drawing up a will and getting extra life insurance....

Babybear70

Have you girls thought about this or done it yet? DH and I are going to have a will drawn up very soon, and we will probably purchase additional life insurance in addition to the policies that we already have. I was just curious as to if you all were thinking about it or already had it done.

cchill01

We did extra life insurance on both of us before DD was born.  I also added some extra life insurance on me through my company, which I'll just do for this year when I may have another c-section.

We waited until after she was born to do the will, so that we could add her name and not pay for the amendment.  

You also probably want to do a living will for you before your EDD.

mylittlesunshine

We still have yet to draw up a will. I think for us is we are getting caught up on who should be guardian. We are planning on having one of our family take the children and the other side of our family be the power of attorney with all monetary funds. That way there is a balance between the two families. My hangup is that while I would love for BIL to have guardianship over our girls if something should happen, he is not married (not even close) and I want our children to have both a mother and father when we draw the will up.

We will probably get to it after DD2 is born.

amber323

DH and I keep talking about making a will and then we keep putting it off but definitely before the baby is born, we haven't really thought about extra life insurance but that's a good idea. 

Babybear70

cchill01:

We did extra life insurance on both of us before DD was born.  I also added some extra life insurance on me through my company, which I'll just do for this year when I may have another c-section.

We waited until after she was born to do the will, so that we could add her name and not pay for the amendment.  

You also probably want to do a living will for you before your EDD.

I was thinking about this too. The pre-registration papers asked if i had a durable power of attorney on file so that was pretty much what prompted this whole idea between me and DH. Thankfully we have 9 weeks before LO is due (hopefully...cook baby cook!) so we are going to look into all of it very very soon.

lilredj

We have talked about making a will, but we haven't done it yet.  We haven't even really decided who will be guardian if anything were to happen to us.  As far as the insurance goes, we have already done that.  

I have always talked about making a living will, but haven't done it yet either.   

geauxfrogs

DH and I made a new will in August before a trip. I guess I need to put calling the lawyer to add baby to the list of things to do right after he/she is born.

Gismo123

We are in the process of now of doing a will but we are not getting more life insurance. DH is Navy so he has $400,000 in life insurance plus he has some private life insurance..I forget how much that one is offhand. Since I am a dependant I am insured for $10,000 through the Military. I am the primary if DH passes away and he is the Primary if I pass away. If something happens to both of us the Will is going to state that his guardians will have control of the insurance money until he turns 18. We have choosen very close family as his guardians and know we can trust them.

Frequent Flier

We've just finished getting all this stuff done.  I figured it's easier to do it now than before the baby is born.  DH had some life insurance from work, and we beefed it up so he's got about $600,000, I have $100,000.  Since I'm not working, this would cover a few years of child care and all the help DH would need.  His money is to replace him as primary breadwinner for a few years.  We also got a small policy ($10,000) on LO to cover funeral expenses. 

We also just finished the will signing this morning, including power of attorney (in case we are incapacitated and someone needs to manage our finances) and a representation agreement (living will).  It was expensive (I didn't read the price list carefully enough the first time) but it's good for life and better than having all your estate go through probate if you die without a will.  We live in Canada, and I know that the govt can take a good chunk of your money if you don't have a will.  But it still sucked, it was about $1600 to get all that done.

The trickiest part was figuring out the guardian.  Everybody wanted to be the godfather, but we told them it was our decision and explained a few reasons why.  I'm glad we have all that in writing and some of the life insurance money will be given to the guardian to help raise DS (and any future kids) and the rest will be given to the kids when they hit 25.

gracielou314

This is a stupid question, but what the easiest, most cost efficient way to draw up a will and what's the difference in a will and a living will. I hadn't even thought of these things.

jess9802

Whether you have a will or not, if you die, any asset owned in your sole name without right of survivorship will pass through probate. The only way to avoid probate is to have a trust and have all of your assets owned in trust or payable to your trust on your death. I am not aware of any jurisdiction in the US that has a special tax for dying intestate (that is, without a will), although there are many good reasons to have a will and I always recommend a client has one.

A living will is a document that appoints a representative or attorney in fact to make your health care or end of life decisions if you are unable to. A will is a document in which you appoint a personal representative or executor of your estate (the property you own) and name the beneficiaries of that property. The management and distribution of the assets is supervised by the court.  A trust is largely administered out of court, though a trustee or beneficiary can seek intervention from the court if necessary.

Shop around for a lawyer to prepare your will and/or trust, living will, powers of attorney, etc. I have seen too many badly drafted estate planning documents to recommend doing this on your own or with a kit you purchase online. 

Perrysbride

We have added life insurance.  We will draw up a will prior to birth because the state of Georgia does not automatically send children to the next of kin if parents die.  They become wards of the state until placement has been determined.  I am not okay with that, so we will draw up a will prior to birth.