After church yesterday, a lawyer did a presentation on estate planning. It’s been on my list to get that done, so I went. They served lunch! Yum!
As it turns out, I didn’t hear a lot that I didn’t already know. I did learn that a “trust” determines what happens to your money and your house, and a “will” determines what happens to your kids and your stuff, so I’ll have to do both.
She also said that setting all this stuff up with a lawyer costs between $3000 and $5000. Gulp! The do-it-yourself option is looking more and more attractive.
Adulting can be shocking at times, can’t it? Good luck with all the decisions that come with this time of life…
Good for you! I didn’t know the difference between a will and a trust, so thank you for clarifying that. I did the online will / end-of-life stuff, but it’s very basic and hasn’t been notarized yet. It was pretty simple, though, so I would definitely go with the do-it-yourself route.
Every state is different on this issue. We had a will drawn up in Oregon when our boys were young, We had a trust/will combo drawn up while in Hawaii. We had the trust redone for Washington, then found out that a simple will is enough now for our needs. So we had the will updated, the trust deactivated, and should be done with all that now. I think I would get a second opinion on what you need. I can’t see that your estate is going to be complicated, which is the benefit of a trust. Trusts do cost a lot more than a simple will.