you're seeing this message, I'm dead."? Well, that sucks.