You cannot write a will all by yourself. It’s our recommendation that you have the help of a Woodland Hills will attorney from our firm, but that’s not even the real reason why you cannot do this on your own. The execution of a will requires witnesses, and there are rules about what it takes to qualify as a witness for this process. If you do this incorrectly, your will might not be considered legally binding.
Do I Need Witnesses When Making My Will?
The answer is yes, you will need witnesses when making your will. You need two adults who know that they are witnessing the creation of a will. They should be considered mentally competent too, just like the person writing the will. Without that consideration, a will is unlikely to be held up no matter how many people claim to witness it.
Can These Witnesses Be In My Will?
It is also important that your witnesses are “disinterested.” This does not mean that they get bored by lawyers and the legal process. It means that they stand to gain nothing from your will. They are unbiased observers. This can help protect people who write wills from scams or manipulation from family members or friends towards the end of their lives.
What Happens If I Don’t Write a Will?
When you die without a will you are said to have died intestate. This means that the court has to decide where your assets go. If you had accounts that transfer on death or a life insurance policy with a designated beneficiary, those will still go to the right parties. Anything else must go through probate though.
The probate process can take a while. It also costs money because there are legal and court fees to worry about. At the end of it all, your assets may not even be divided up in the way that you would have liked. Save your family the trouble and make sure that your beneficiaries are taken care of by executing a legal will.
Do I Really Need to Hire a Lawyer?
We do recommend hiring a lawyer. You may be able to find a guide to making a will online, but you need to be careful about these kinds of documents. If you do not meet the requirements to make your will legally valid, that can mean that it will not be enforced. Your family could be required to go through the probate process anyway.
Schedule a Consultation
So if you are ready to write a will and you do not want to worry about whether or not everything has been done correctly, contact the Law Offices of Yacoba Ann Feldman. We’ll make it easy to take on every stage of the estate planning process.
